Jun 27, 2012

Feldheim and Egged Team Up To Throw Sephardim Under the Bus

This is just too much! It is so pathetic that I laughed when I first read it. In today's day and age? And then to just shrug it off rather than immediately correct it?

Feldheim Books in conjunction with Egged advertised a special sale that upon presentation of an Egged smart card and a minimum purchase of 30 NIS, the cardholder would be given a free siddur with his name imprinted on the siddur.

It turns out, this deal is only applicable to Ashkenazim, as they did not include any Sephardi siddurim (nusach Eidot Mizrach) in the deal. Sephardim who tried to collect their prize, asking for a Sephardic siddur, were told they are not included in the deal.


When Kikar asked Feldheim representatives about this, they did not even realize the PR disaster they were about to walk into. They should have apologized for the oversight and immediately moved to correct it.

Instead, they just shrugged it off and explained that the deal is not to choose a siddur, but you are given a siddur. Sephardim who want to take advantage of the deal can claim their siddur and give it to an Ashkenazi friend. The rep said they printed for this deal siddurim in nusachei Ashkenaz and Sephard (hassidic), but not Eidot Mizrach - and what's the big deal, we can't answer everybody's needs!

Egged's representative laid the blame on Feldheim. They said the deal was until supplies last from a repository of siddurim. They had been of the impression that the stock of siddurim was a mix of all the various nusachs.

Amazing. Astounding.

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16 comments:

  1. Rafi (S)June 27, 2012 3:14 PM

    OK pretty dumb, but what about Druzim, Muslims, Christians, Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionists, Canaanim and everyone else? Don't they deserve a Siddur of their choice as well?

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  2. Rafi G.June 27, 2012 3:19 PM

    Its a Jewish bookstore and it is reasonable to limit the giveaway to a jewish book.

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  3. Rafi (S)June 27, 2012 3:38 PM

    Maybe Feldheim is an Ashkenazi Jewish bookstore?

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  4. Rafi G.June 27, 2012 3:39 PM

    lol

    ReplyDelete
  5. Shaul BJune 27, 2012 3:42 PM

    You missed the pun - "Feldheim got Egged on their face"...
    (giggle, giggle, snort... ahhhemmmmmm.....)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Rafi (S)June 27, 2012 4:00 PM

    I wasn't joking. I thought Feldheim was an Ashkenazi English-language Hareidi publisher.

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  7. Rafi G.June 27, 2012 4:24 PM

    what about them made you think ashkenazi bookstore? the denomination of the owner?
    they dont advertise themselves as an ashkenazi bookstore, rather as a jewish bookstore. if you go into the store, you will see books published by asheknazim and by sephardim, books with ashkenazi content and sephardi content, siddurim of the various nusachs, etc. regular customers will be made up of both ashkenaz and sephardic backgrounds. They are just a jewish bookstore, not ashkenaz, not sephard.

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  8. Rafi (S)June 27, 2012 4:26 PM

    It shows that I haven't been in their store for many years....

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  9. ehwhyJune 27, 2012 4:47 PM

    My daughter goes to the local Mamad Torani. On the form she got for her Mitzba Siddur she was given the option of Sephard and Edut HaMizrach. We got a phone call asking for clarification and we agreed to settle on Sephard.

    When she finally received her Siddur the school had put in an effort to fulfill all the requests for Ashkenaz sidurim. Keep in mind this is a bigger challenge for the teacher who has to teach tefillah in such a way that every kid will get it.

    It was an oversight of the original promotion. It was an embarrasment they didn't just step up and fix it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. yJune 27, 2012 5:23 PM

    So Feldheim doen't sell any Rambam's because they are an Ashkenazi publisher?

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  11. Rafi G.June 27, 2012 5:23 PM

    thats a good possibility, Moshe. I have no idea if they publish eidot mizrach siddurim or not. next time I go into a Feldheim store (not too often, but I can make the effort) i will try to remember to take a look.

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  12. Rafi G.June 27, 2012 5:26 PM

    actually, a quick search on the feldheim website shows you are wrong about that

    http://www.feldheim.com/prayer/siddurim/siddur-shearim-b-tefillah-hebrew-only.html

    these siddurim are published by feldheim in all nusachot - ashkenaz, sfard and eidot mizrach. there are others as well, but I found this right away so didnt bother looking at the others...

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  13. Commenter AbbiJune 27, 2012 7:30 PM

    Isn't Feldheim in bankruptcy? Or is that another Jewish publisher?

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  14. Rafi G.June 27, 2012 7:33 PM

    Feldheim Publishers (not the bookstores) was recently on the verge of bankruptcy. they were given time to reorganize.

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  15. MarkJune 27, 2012 10:04 PM

    To satisfy the largest segments, they should have had an Ashkenazy siddur, an Eidot Hamizrach siddur, and a Koran available. That would cover >90% of the population which is sufficient for these kinds of things.

    ReplyDelete
  16. anonJune 27, 2012 10:41 PM

    next the chabadniks will complain that they weren't included, and the yemenites, the italians, and whoever else has another nusach.

    ReplyDelete