Brooklyn, NY – This is one Jew who has decided to live high on the hog.
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Jason Marcus is opening a restaurant for people who “like bacon with everything” and wish that their “bowls of moules-frites would never end” in the middle of the Orthodox enclave of Williamsburg.
The pork and shellfish eatery located at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge at 229 S. Fourth St. even has a provocative name — Traif, the Yiddish word for all things non-kosher and unbecoming.
“I figured most people would not know what it meant and be curious,” Marcus, 30, said.
“I love to eat bacon and shellfish,” he said.
The opening of the naughty noshery has riled rabbis in the area. But at least one Hasidic activist, Isaac Abraham, said he was actually happy with the restaurant’s name.
“It’s the red blinking light to not enter,” he said.
The hog haven attracted more than 50 people at its opening night last Tuesday — including a group of Hasidic Jews.
Hashem Yeracheim
RE:last 2 lines…what a liar…
I refuse to believe this self serving self hating jew who no doubt currently ownes a box seat in hell that a group of ‘hassidic jews.” Even if these were people currently off the derech, I am sure they didn’t come in with burd n payos.
Regardless of that, this self hater is a choteh u’machteh es ha’rabim. It does take much to see why he opened his restaurant where he did other than to give a major potch in punim to the yiddin in Willyburg.
The only consolation is that most restaurants fail within a year. IYH that will be the case here too.
Must be an abuse victim…
What a shanda!
This man deliberately opened a store with such an name to get FREE PUBLICITY… He has inspired me. I am thinking of opening a reform church across teh street with a wedding store for intermarried couples or a shiksa dating service. Its totally Jewish… Its the norm in reform circles so that must mean since majority rules everything that the reform do is JEWISH.
Open a gourmet vegetarian restaurant across the street. Vegetarian is “hip.” Chazir-fressing is unhealthy and stupid.
Relax, people.
This Jew is very, very close to doing teshuva and returning to Torah observance.
Obviously, the concept of kashrus weighs heavy on his mind and heart; it’s just that he 1) doesn’t yet understand the reality of G-d; 2) hasn’t learned that Torah is from G-d and is true; and 3) probably hasn’t yet seen the beauty of Torah Judaism.
What to do: 1) Take a deep breath and realize that we are in Galus . . . all of us; 2) Make a connection with him based on respect for where he’s holding right now and your Ahavas Yisroel; 3) Invite him for Shabbos, Yom Tov, or a Mitvoch l’chaim; 4) Daven to Hashem (his G-d, too, you know) and maybe say his kepitel Tehillim.
Remember: Teshuvah happens!
#1 this place is way out of the himmish area #2 no rabbi in these days would bother if any1 sells TREIF to non jews. And mr abraham is so right the name alone is a stop sign for any1 who keeps kosher
And regarding the bike shop owner who was reported yesterday to be
opening night use to think of u trying to help out
And educated ur brothers but frm ur comments looks like u just hate them
Guys please do not give this idiot the attention he is so desperately seeking. This story is not worth to get all worked up. All he is trying to do is get under our skin. Please just ignore him. Let the chazer eat his chazer.
Honestly..
Within the non-orthodox world (In which I was raised), its considered ‘not a big deal’ to eat treif. he’s not doing this because hes a bad Jew, or a self-hating Jew. This is just the only way he has ever known.
We dont have to like this restaurant’s existence, but he has every right to have it there. Obviously we wont patronize it, but we need to just let it be.
His apartment complex is probably named, “Arayos”.
What’s his back ground ? Where was he raised ? Is his family from Williamsburg ?
I am sure many pourto ricans have bacon and pork srotes around the area
Who cares
He wants to get a little publicity for his eatery and wants us to deliver it for free
What a liar this guy is, and why is the NY Post giving him free publicity?
A Jew opening a restaurant dedicated to selling trief? It sounds like he’s a hipster trying to be ironic.
B”H
someone who knows him personally please tell me only his father is a yid.
#9 said it all. We must daven for this yid. For him to do this means that his yiddishe neshama is on fire. Daven for him. Mkarov him.
He sure looks like a “Chazir”. The NY Post bought his story without doing the minimum research, what a bunch of fools, no Rabbi even heard of his resteraunt, he will be out of business in no time.
There’s almost no Hasid in Billburgh that this eatery will manage to offend, there are a dime-a-dozen traif restaurants in the area serving pork among other unkosher meat. Except for the name this one’s no different. If the hipsters think that they “scored one” they’re in for an unpleasant surprise. As you can see none of our papers, blogs or hotlines etc. even mentioned it. This is no different than any other rant, period. As for the owner, he probably has as much to do with judaism as his fellow hipsters and uses the name as a publicity stunt. Might work since spiting us became just as important as going green, driving a bike through Bedford etc.
