Crown Heights, NY – “IS HE COMING BACK?” Clara Santos Perez was peering out the windows and across the street, where an imposing man in black stood, his face turned in her direction.
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Was he watching? Waiting? Planning to confront her anew? Perez wondered aloud about all of this, wrung her hands and paced. In her agitation and dread she more closely resembled a criminal on the lam than what she really was: a restaurant manager rattled by an unusually troubling customer complaint.
It was a Sunday in late summer, and most of the night had gone smoothly. From 6 p.m. on, almost all of the 45 or so seats in the main dining room of Basil Pizza & Wine Bar were filled, primarily with its core clientele of Hasidic Jews from the restaurant’s neighborhood in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Their conversation and a soundtrack of merry classical music combined to form a pleasant din.
Then, shortly after 8, a young man walked in with a young woman wearing a summery, skimpy dress – sleeveless and backless, so that you could detect some sort of elaborate tattoo between her shoulder blades – and they took two of the empty stools at the bar, leaning in close to each other to talk. About five minutes later, another young couple took two more stools; the woman, in a black tank top and gray denim miniskirt, was angled so that her knees almost touched the man’s. And there the four new arrivals sat, emblems of the way the neighborhood was changing, on prominent display. They drew several stares, though they didn’t seem conscious of that.
They were gone by 9, shortly after which the man in black appeared. Perez instantly recognized him as Rabbi Don Yoel Levy, a Hasid who heads OK Kosher Certification, which monitors and validates Basil’s advertised adherence to kosher dietary rules. He and his deputies are supposed to make unannounced kitchen inspections. But when Perez filled me in on the exchanges that she and other staff members at Basil had with him – I was in the restaurant then, as I had been all night long – she said that he expressed concern not about the food but about inappropriate attire and immoral behavior at the bar. Someone had apparently called to complain. Perez said that the rabbi was also requesting access, from this point forward, to Basil’s internal surveillance cameras.
He left after perhaps seven minutes. Her agitation lasted longer than that, as she questioned what right and what cause he had to imply that the couples at the bar, who had behaved unremarkably and kept to themselves, were somehow morally wanting.
“What’s godly about that?” she said. “It’s not nice.”
““It’s embarrassing,” he said in an angry voice. “It feeds the notion that Orthodox Jews want to control and repress.”
How true.
The hechsher ought to never have been issued in the first place. This is the reason we have laws of yayin neshech. So called “integration” is forbidden co-mingling.
Moreover, it is forbidden for a man to make a blessing with women in view, how much more so scantily dressed women?
And finally, kol isha is an issur dorisa, not a self imposition by Hasidim as this article states.
Why don’t other fine institutions have these issues?
let her move her store to manhattan
where people do whatever they want
ny times is out to lunch!
imposing man in black?
why not man dressed in a sharp suit?
trying to make him sound like a quack?
Many upscale non-kosher establishments have attire rules. You can’t just prance on in with a t-shirt and dirtied ripped jeans. I don’t see the problem if Kashruth agencies would require a proper dress code. It actually makes a lot of sense.
If you don’t want to play by the rules go somewhere else. Kashruth agencies don’t have to lower their standards if they don’t want to, and you don’t have to use them. There is no shortage of Kosher Orthodox eateries in Brooklyn. This article smells like liberal media trying to bash orthodox practices by using poke fun of tactics, instead of logic. Do you agree?
Thank G-d this restaurant is on the other side of the Ave. were most of us in the neighborhood dont haveto pass by. Those who are more strict would rather eat out of the neighborhood then sit with unpleasantly dressed woman.
they are going to lose the hechsher in a zap… they should fire the lady NOW… If you dont respect Rabbi Levy.. get a new hechsher!!
Basil is a disgrace and a shame to our neighborhood. I hope it gets closed down soon.
Danny, you can invest your money into Mosdos and other KOSHER business ventures without taxing the community with such Nisyonos…
How many youngsters have to be affected negatively from your “experiment” for you to realize it’s a mistake?
