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The high price of kosher food takes a bite out of these NYC teens’ budgets
This article was produced as part of JTA’s Teen Journalism Fellowship, a program that works with Jewish teens around the world to report on issues that affect their lives.
(JTA) — On a recent Tuesday before his basketball team’s evening practice, sophomore Gabe R. and several of his friends headed to Grill Point NYC, a kosher Mediterranean restaurant on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Looking at the menu, Gabe was stunned by the prices: $26.50 for a bowl of schnitzel over rice, quinoa or salad. With no other kosher options open in the neighborhood, Gabe passed on dinner, practicing his ball-handling and shooting and ignoring his growling stomach.
Usually, though, he tries to find something he can afford. “I don’t like missing out. When all my friends go out for lunch, I don’t want to be the only one absent,” said Gabe. “I just look for less expensive items.” Most frequently this means ordering “a drink, dessert, or a side of fries,” said Gabe, who asked that his full name not to be used for fear of bullying over his financial situation at his Jewish high school.
Kosher food is hardly immune from the trend of rising inflation. In March 2022, inflation in the U.S. hit a 40-year high at an annual rate of 8.5%. Since then, the Federal Reserve has been aggressively raising interest rates to lower inflation, which, in January 2023, was 6.4% higher than January 2022. Although many Americans are struggling with food inflation, observant Jews bear an additional burden, as kosher meat already costs approximately 20% more than non-kosher meat, according to Slate Magazine.
Faced with high prices, many Jewish teens who keep kosher are limiting the frequency in which they patronize kosher restaurants. Some teens, primarily those who regard eating out as a key aspect of their social lives, have committed to ordering cheaper menu items when meeting friends. Others have eliminated eating out entirely. Such sacrifices have tangible effects on the relationship of kosher teens to Judaism. In addition to the crimp on their social lives, some teens say it is affecting their relationship with Judaism.
Yonatan Benichou, a junior at the Abraham Joshua Heschel School on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, said that he has recently stopped going out to eat at kosher restaurants with friends. “As a student with no income, I have no control over how much money I can spend. Kosher restaurants are very expensive,” he said.
Being kosher during a period of high inflation impacts Benichou’s social life. “Some of my non-kosher friends can eat a Big Mac [Combo] Meal at McDonalds” or a burger, fries and a drink for about $12 in New York City. “There is no such option for me. It’s frustrating,” said Benichou. At Burgers and Grill, a popular kosher eatery on the Upper West Side, a similar combination meal starts at $18.
This new reality has altered Benichou’s relationship to Judaism. “I didn’t choose my denomination. The truth is that I can’t get a cheaper lunch with my [non-kosher] friends because of some random laws in the Torah,” he said. “This makes me more resentful of Orthodox Judaism.” Primarily, the prohibitive cost of a kosher restaurant meal has led Benichou to question the validity of mitzvot for which the Torah does not give a specific reason, called “chukim.” Traditional sources include the rules of kosher food among these “non-rational” regulations.
There are few cheap, kosher fast-food options, in large part because of the wholesale price of kosher food. While a pound of chicken drumsticks at Park East Kosher Butcher in NYC costs $9.98 — $9.30 a year ago — a pound of non-kosher Springer Mountain Farms Chicken Drumsticks, sold on FreshDirect, is $2.79. The kosher fast food restaurant Holy Schnitzel offers a regular chicken sandwich, coined the “Holy Toasty,” for $15.99 at its Upper West Side location. Chick-fil-A’s classic chicken sandwich is $6.29 at their Upper East Side location.
But the higher cost of kosher meat is not the sole reason for the lack of kosher fast food restaurants, said Dani Klein, founder of YeahThatsKosher, a guide to kosher restaurants and travel. Since fast food restaurants need to sell a high volume to turn a profit, the pandemic — which “killed the volume game,” according to Klein — meant that kosher restaurants could succeed only if they had high profit margins. “Every restaurant will choose the best way to maximize its profits,” said Klein. “Fancy restaurants can charge a lot more than the cost of their products by virtue of the fact that they are offering an upscale experience.”
Hunter Bernhardt, also a junior at the Heschel High School, said that he rarely goes out to eat with his friends due to inflation. Living in Riverdale in the Bronx, getting to school in Manhattan is often costly. “Everything, from gas prices to Uber fares, have increased with inflation. I can’t spend too much on expensive food when transportation is my priority,” Bernhardt said.
