NEWS

Rabbi says he was asked to leave restaurant for being Jewish

Therese Apel
The Clarion-Ledger

A Jackson Rabbi says he was thrown out of a restaurant after a short exchange when the person behind the register found out he was Jewish.

Rabbi Ted Riter of the Beth Israel Congregation said he went to Wraps in Maywood Mart Tuesday for lunch, and he ordered a salad.

Riter said a man he believed to be the owner replied, "A full size or a Jewish size?"

When asked what he meant by that, Riter said the man said, "It's small. Jews are cheap and small. Everybody knows that."

Riter said he was incredulous, and that he thought perhaps he might have heard him wrong, so he said, "Did you really just say that?" and the man asked him if he was a Jew. When Riter said yes, he was told to leave the restaurant.

"Expletives, F-bombs, and since I'd never been the recipient of that before, I was in shock, so I didn't register it until the second or third time he told me to leave," Riter said. "It was a bit surreal. So I left."

A woman who answered the phone at the restaurant Tuesday afternoon, who would only identify herself as Maria D., said the owner "has his own sense of humor."

"The owner has no racial problems. He is very friendly and would never do something like that, she said when asked about Riter's allegations.

She said the owner's name is John Ellis but said he wasn't at the restaurant.

"I didn't hear what happened myself but it must have been some kind of huge misunderstanding," she said.

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."

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."

Riter said he didn't identify himself as a Rabbi.

"I didn't think it was pertinent. I'm the person who's coming in to buy lunch. It shouldn't matter if I'm Jewish, if I'm a Rabbi," he said. "If we're going to have a business, I believe we should be open to anyone who wants to come in."

Riter posted his conversation with the man on Facebook, and has received an outpouring of support.

"If he had said, 'Ugh, I'm sorry,' and laughed it off as, 'I shouldn't use that term' or something of that nature, if he had just intended it as an off-color joke, I wouldn't have appreciated it but I would have been fine," Riter said. "But to turn around and tell me to get out of his restaurant... I can't even offer a guess as to what he was thinking."

The Jewish holy days of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur begin Wednesday night, and Riter points out that this is a time of forgiveness and repentance for the Jewish people.

"We need to get past this place of distrust. It really has no reason for still existing in these modern times, and perhaps it never had reason to exist, but particularly now in these times," Riter said. "I was coming in to patronize his business and to be treated with unjustified, unprovoked hatred was really appalling."

Riter has lived in the Jackson area since July, when he became the Rabbi at Beth Israel. He said this is the first time anyone has not been completely gracious to him.

"It's so diametrically opposed to the reception I've received here from the greater Jackson community," he said. "I really I love it here. It's been a great community, and it still is."

If given a chance to talk to the man who refused him service, Riter said he'd be happy to do it.

"I would welcome an opportunity to speak with him, and move to a place of understanding and acceptance and embrace," he said.

Harold Gater and Steven Ward contributed to this report.

Contact Therese Apel at tapel@gannett.com or call (601) 961-7236. Follow @TRex21 on Twitter.