Responses 2 and 3, This is ridiculous , food is kosher if its Kosher. I’ve heard that the owner of a restaurant be judged and not get a hecksher but the patrons as well? This shows that the hashgacha industry has gone too far! Let people dress how they want and eat where they want. All the patrons of that store choose that they want to eat there and if they don’t like how others dress they do not have to return.
Hopefully, as a result of his disgraceful behavior, Levy and his hashgacha will lose business and credibility. He has no right to dictate the dress of the customers. In some glatt hemeshe places the customers come in wearing dirty clothes and lacking in personal hygiene but no one mashgiach would ever suggest a customer go home and shower. These customers were totally within their legal rights to come in and have a drink like normal people at a bar on a hot summer day. If the vaad wants to impose a dress code on their establishments, let them make that a condition of their contracts. But otherwise, don’t act like a thug as Levy is doing here.
#2
Aryeh – You claim Kol Isha is issur d’oraisa, funny that Chazal only thought of it as having an esnachata from Shir Hashirim…
I know that sometimes such things have d’oraisa status but not so pashut here.
the guys in for a rude awakening in shomayim….
he thinks hes so perfect
Get a grip, people- we are living in a democratic, multi-cultural country, and one of the Chevlei Mashiach that we must endure is living amongst those whose outlooks are so different than ours. A restaurant is a place of public accommodation, it is not a private restricted club. We cannot and should not expect such a business to impose standards of dress that would, unfortunately, exclude most members of the society in which we live. To do that, it seems to me you would have to open a restricted “social club” which would be open only to those who would agree to abide by the codes of dress and behavior that we are comfortable with. And as for making a bracha with scantily clad women in view, just shade your eyes with your hand while making the bracha.
I agree with Concerned_Yid #10 . A mashgiach charged with determining kashrus of kitchen and food has no business poking into client behavior. If you don’t like it, don’t eat there. If enough don’t eat there, or perhaps if the owner were approached directly and politely, the policy would change such that the restaurant impose a dress (or behavior) code to keep its customers. Neither a dresscode nor a behavior code is any business of the kosher food/facility inspector.
This isnt Israel. If the food is Kosher, the clientele is Yosher. If the Owner is a Shomer Shabbos, the Mashgiach is not the Baal Habos.
THis is America people. You dont like it, dont patronize it. But dont bring ancillary issues into the question of Kashrus and harm a Yid’s parnassah. Shame on the Mashgiach. He will answer in Bais Din Shel Maalah and be reincarnated as a sheep to slaughter served in Basil.
Danny Branover and by extension the rest of his Wife’s family are baalei tzedakah and gomlei chassodim of the highest caliber. I heard from a family member of his recently, regarding a large tzedakah check he was writing with a sigh, that it’s easy to give when you have, the true test is when things are tight, and he wrote the check. The hechsher on the other hand, well they are proffeteers dressed and cloaked in the religion. Shame on them. They are there to benefit no one but themseleves and to try and convince everyone else that they are the golden standard for yiddishkeit. “Olem golem” no-more. We all know now what hashgacha companies are all about. Besides, if the women are not tzinus, why is the Rabbi looking?
Aryeh!
Where did it say anything about Kol Isha in the article?!?!
Secondly, every kosher upscale restaurant serves wine.
Are we supposed to put up a sign a la the ’30S stating ,
“NO GENTILES ALLOWED!”?
Lastly, why can one not, ‘halachically’, make a brocho in front of a tz’niusdige clothed woman??
Concerned Yid said:
“I’ve heard that the owner of a restaurant be judged and not get a hecksher but the patrons as well? This shows that the hashgacha industry has gone too far! Let people dress how they want and eat where they want”.
You couldn’t be further from the truth!
YES! The hechsher is and should be on the ENTIRE establishment.
Many years ago, the Mashgiach in the old Lake House warned the owner that the mechitza around the pool has to be raised 2 feet immediately, as one was able to see over it from the bridge out of the lobby. That kashrus agency backed the mashgiach and agreed that their hashgocho extended to the entire premises.
The next day the mechitza was raised.
Isn’t the purpose of a hasgacha to make it possible for more people to have kosher food? I do not think that other establishments would want a mashgiach that tries to control their clientele.
