Letters:
Talking Turkey

As I learned from both a front page story and an opinion essay in the last issue of the Jewish State (Nov. 23) a member of the Middlesex County Jewish community was moved to argue passionately with a customer service representative, a manager, and then a national customer service manager of ShopRite.

What caused this crusade? This individual determined that a discount on a kosher turkey the supermarket provided to frequent shoppers was not as generous as the discounts the store offered on other (non-kosher) foods. What a sad, sad Hillul HaShem (dishonor of God's name) these stories reveal.

ShopRite, in particular, has gone out of its way to provide for the needs of kosher consumers and offers all sorts of products that are hard to find in our area. They deserve our appreciation for such dedication to a minority population. To take their employees to task because the kosher consumers discount is not as sweet as the regular customers discount is shameful and ungrateful.

Is this person unmindful of the stereotype of Jews that, whether we like it or not, is prevalent in certain parts of secular society, that Jews care more for money than they do for people?

Noted lecturer Rabbi Yissocher Frand of the Ner Israel Academy in Baltimore remarks in one of his taped lectures that when someone tells you: ‘It's not about the money, it's about the principle of the matter,' you can be sure that it's about the money.

Such appears to be the case here. How sad.

Harry Glazer

Highland Park

Kuddos to Pathmark but ShopRite should review turkey offer for kosher customers

I read your article about the Kosher Turkey Situation at Pathmark and Shoprite.

While I couldn't agree more that ShopRite's policy does not seem fair, this year Pathmark gave the kosher turkey's away for free just like the non-kosher turkeys. We got two free turkey's with no problem or argument, just as their sign advertised.

While we also "earned" a turkey at ShopRite, we didn't bother getting it because Pathmark's policy made more sense. Thank you to Pathmark for valuing all of their customers equally.

We still think ShopRite is a great store that takes good care of it's kosher customers, but perhaps some of their policies need further review.

Rachel Gottfried

Edison