Jerry’s Deli customers got this cheery holiday email today (emphasis is mine):
Hello _____,
We invite you to join us! Celebrate Yom Kippur with Jerry’s Famous Deli. Our special holiday menu is perfect for the occasion. Bring your family. Bring your friends…and enjoy some great food!
To view this year’s menu, click here:
http://jerrysfamousdeli.com/holiday/…and remember, Jerry’s Deli catering can make your Holiday planning so much easier. Give us a call and we’ll bring the food to you!
Jerry’s Famous Deli
Where Food and People Mix!Jerry’s Famous Deli – Guy’s North – Solley’s Deli
That email was followed just a few hours later by this one:
Dear Customers of Jerrys Deli,
I wish to apologize for the mistake made by our marketing company in the recent email blast sent to you. As an Israeli and a Jew, I was very disappointed by this.
Our marketing company unfortunately sent an email blast without our input. The marketing company meant to serve us. However, they simply did not know what the holiday really represents and how it can offend those observing Yom Kippur / day of atonement.
I apologize on behalf of the company, its staff and the owners.
Ami Saffron
Executive Vice President Jerrys Deli
So much for getting goyem to do your marketing for you, Jerry’s. I think you may have just established yourself as our bad ad campaigns gold medalist. God help me, I know it’s a terrifically offensive gaffe in the eyes of the devout, but I’m laughing so hard I can hardly get this post up.
More in this series:
To a New World of Gods and Monsters
It’s a Thin Line Between Awesome and Awful
Some Things Shouldn’t Go Viral
(Thanks to Chris for the tip)
I wouldn’t have gotten why this was offensive.
I laughed too, once a quick Google search reminded me which holiday this is. Oy.
Maybe it’s just a Member of the Tribe thing. To me it reads like “Ramadan Brunch Special!” or “Vegans’ Favorite Meatloaf!”
Perhaps I should have explained it better. Yom Kippur is the most important Jewish holiday, the holiest of high holy days. It is the day of atonement and it’s central personal ritual is a fast from sundown to sundown. It’s one thing to say “come break fast at Jerry’s!” It’s another to say, “eat here on Yom Kippur.”
I understand why this is offensive, but I’m still laughing hysterically. Hilarious!
Lol…you used goyem in a sentence. Seriously, I get why people are offended and why they reacted so quickly. Like Burns! I couldn’t help but chuckle over the gaffe.
Reminds me of the bakery in my hometown that advertised “Get Your Passover Challah Bread Here!”
This one is less ignorant…people do celebrate Yom Kippur by eating…a lot…and then not eating…followed by more eating once it’s over. It’s not completely ridiculous.
They should have put out the simple and face-saving follow-up “– we mean after sundown, of course.”
Agreed Matt. They should have said, “Of course we meant you should break fast with us.”
HAHA @Travis – “break fast”!! That was the funniest part of this whole post, I think.