Rabbi Levy is reacting to complains of local residence. It is well known around Crown Heights that you can only go there for lunch. Not everyone is Tzniusdik, but is the same as everywhere. In the evening it is very Peritsusdik and “Hefker’dik” and tzinus is not at it’s best. There are various levels of not Tznious, and at night it is just terrible.
Go into 7-11 and see a sign “No shirt No shoes No service”. Every restaurant has some form of decorum, although some times what they considered dress may be totally unTznious.
I’m sure Rabbi Levy just wants to see how Hefkerdik it is. He does not check other restaurants of his whether the people are dressed Tzniusik.
Everyone has their own agendas. NYTimes has theirs, OK has theirs, and Basil has its own. If I had one, it would be to protect young Jewish souls from this “experiment.”
Kashrut agencies are permitted to add non-halachic stipulations before giving someone a hechsher. For example, our local Vaad requires the groceries it supervises to accept food stamps. No rabbi would give a hechsher to a shomer Shabat strip club no matter how perfectly kosher the food was.
I live in Crown Heights as well. I ask all you indignant posters how YOU would feel if half-naked women & sleazy men visited restaurants a block from YOUR child’s school & across from YOUR main Shul? What would YOU think if scantily-dressed girls & women wandered through YOUR streets, making it uncomfortable for local Frum residents to shop in their local stores?
My husband & sons are uncomfortable at what they see when they walk up Kingston Avenue. What would you have them do, keep their eyes on the ground? Go blinkered? They have to get to work & Shul, for heaven’s sake! They need to see where they’re going! But they don’t like seeing Jewish girls dress like this in our own back yard. It’s bad enough we have to see non-Jews wear next to nothing.
A Hechscher isn’t given on restaurants that are open on Shabbos, clearly against Halacha. Immodesty is also against Halacha. Having a dress code is not unheard of, the fanciest places have them. If “Basil” wants to be up there at the top, make your mark: expect & insist on decent attire. Remember where you opened your cafe.
MYOB, you “foreigners.” WE live here: YOU don’t.
A PS to my post (I’m # 27.)
I stand by what I said, but thinking further, it probably would have been better if, instead of Rabbi Levy viewing the video footage, his wife (who is a wonderful lady, elegant & TZNIUS!!) or any of the many female staff (some of whom are senior staffers) viewed it instead.
The reason is to stop all you yentas like Yitzchok (# 20) from verbalizing what his sick mind came up with. In other words, to protect Rabbi Levy from disgusting comments like good ol’ Yitzchok’s.
The table is a misbeach. So why go and eat at a public table, and being served who knows what. In that pic I don’t exactly see a yid in the background. On the other hand, a yid can certainly earned his parnusa having a restaurant. The bottom line is that you know what to do, so do it, and don’t complain. Take ownership of your own responsibility.
why does everyone jump to conclusions so fast on every article posted…remember writers try and grab ones attention ..perhaps read more of the article….I guess that everyone just wants to be quick to judge everyone and post their sinas chinam comments anon!!!! everyone time to grow up and stop being so righteous and have some Ahavas Yisroel and yes I live in CH and I go to restaurants all over the city and world and wake up its tough out there and here and in BP etc …..that is why it is time to really have some AHAVAT(S) YISRAEL!!!!!!!! As they say when you point a finger there are 4 more pointing at you !!!!!
Wow!
Now because you rent an apartment in Crown Heights, the rest of the free world has to meet your standards! And since you now own the neighborhood, we “foreigners” don’t even have a right to voice an opinion, according to you.
You are arrogant, self-righteous hypocrites who think the world revolves around your idea of what is right and wrong. What’s next, separate sidewalk for men and women protests?
You don’t own the street, you don’t own the neighborhood, you don’t own the businesses, and if you don’t like a restaurant, don’t patronize it.
If you don’t like seeing the people who walk around inside OR outside this restaurant, move yourself and your intolerant family to a cave in the mountains somewhere. Don’t live in the middle of New York City and expect it to accommodate you.
And the frum community wonders why people dislike religious Jews!
Reply to #27 :
I am 100% frum, and I don’t have any problem with this restaurant running the way it is.
I also resent your attitude that you not only have a right to tell others what to do, you think you even have the right to tell others what they can and cannot comment on.
