Hey Rabbi, leave those kids alone !
Posted on 07/10/2023 4:14:11 PM PDT by Morgana
A New Jersey kosher bakery is facing backlash from the local Jewish community after canceling two LGBT-themed orders from a local synagogue requesting rainbow-colored cake and cookies for a Pride Shabbat celebration.
The Congregation B'nai Israel in Millburn celebrates pride month each year, a time in June that holds significance for supporters of the LGBT movement. While the West Orange Bake Shop co-owner Yitzy Mittel fulfilled an order for a similarly-themed cake last year, the task made him uncomfortable, and he declined to make the pride-themed goods this year.
As The Jewish Telegraph Agency reported Thursday, Mittel believes that LGBT symbols are "a celebration of something which is against Torah," adding that he "didn't want to be making that cake."
Instead of creating the pride-themed goods for the synagogue, the bakery owner referred them to another store that would sell them kosher LGBT desserts. Mittel insisted that he provided notification within 24 hours that he had canceled the orders.
"There's other bakeries out there that will do it," he said. "Why should I?"
The Jewish baker denied that he was homophobic, stressing that he would not write "I hate gay people" on a cake, even for a significant amount of money. Mittel noted that "[s]ymbols carry a lot of weight."
According to New Jersey Jewish News, Rabbi Julie Schwarzwald, the director of congregational learning at the synagogue, learned the bakery canceled the rainbow cake and 10 cookies when she went to pick them up.
In a statement to JTA, Mittel said he chose not to engage her because the rabbi came to the bakery during peak hours and "wanted to create a scene."
"I was comfortable drawing conclusions that meant that I was going to take my purchasing elsewhere," Schwarzwald told the New Jersey Jewish News. "It seems clear that the bakery has made the decision that pride is not something they want to support. It's their choice, it's their legal right, and I can choose to spend my dollars wherever I want."
She ultimately fulfilled the orders at a different kosher bakery in West Orange.
The West Orange Bake Shop and the Congregation B'nai Israel did not immediately respond to The Christian Post's request for comment.
According to The Times of Israel, multiple rabbis accused the bakery of bigotry, while some local Jewish community members are boycotting the shop. Additionally, a Jewish LGBT advocacy organization launched an "ally training" program in West Orange in response to the bakery's refusal.
Robert Tobin, rabbi of the Conservative B'nai Shalom in West Orange, stressed in a June 22 blog that the Torah holds "humans are created in the image of God with a variety of potential gender identities and with the possibility of gender fluidity."
"The concept of 'pride' in anything as a virtue may contradict 'humility' but given the gross historical oppression of the LGBTQ+ communities by our religious and our social authorities over time, the embrace of 'Pride' is a reasonable over-correction to assert the positive value of each human being," Tobin argued.
While some Jewish communities are affirming of LGBT lifestyles, others are not, as there are specific passages in the Torah that forbid gay sex.
Most recently, the Orthodox Jewish Yeshiva University cited its religious beliefs amid a legal battle over its refusal to recognize an LGBT student group called YU Pride Alliance.
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated a lower court decision against a Christian bakery couple, Aaron and Melissa Klein, who declined to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding.
The court sent the case back to the Court of Appeals of Oregon for consideration in light of its June ruling in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis. In a 6-3 ruling, the high court determined that the state of Colorado could not compel graphic designer Lorie Smith to create a website for a same-sex wedding.
"Under Colorado's logic, the government may compel anyone who speaks for pay on a given topic to accept all commissions on that same topic — no matter the underlying message — if the topic somehow implicates a customer's statutorily protected trait," Justice Neil Gorsuch, who authored the court's opinion, wrote.
"Equally, the government could force a male website designer married to another man to design websites for an organization that advocates against same-sex marriage. ... As our precedents recognize, the First Amendment tolerates none of that."
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett joined Gorsuch in his decision. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Elana Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson filed a dissenting opinion.
“We answer to a higher authority.”
The right to say "No" is the most basic right a free person has.
If you are not allowed to say "no" you are a slave.
And no, just because they offer to pay you does not change that. Money does not fix everything.
Federally created states such as Oregon and Colorado should only have Article I, Section 8 “necessary and proper” power.
Cake decoration lies outside the scope of “necessary” and it lies outside the scope of “proper”.
How much “pride” do these queers need anyway? If they have such low self esteem, then don’t go looking for it from other people. What do they expect, that I’m going to say “You’re into buggery? I’m PROUD of you!” Ain’t gonna happen pal!
Finally, a Jewish outfit has to face this.
Worst is it’s just like many apostate Christian churches that celebrate homosexuality. A “Jewish” synagogue insisting a Jewish business do something apostate.
Absurdity abounds.
Hey Rabbi, leave those kids alone !
Having a woman as Rabbi or Pastor is a dead giveaway.
Outrageous this is the focus today. I was just listening to Mark Levins radio show where he was talking about how Iran now has 84% enriched Uranium where 90% is needed to make nukes. They also have it so deep in the ground that it can’t be bombed. Any news organizations putting that on their headlines? NO! Everyday it’s “pride pride trans, gays, 49 genders”
Liberal jews. Millburn is a very wealthy area!
Good.
“Rabbi Julie Schwarzwald”
I think I have spotted the problem.
“There’s other bakeries out there that will do it,” he said. “Why should I?”
Because it’s about suing people who won’t celebrate homosexuality.
that’s not a genuine synagogue
it is a ‘church of Satan’ and the baker knows it
So the whole “bake-the-cake” controversy hits the Jewish community, too!
But the customer was nevertheless able to obtain “kosher LGBT desserts” from another source!
As a Christian, the idea of “kosher LGBT desserts” seems hokey to me. Next they’ll ask our Orthodox Christian priests to “bless” LGBT food items with holy water. Hopefully, they’ll say “no can do”!!
Can I sue a donut shop for not selling me the ice cream I prefer?
Under what authority can federal courts punish a cake maker that sells cakes with figures of a man and a woman, but doesn't stock figures of two men kissing?
Wouldn't it make more sense to buy my cake from someone that makes the cake I want?
I guess the answer is a baker can't control the kind of cupcakes he makes since the Homosexual Marriage Amendment (14th) was added to the Constitution in 1868.
Gays don’t own the rainbow.
Guess ‘rabbi’Julie was not educated enough to read Leviticus 18:22 “You shall not lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination.”
On the other hand, what does ALMIGHTY GOD know about it really ?
Well said.
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