Mississippi may not be burning these days, but that doesn’t mean the magnolia state has fully left behind the racial and ethnic prejudices which have been a part of its storied history. Rabbi Ted Ritter, of Jackson’s Beth Israel congregation, learned this the hard way when he was presented with size options for the salad he’d just ordered at “Wraps” – a local restaurant.
As reported in The Jewish Daily Forward:
An employee of a Jackson Restaurant asked [Rabbi Ritter] if he wanted “a full size or a Jewish size” when he ordered a Greek salad. When the rabbi asked the man what he meant by that, the employee responded: small. Everybody knows that.”
The rabbi said that the employee asked if he was Jewish and then told him to leave the restaurant, accompanied by swearing and anti-Semitic slurs.
A small? Bear with me here, but wouldn’t the better slur be one in which the covetous yid orders the largest salad available? I mean, jesus, has anti-semitism fallen so far that your average bigot can’t make a “greedy Jew” joke without a member of the tribe having to come in to punch it up?
In any case, local news site The Clarion Ledger elaborates:
The man named John who identified himself to reporters as the owner disputed Riter’s claim, saying that Riter didn’t know what he wanted, and that he disrespected his business. When asked how, he simply said that Riter was “short.”
Whoa whoa whoa… a height joke too?
When pressed on the issue, he said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I heard from the grapevine that he’s a Rabbi, that’s all,” the owner said. “I don’t know who’s the Rabbi and who’s not a Rabbi.”
What a crazy world! Rabbis and not-Rabbis everywhere! They should wear signs.
But back to the salad at hand: What exactly determines whether a salad is “Jewish”? Is it truly based on size? Is the “Jewishness” of the composite elements a factor (romaine being a much more Jewish lettuce than iceberg)? If the salad’s mother isn’t Jewish but it’s gone to synagogue it’s whole life, does that count?
You know what, forget it, I’ll just have a burger.
[via The Forward, h/t @DanFriedmanMe]
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