How about you take care of your own religious observance, and don’t worry so much about how other people live their lives or run their businesses. If you don’t like what they do, that is YOUR problem, not theirs. they have every bit as much right to do what they wish as you do.
It is incredible how you complain how other religions treat you in Postville and elsewhere, and you are doing much worse to others in your own backyard, trying to impose your own restrictions on everyone else.
You should have ended your last sentence with only the first word as advice you should take to heart: as you said yourself, MYOB!
So practice what you preach!
reply to #30 : Good for you to point out that people should be more tolerant and have more Ahavas Yisroel and less sinas chinom.
From reading these posts, it appears that all of the failings in the yiddishe velt come under a new heading of transgressions called “Mir Maint Nor YENEM’S” (loosely translated as “the only bad deeds around here are done by others, not us”)!
I like your last point, and while technically it is not accurate (your thumb is still pointing forward as well!) it is poetic license making a very good point (no pun intended)
#27 – If you don’t like what you see on the streets in your neighborhood perhaps you should start your own community using reverse discrimination. Many years ago a lot of areas had “gentlemen’s agreements” that didn’t allow Jews or blacks to purchase property there. It took a lot of hard work to abolish these practices and you seem to want something similar. Just remember that you live in the US and many of the services that you use are funded by taxes paid by all kinds of people – observant and non, Jewish and not. The bulk of the population are not even Jewish and don’t care one way or the other how you live your life but don’t want you dictating how they should live their lives, either. What were these restaurant patrons doing that was illegal?? They were not robbing the place or causing a disturbance – they were minding their own business. They may not even have been Jewish. Perhaps you need to move to KY or another sheltered enclave instead of continuing to live in one of the most diverse cities in the world.
I think a lot of you are missing the point. Nobody is oblivious to the world we’re living in, but then again, people don’t like things shoved in their faces. Crown Heights has no Yiddishkeit without Lubavitch. Lubavitch has standards. To open an establishment in Crown Heights, and even hang a picture of the Rebbe, to promote an enviroment that is contrary to the Lubavitch morals, and a place that embarrasses the Rebbe, THAT’S what irritates people!
27 said – MYOB, you “foreigners.” WE live here: YOU don’t.
Crown Heights existed before it was inhabited by Chassidim. YOU are the foreigner.
reply to #35 :
Too bad!
Let it “irritate” people. Irritated people still have no special right to tell other people what they can and cannot do. Are these irritated people making any attempt to turn the rest of Crown Heights frum? Being “makarev” the African-Americans? Or are they just picking on a frum Jew who is trying to run a business in a way that they personally don’t like? Do they have a problem with other, non-frum but Jewish-owned businesses?
Posters # 2 & 10; Aryeh & Concerned Yid Respectably & respectfully; Certain aspects of the lifestyle of the owner/manager are integral parts of the requirement for a proper Hechsher, but Aryeh’s statement that “A blessing (Bracha) can’t be said in the presence of women” is so wrong that I doubt if he seriously, albeit mistakenly believes that. Poster # 10 (Concerned Yid); If, for example the owner / manager of an establishment is not a Shabbat observer, there needs to be a “Mashgiach” (Kashruth supervisor) on the premises at all hours of operation. (Even when the establishment is not open to the public.).
If this bothers you so much, then just don’t eat out! It should be well worth the inconvenience of brown-bagging your lunch in order not to be involved in what you consider to be an immoral situation. This would be a much better reflection on the Jewish people as a whole and a bigger Kiddush Hashem, by actually sacrificing for what you believe in, rather than possibly, chas v’shalom, giving an impression that Jews are intolerant of others.
well this is a problem.first off there are restoraunts in new york that require a certain standard of dress.ties and jackets for instance so a good case could be made for a code of dress in this joint.further the powers that be could possibly boycot the establishment thereby forceing there mode of dress and behavoir on the ground so to speak.i myself like the live and let live thing but i understand this other mindset.a bit fanatic but there it is.like it or not.
Has anyone tried to close down the Carribean-themed restaurants because we don’t like the clientele and how they are dressed going into and out of the restaurants?