Brilliant marketing plan, To get all written up in the papers for free, I need to sit down with him in his Traif restaurant & get some ideas for my business ,
Uch makes me vomit
I m living here for the past 34 yrs. but still have no idea where 229 S. 4TH ST. is, not to mention there isn’t any rabbi bothering with something that dosen’t have any affect on the comunity what so ever.
BTW no one would mind if mr. abraham stops giving statements 2 the press on behalf of the WMSBG comunity.
at least it is not a”frum” jew selling traif chickens and telling people they are kosher
How about someone creating T-shirts “It’s Hip to be Kosher” and giving out to all the patrons who go to his restaurant for free?
Chabad of North Williamsburg – not expecting you to do these T- shirts – but help this guy please to do Tshuvah!
Gosh – can you imagine if he did Tshuva, and his kitchen get’s kashered, what will he call his new restaurant? We can have a restaurant naming contest.
Oh, there is kosher vegetarian alternatives to a lot of unkosher foods. I don’t know if there is a soyprotein alternative to pork. I remember there was a kosher alternative to I think it was shrimp. Was a the Kosher Foods Expo so many years agol.
Anyhow this guy from “Treif” says he is a Reform Jew, which can mean that only his father was Jewish, meaning he may not be Jewish at all!
Call to Chabad-Lubavitch (and any other Jews who truly love Hashem, His Torah, and His People):
Let’s go to this Jew’s business and love him with all our hearts and souls. There’s no doubt he’ll learn and observe.
Hashem guarantees this.
its not in the heimisha neighborhood…..who cares…..he is catering to the goyshe neighborhood we don’t have to be bothered by it why even post such an article…..i guess u want ppl to check it out
My HaShem in Shamayim, here am I on earth, So I’ll let my words be few 🙂 VIN didn’t want to post my other comment that is fine. This guy is still a Jew so stop judging him!
not nice, but it’s a free world out there …
I remember being in Ft.Lauderdale a few years back and there was a Kosher milchig restaurant called “Fressers”..They since closed down…
The food looks like waste products….very unappetizing!
May his children and grandchildren become “chozre l’tshuva.”
Someone should open a kosher place next door, call it “Kosher”, and outdo him!
He can open another restaurant in a Muslim neighborhood and call it “Haraam”
To # 30 youmust be from that group, this was written in 1 of the major newspapers 2 years ago
Frustrated at Abraham’s constant ability to be quoted in the media, Niederman and other Satmar leaders once retained a prominent city publicist to call every city desk and say that Abraham didn’t speak for the community. It didn’t work: Reporters kept calling Abraham, whose quotes were always better than those from most paid flacks.
There have been both Chassideshe and Litvashe customers who have gone to this restaurant to “check it out” but most have done so out of curiosity and not to publicly engage in a chilul hashem. Some might have been engaged in thier own “outreach” efforts to try and convice the owner to do tshuvah and get hashgacha.
איך האף ווען עס וועט זיך אפשפארען וועט “וואס איז נייעס” אויך געפונען פאר וויכטיג עס צו רעפארטען
The odds are almost assured that his grandchildren will either be frum or not Jewish
For all those who are bashing this guy, wishing him luck “down under,” relax. Firstly, the guy’s not an apikores or a Yisroel mumer. He’s not looking for frum Yidden to “fry out,” the name itself can testify that. He’s simply a very misguided tinuk shenishba, growing up in a very secular family in NJ (who has a very basic knowledge that pork, etc. is treif like 98% of Jews from NY/NJ). You’d do much better taking the stance of the Lubavitcher Rebbe; instead of bashing or criticizing, actively helping this confused neshoma and realizing the potential it has to return to its roots.
He could be chazir bitshuvah
I wonder if they have a treif mashgiach there ?
What doesnt anger Rabbis?
Mazel Tov. This is a free country, not yet run by the frumkeits. He has as much right to open a business as you do. You don’t want to eat treif, mazel tov to you as well.
Who really gives a *** I hope he knows the X-Chasidim didn’t lost their sense to good food, the name will only bring in people for the first time, if he want to be successful he should better have good food.
A marketing genius. Give the man credit. So what if he eats traif. He may be a tinok shenishbe
This ‘oisvarf’ is what you call a ‘chilul HaShem’. the chasidic community has an obligation to get this bum out of their community, especially because he is Jewish and using Jewish words for his shmutzike treife place right in the heart of where frumer Yidden live. Unless this is some kind of joke, this is inexcusable.
okay Chabad, its time to get busy with this dude!!