Congregation Shearith Israel
  • About
    • Help Wanted
    • Mission, Vision, Core Values
    • Contact Us
    • Our Congregation and History
    • Blog
    • Places >
      • Shul Locations
      • David A. Segal Family Simcha Play Center
      • Shearith Israel Cemeteries
      • Family Room
    • People >
      • Meet our Klei Kodesh
      • Meet our Staff
      • Meet our Lay Leadership
      • Shearith People
    • Communications >
      • The Shofar
      • Our Video Channel
      • Shearith Social Media
      • Evexia
      • Sign up for our emails!
  • Calendar
  • Connect
    • Study Guides >
      • Shabbat Morning Torah Study Guides
      • Thursdays with the Rabbis Study Guides
      • Women's Torah Study Materials
    • Travel to Israel with Shearith
    • Volunteer
    • Get in Touch
    • Groups >
      • 20s and 30s
      • College Connection
      • Shearith Singles 40+
      • Pillars: Hazak Community
      • Shearith Prime
      • Social Action
    • Family Center >
      • Family Center Program and Event Descriptions
      • Tiny Treasures
      • Family Shabbat Retreat
    • The Ladder Project >
      • Donors to The Ladder Project
    • Music at Shearith >
      • Shabbat Musical Experiences
      • Small-Waldman-Cohen Signature Series
      • Hazzan Zhrebker Music
      • Our Shearith Choirs
      • Service From the Heart Album
    • SISterhood >
      • SISterhood Programs and Events
      • Torah Fund
      • SISterhood Gallery Judaica Giftshop
      • SISterhood Board Forms
  • STREAM
  • GiVE
    • Make Your Donation
    • Annual Campaign
    • Shearith Foundation
  • Pray
    • Shabbat and Minyan Times and Liturgy
    • Alternative Prayer Experiences
    • Holidays >
      • High Holy Days
    • Shabbat Musical Experiences
    • Lifecycle >
      • Birth
      • B'nei Mitzvah >
        • Adult B'nei Mitzvah
      • Conversion
      • Wedding
      • End of Life >
        • End of Life Info
        • Shearith Israel Cemeteries
      • Passings/Yahrzeits
      • Shiva Minyan Liturgy
    • Misheberach (Healing)
    • Torah >
      • Torah and Haftarah Readings
      • Holiday Torah and Haftarah Readings
  • Learn
    • The Weitzman Family Religious School >
      • WFRS Registration
      • WFRS Curriculum
      • WFRS K- 7 Calendar
    • B'nei Mitzvah
    • Adult Learning Calendar >
      • Adult Learning Class Descriptions >
        • ScholarStream Classes
    • Kesher (Special Needs) Program
  • Membership
    • Become a Member >
      • Membership Brochure
    • Membership Portal
    • Update Your Membership Portal
    • Membership Directory
  • Foundation
    • Foundation Mission and Trustees
    • Foundation Gifting
    • Legacy Donors
  • The Gallery

4/1/2019

About Those Sinful Krispy Kreme Donuts…

1 Comment

Read Now
 
Picture
By Rabbi Adam Roffman
I’ve had gourmet desserts in more restaurants (and even countries) than I can count.  But there is nothing more decadent than a hot Krispy Kreme donut as it comes off the assembly line.  When Krispy Kreme first opened in my hometown of Baltimore (where they had several kosher locations), there were lines around the block.
 
Last week, I learned that I might have to think twice, next time, before I decide to indulge in a warm original glazed.
 
Two years ago, Krispy Kreme, like Panera Bread, Peet’s Coffee, Einstein Bros. Bagels, Dr. Pepper and Snapple, was acquired by JAB Holdings.  JAB is a German company, founded nearly two centuries ago.  But as was the case for many German businesses that were around in the first part of the twentieth century, the company’s owners, the Reimann family, were avowed members of the Nazi party.  They built their tremendous empire on the backs of Russian and French prisoners of war, who served as a slave labor force in their factories.
 
The current owners, descendants of the two men who ran the company during World War II, no doubt, knew of their forbear’s despicable past, even commissioning a study a couple of years ago on how deep the connection ran between the business and the Third Reich.  Pretty deep, they discovered.
 
And yet, they chose to keep the conclusions of the study to themselves until they were exposed by a German tabloid newspaper. Once the study became public, the family confirmed its accuracy and pledged to give 10 million euros to as yet unnamed charity. 
 
In the ’70 and ‘80s many German businesses were forced to admit their role in the crimes against the Jewish people committed by the Nazis.  They paid reparations to Israel and to the families of survivors to atone for their sins. Perhaps that is why most Israeli taxis are German cars and many Israelis have moved to Berlin. The German government has undergone no small amount of soul searching in recent years to understand and atone for the atrocities of the Shoah. When I was in rabbinical school, several of my classmates went on an all-expense-paid trip to the Rhineland to dialogue with government officials and civilians, Germans who were committed to doing whatever they could to right the wrongs of the past.
 
