Yehuda Sichel, who owns the restaurant Huda in Philadelphia, has been getting “incredible” support from the Jewish community after anti-Israel groups said that they would hold a boycott bicycle ride past his restaurant on Sunday, on the eve of the anniversary of Kristallnacht, he told JNS.
Those who support Huda and other targeted Jewish-owned restaurants are organizing a community food crawl, for which residents are invited to gather at Huda, which is located near Rittenhouse Square in Center City, at 11:30 a.m. on Nov. 8.
The square, which William Penn planned in the late 17th century, is where the “boycott ride” is slated to occur at that same time.
“Instead of a boycott, let’s show up for our local Jewish-owned businesses,” an ad promoting the crawl states. It also lists stops at K’Far Café and Mac Mart, along with Dizengoff, Goldie and Schlesinger’s. (Goldie, a falafel restaurant, is kosher.)
“The outpouring of support from the Jewish community has been incredible, and we’re truly grateful,” Sichel told JNS. “People have been showing up to support our businesses, and we look forward to welcoming everyone Sunday.”
“We won’t cower,” he said. “We’ll show up strong with pride and solidarity and keep the focus on peaceful support.”
It is “deeply personal” for Sichel, the grandson of Holocaust survivors, to see Jewish businesses targeted on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, he told JNS.
“I’m proud to be Jewish and supportive of Israel,” he said. “Neither should make my business a target.”
Marti Lieberman, who owns Mac Mart, told JNS that the “negativity, aggression and anger have been overshadowed by an unbelievable amount of love and support for our small business and the others included on the flier.”
“We’ve been inundated with emails, calls and direct messages,” Lieberman said.
Mac Mart isn’t typically open on Sundays, but Lieberman plans to open the kiosk during the food crawl “to show that we won’t be scared into closing but most importantly, to say thank you to everyone who has rallied around us and the other businesses.”
“People have been sending Venmo contributions to support our business and help us pay it forward with meals for those who can’t afford them,” she told JNS. “Others have been ordering holiday trays and booking catering. Every message, order and act of kindness means so much to us.”
“We’re going to make as much food as we possibly can on Sunday and do what we’ve always loved doing—feed people,” Lieberman said.
The Anti-Defamation League is urging Philadelphians to dine at Jewish-owned eateries this week. “This is no coincidence,” the ADL said, of the boycott timing. “It’s a deliberate message of hate and intimidation.”
“This protest is an attempt to intimidate a Jewish community that has faced generations of violence, exclusion and antisemitism,” the ADL said. “We refuse to let hate win.”
The American Zionist Movement, a group of 29 national Jewish organizations, also called on Philadelphians “of every faith and background” to support Jewish-owned businesses “by visiting them, bringing their families, friends and colleagues and demonstrating that discrimination and intimidation have no place in their city.”Philly Bike On Your Left and other anti-Israel groups are promoting the ride with a demand that “these Zionist establishments must go.”
Shawn Ritchie, a Philadelphia Police Department spokesman, told JNS that police officers are “in contact with several members of the community” about the food crawl.
The department is aware of the “boycott ride,” Ritchie said.
“While we cannot discuss specific operational or deployment details, our priority is to ensure the safety of everyone involved, as well as the general public,” he told JNS.
Dave Sunday, attorney general of Pennsylvania, condemned the boycott and said that its timing on the eve of the Kristallnacht anniversary is “unsettling.”
“By explicitly targeting businesses because their owners are Jewish, the organizers are engaging in a form of discrimination that falls back on some of the oldest antisemitic tropes and tactics in history,” he said.
“This is not simply a protest directed at the policies of Israel,” he said. “Rather it singles out our fellow Pennsylvanians based on their Jewish identity, targeting them for policies they have nothing to do with and no ability to affect because of their faith.”