Although inflation has altered his spending, Bernhardt said that his relationship to Judaism has not been affected. “I am grateful to live in a place and attend a Jewish day school where kosher foods are accessible to me.” Indeed, students at the Heschel School, which gave three times more financial aid in the 2022-23 school year than a decade prior, have access to kosher breakfast and lunch every school day for no additional fee on top of tuition. Bernhardt also said that going out to eat isn’t that important to his social life. “Many of my friends aren’t kosher anyways. We do other things, like play basketball in Central Park and chill at a friend’s house.”
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2 men found guilty in UK of plotting Islamic State-inspired antisemitic terror attack
Two men inspired by Islamic state ideology were convicted on Tuesday in Manchester, England, of plotting what prosecutors said could have been one of the deadliest antisemitic attacks in British history.
Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amar Hussein, 52, were both found guilty of preparing terrorist acts between December 2023 and May 2024. Saadaoui’s brother, Bilel Saadaoui, 36, was found guilty of failing to disclose information about an act of terrorism.
Prosecutors told jurors that Saadaoui and Hussein had “embraced the views” of the Islamic State and had a “visceral dislike” of Jewish people.
By the time of his arrest in May 2024, following an undercover operation, Saadaoui had arranged the purchase and delivery of two assault rifles, an automatic pistol and almost 200 rounds of ammunition for the attack. The pair had planned to infiltrate a march against antisemitism in the Manchester city center before unleashing their attack.
“Walid Saadaoui and Amar Hussein intended to target members of the Jewish community in an evil act born out of hate and intolerance,” said Assistant Chief Constable Robert Potts, who is in charge of Counter-Terrorism Policing in northwest England, in a statement. “If they had been successful then what followed would have been devastating and potentially one of the deadliest terrorist attacks to ever take place on UK soil.”
The convictions come as threats associated with the Islamic State appear to be on the rise. Earlier this month, two men who authorities said were motivated by “Islamic State ideology” killed 15 people after opening fire on a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney.
In October on Yom Kippur, another man who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State carried out an attack on a Manchester synagogue during which two people were killed.
Last week, three Toronto men, including one with alleged links to ISIS, were arrested for allegedly attempting kidnappings targeting Jews and women.
Ken McCallum, the head of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency MI5, said in October that MI5 and British police had “disrupted 19 late-stage attack plots” since 2020.
“Al Qaeda and Islamic State are once again becoming more ambitious, taking advantage of instability overseas to gain firmer footholds,” said McCallum. “They are both personally encouraging and indirectly inciting would-be attackers in the West.”
Following the convictions Tuesday, the Anti-Defamation League called for “vigilance” from governments and local law enforcement.
“While some plots are thankfully thwarted, others are not, including the recent terror attack in Bondi Beach,” the ADL wrote in a post on X. “The threat of antisemitic terrorism is real and ongoing and vigilance by governments and law enforcement agencies is crucial to keep Jewish individuals and institutions safe globally.”
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post 2 men found guilty in UK of plotting Islamic State-inspired antisemitic terror attack appeared first on The Forward.
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Self-appointed chief rabbi of Saudi Arabia says he was denied entry at border
The self-appointed chief rabbi of Saudi Arabia, Rabbi Jacob Herzog, said he had been denied entry to the Gulf nation.
“With profound regret, I announce that I was barred from entering the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia upon arrival, despite holding a valid entry visa, and despite having spent a significant portion of the past years living and serving in this blessed Kingdom,” Herzog wrote Monday in a post on X.
While the country has no official Jewish community, Herzog has in recent years marketed himself as an emissary for the country’s small population of Jewish visitors and residents, a role that has put him at odds with a community accustomed to flying under the radar of the conservative state.
“This incident has left me — against my will — distant from the Jewish community that I serve with love within the Kingdom, a community that has lived under the spirit of peace and goodwill embodied by the Saudi royal system and the great Saudi people,” continued Herzog.
While Saudi Arabia typically does not allow Israeli passport holders entry to the country, the New York-born Herzog’s dual citizenship in the United States and Israel appears to have earned him leniency in his travels between his home base in Jerusalem and the kingdom.