It’s clear to me, when it comes to JAB Holdings, that’s not the case.  Not only did they fail to disclose, unprompted, what they uncovered about their history, the amount of money they pledged to donate is insulting.  As the humor site McSweeney’s wrote, this family that makes use of a Jewish sounding name to peddle their (mediocre) bagels and appropriates Yiddish slang like “schmear” to make their chain more “authentic,” decided that donating 0.0297% of their net worth was an appropriate gesture of apology. Shame on them.
 
I’ll admit it.  I consume a lot of their products.  Shira and I only buy Peet’s coffee, we love it. We go to Panera regularly for salads. And Einstein’s is the most ubiquitous bagel chain in town (and I have eaten more bagels than perhaps any other food item over the course of my life). Though the foreign company that owns these chains has made some unconscionable errors in judgement, I have no wish to pass that judgment onto to the hundreds of hard-working employees who earn their living serving carb-addicted Dallasites like me.
 
But JAB Holdings profaned the name of German industry through its actions during the war and they did so again last week. It’s our obligation to let them know that when it comes to asking the Jewish people for forgiveness, they have truly missed the mark. I encourage you to join me in writing to their Chairman at his overseas office to inform him that your rabbi says that he, his fellow owners, and his board of directors might want to take teshuva a little more seriously.
 
Mr. Peter Harf
CEO, JAB Holdings
Oudeweg 147
Haarlem, 2031 CC
Netherlands

Share

1 Comment
Marvin Noble
4/5/2019 09:42:03 am

Rabbi, at this point of time I do not think reparations are the vital matter. Rather, I would prefer to see a committment from JAB that they will encourage and support efforts to educate school attendees about the disaster in German history from 1928 to 1945. The real message is to ask if that is the culture in which they want to live.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

Details

    Authors

    Shearith Israel  clergy, staff and congregants share
    ​their stories. 

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    June 2021
    November 2020
    September 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017

    Categories

    All
    Annual Meeting
    DeReKH
    Family Center
    Guest Bloggers
    Holidays
    Israel
    Let's Go Live
    Marcy Helfand
    Prayer
    Rabbi Adam Roffman
    Rabbi Ari Sunshine
    Rabbi Matt Rutta
    Rabbi Shira Wallach
    Rosh Hashanah
    Rosh Hashanah 5779
    Sarah Lipinsky
    Social Action
    Social Justice
    The Ladder Project
    Traditions
    Worship
    Yom Kippur

    RSS Feed

© COPYRIGHT 2020. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • About
    • Help Wanted
    • Mission, Vision, Core Values
    • Contact Us
    • Our Congregation and History
    • Blog
    • Places >
      • Shul Locations
      • David A. Segal Family Simcha Play Center
      • Shearith Israel Cemeteries
      • Family Room
    • People >
      • Meet our Klei Kodesh
      • Meet our Staff
      • Meet our Lay Leadership
      • Shearith People
    • Communications >
      • The Shofar
      • Our Video Channel
      • Shearith Social Media
      • Evexia
      • Sign up for our emails!
  • Calendar
  • Connect
    • Study Guides >
      • Shabbat Morning Torah Study Guides
      • Thursdays with the Rabbis Study Guides
      • Women's Torah Study Materials
    • Travel to Israel with Shearith
    • Volunteer
    • Get in Touch
    • Groups >
      • 20s and 30s
      • College Connection
      • Shearith Singles 40+
      • Pillars: Hazak Community
      • Shearith Prime
      • Social Action
    • Family Center >
      • Family Center Program and Event Descriptions
      • Tiny Treasures
      • Family Shabbat Retreat
    • The Ladder Project >
      • Donors to The Ladder Project
    • Music at Shearith >
      • Shabbat Musical Experiences
      • Small-Waldman-Cohen Signature Series
      • Hazzan Zhrebker Music
      • Our Shearith Choirs
      • Service From the Heart Album
    • SISterhood >
      • SISterhood Programs and Events
      • Torah Fund
      • SISterhood Gallery Judaica Giftshop
      • SISterhood Board Forms
  • STREAM
  • GiVE
    • Make Your Donation
    • Annual Campaign
    • Shearith Foundation
  • Pray
    • Shabbat and Minyan Times and Liturgy
    • Alternative Prayer Experiences
    • Holidays >
      • High Holy Days
    • Shabbat Musical Experiences
    • Lifecycle >
      • Birth
      • B'nei Mitzvah >
        • Adult B'nei Mitzvah
      • Conversion
      • Wedding
      • End of Life >
        • End of Life Info
        • Shearith Israel Cemeteries
      • Passings/Yahrzeits
      • Shiva Minyan Liturgy
    • Misheberach (Healing)
    • Torah >
      • Torah and Haftarah Readings
      • Holiday Torah and Haftarah Readings
  • Learn
    • The Weitzman Family Religious School >
      • WFRS Registration
      • WFRS Curriculum
      • WFRS K- 7 Calendar
    • B'nei Mitzvah
    • Adult Learning Calendar >
      • Adult Learning Class Descriptions >
        • ScholarStream Classes
    • Kesher (Special Needs) Program
  • Membership
    • Become a Member >
      • Membership Brochure
    • Membership Portal
    • Update Your Membership Portal
    • Membership Directory
  • Foundation
    • Foundation Mission and Trustees
    • Foundation Gifting
    • Legacy Donors
  • The Gallery