A Jewish reporter for the Asbury Park Press went public with criticism that the paper’s management was oblivious about the Jewish communities they cover after the paper scheduled a staff pizza party for Yom Kippur.
“The Asbury Park Press just hit a milestone,” Journalist Ilana Keller, who covers arts for the Asbury Park Press, wrote on Twitter. “A pizza party is planned. It’s scheduled for Yom Kippur – one of the holiest days in Judaism, a day spent in reflection, marked with a fast.
“As a Jewish journalist, obviously that irked me,” she continued. “But here’s why it goes far beyond pizza. The fact that management didn’t realize it’s Yom Kippur is a problem. These are the people who dictate what is covered and how to utilize resources for a region with a tremendous Orthodox population.
“The [recently formed union] was founded with diversity issues top of mind,” Keller concluded. “Ironically, Gannett employees were just required to undergo a training called ‘Creating a Culture of Inclusion.’ It’s obvious that we have a long way to go.”
The tweets garnered a number of responses on Twitter.
“The coverage area of Asbury Park Press includes some of the largest – and fastest-growing – Jewish populations around,” a tweet from the Atlantic DOT Guild read. “Whiffing this hard isn’t just embarrassing; it’s horrific.”
“Interesting development from a paper that spends so much resources to write about Jews,” OJPAC tweeted.
{Matzav.com}
I f I may comment that the headline is extremely hurtful to the Jewish nation!
Yom kipur is far from a “orthodox holiday”
Its is certainly a religious holiday for all religious jew, and statistics show that hundreds of thousands of not millions of non practicing religious jews all over the world participate in yom kipur fast or prayers or both,
This paper is out of touch with Judaism in general, nothing to do with orthodox,
Please for the respect of so many good non orthodox jews please change the headline
In the most respectful way I can, I would like to point out that your statement “please, for the respect of so many good non-orthodox jews…” is completely non-sensical.
You CANNOT be a “good Jew” and not be orthodox.
One may be a good person, a fine, pleasant, and accomplished individual, without being an “orthodox” Jew.
But you cannot claim to be a good Jew in a manner that flouts the exact tenets that Judaism sets forth. Just as you cannot be a “Good American” by violating its laws, or be a “good baseball player” while refusing to hold a bat.
I point this out not to antagonize. Rather for the sake of truth, and to give credit to those who, quite frankly, sacrifice a whole lot of “conveniences” to be true to their beliefs.