Herzog’s rejection comes as relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel have been strained in recent months amid the fragile ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
While President Donald Trump has repeatedly pushed for the country to enter a normalization agreement with Israel, Saudi leaders have remained steadfast that a path for Palestinian statehood is a key condition for entering any agreement.
“Saudi Arabia is not considering a normalization deal with Israel. Should Israel become a normal country with normal acceptance of international law, then Saudi Arabia will consider normalization,” Saudi Arabia’s former intelligence chief, Prince Turki bin Faisal, told the The Times of Israel on Sunday.
Herzog said that he did not receive any explanation for the decision from authorities at the airport or the country’s Ministry of Interior, but claimed he was “convinced that this measure did not emanate from the Royal Court or from the Saudi government itself.”
“Despite my complete trust in the integrity of Saudi institutions and the sound intentions of its leadership, I cannot ignore the possibility of the existence of dark forces seeking to obstruct the path of reform, openness, and tolerance that the Kingdom is pursuing with determination,” said Herzog.
The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Interior did not respond to requests for comment from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Herzog’s rejection.
While Herzog markets kosher foods at Saudi grocery stores and offers his services as a mohel on his website, Saudi Arabia legally forbids practicing religions other than Islam in public.
In March 2024, a U.S. government delegation on international religious freedom ended a visit in Saudi Arabia early after a rabbi on the trip was asked to remove his kippah while in public.
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post Self-appointed chief rabbi of Saudi Arabia says he was denied entry at border appeared first on The Forward.
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Coast Guard again retracts policy that would downgrade swastika as hate symbol, clearing path for new leader’s confirmation
After renewed objections from Jewish groups, the U.S. Coast Guard again removed language referencing a proposed policy that would have stopped classifying swastikas as hate symbols.
The retraction late Thursday, the second such reversal of the Coast Guard’s swastika policy, was enough to prompt Jewish Sen. Jacky Rosen to drop the hold she had placed on Admiral Kevin Lunday’s nomination to permanently lead the organization.
“While I continue to have reservations about the process by which this happened and the confusion created by leadership at the Department of Homeland Security, I am pleased to see that the policy now directly refers to stronger language against swastikas and nooses,” Rosen wrote on the social network X. A Democrat from Nevada, Rosen had placed the hold together with non-Jewish Democrat Tammy Duckworth, a military veteran.
Lunday was swiftly confirmed by voice vote late that evening, prior to the Senate’s adjournment for the holiday season.
Rosen wrote of Lunday, “I appreciate his lifetime of service to our country and look forward to working with him to continue to strengthen anti-harassment policy at the Coast Guard.”
The Coast Guard upset and confused many Jewish groups by issuing and then reversing statements about whether swastikas and nooses would still be considered hate symbols or downgraded to “potentially divisive.”
After The Washington Post reported in November that the downgrade was happening, the Coast Guard denied the reports and Lunday — then the acting head — reassured Jewish leaders the policy would not go through. He issued an explicit directive on the subject.
Yet last week the Post reported that the Coast Guard had gone ahead and made the change in its updated harassment manuals, triggering fierce backlash at a moment when other actions by President Donald Trump’s second administration have raised concerns about antisemitic sentiment.
Jewish leaders, including the heads of the Union for Reform Judaism’s advocacy center and Jewish War Veterans, questioned how such a policy could have gone through despite Lunday’s directive. Some told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Lunday should not lead the Coast Guard if he was truly unaware of the policy change.
Yet Rosen appeared to feel differently after Lunday took additional steps Thursday. According to The Washington Post, Lunday issued a new directive to say the revisions involving swastikas and nooses had been “completely removed” from the policy manual. A copy of the manual itself now obscures the language with a large black bar.
In her statement lifting the hold on Lunday, Rosen added that, because she was still not satisfied with how the swastika issue was handled, she would be placing a hold on a different nomination: Sean Plankey, who had sought to lead the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a component of the Department of Homeland Security.
“I will keep that hold in place until we see that this new policy works to protect our men and women in uniform from racist and antisemitic harassment,” Rosen wrote. Homeland Security also oversees the Coast Guard.
Plankey was not confirmed before the Senate adjourned, and his nomination would have to be renewed by Trump in the new year.
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post Coast Guard again retracts policy that would downgrade swastika as hate symbol, clearing path for new leader’s confirmation appeared first on The Forward.