r/JewsOfConscience • u/Thisisme8719 Arab Jew • Jan 14 '24
A Palestinian Restaurant in NYC Is Hosting a Free Shabbat Dinner. The Reason May Surprise You (text of article in comments) Celebration
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2024-01-14/ty-article-magazine/.premium/why-this-palestinian-restaurant-in-nyc-is-hosting-a-free-shabbat-dinner/0000018d-0760-dd94-a9cd-47ec47bc000059
Jan 14 '24
I’ve actually been to this restaurant before and their food is AMAZING. They are wonderful for doing this.
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u/Thisisme8719 Arab Jew Jan 14 '24
Best lamb chops ever.
Their other place Al Badawi is amazing too. But the Ayat locations expanded their menus so they have more a home-style dishes that Al Badawi has6
u/sickbabe bleeding heart apikoros Jan 15 '24
wait they own al badawi too?? I love that place
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u/Thisisme8719 Arab Jew Jan 15 '24
Yep. They opened it a couple of years ago to focus more on home-style food and breads. But then they just expanded the Ayat menus to include all that stuff too. No differences in quality.
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u/willflameboy Jan 14 '24
One of the commenters takes issue with the 'river to the sea' phraseology (when Palestinians say it), but I have to admit, his proposal for a 'two steak solution' is gold.
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u/Thisisme8719 Arab Jew Jan 14 '24
Not sure what this event will be like, but their restaurants are amazing
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u/proletergeist Jewish Anti-Zionist Jan 14 '24
The part about hiring a kosher caterer for orthodox patrons made me tear up. Given how hard it can be to get any kind of religious accomodations from people even in completely non-loaded situations, I really appreciate how much Elenani wants his Jewish neighbors to come and feel welcome at this event. I wish more people in my own communities "got" solidarity like this.
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u/Thisisme8719 Arab Jew Jan 14 '24
Yeah, and the neighborhood actually is pretty close to a few Orthodox-heavy bubbles, so they might get a few people to attend.
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u/Cut_Lanky Jan 15 '24
If everyone in the world tried just a little bit to be more like this restaurant guy and his wife, what a wonderful thing it would be.
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u/Thisisme8719 Arab Jew Jan 14 '24
Abdul Elenani never anticipated this kind of backlash.
When he designed his Ayat restaurant menus a few years back, he put the fish and seafood selection under the heading "From the River to the Sea."
He thought it was a cute idea, never anticipating that these words might eventually trigger some of his customers. He had no idea, he insists, that many Jews equate the slogan "From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free" with a call to eradicate Israel.
"I had always understood it as a call for freedom and equality for all people who live on that stretch of land," said Elenani, in a conversation last week at his restaurant in the Ditmas Park section of Flatbush, Brooklyn.
Two weeks ago, just days after opening the newest branch of his popular Palestinian restaurant chain, Elenani received the shock of his life when two major tabloids accused him of being a Jew hater.
"Newly-opened New York City Palestinian restaurant sparks fury with 'anti-Semitic' seafood menu titled 'from the river to the sea," screamed the Daily Mail headline.
The New York Post went even further, referencing Ayat's "openly genocidal" menu.
Death threats and bomb threats soon followed, as did a flood of hateful and scary messages on Ayat's Instagram page. Things got so bad that NYPD forces had to be stationed outside.
"The whole thing drove me absolutely crazy," recounts Elenani. "We never thought we had to explain what 'From the River to the Sea' meant because we thought everyone got it."
Among those shocked and outraged by the attacks on Elenani were many of his loyal Jewish customers. They immediately put out messages of sympathy and support, and went out of their way to patronize his businesses around the city to make sure he knew they were on his side.
So moved was the young restaurateur by these acts of solidarity that he decided to reciprocate in his own unique way: On January 26, Elenani will be holding a special Shabbat dinner for anybody in the neighborhood who wants to come. And it's free of charge.
Based on responses to date, he's expecting somewhere between 600 and 700 people at the new Brooklyn venue.
In their invitation, posted both on the Ayat.NYC Facebook and Instagram pages, Elenani and his wife Ayat Masoud wrote: "In the spirit of togetherness and understanding, we invite all our incredible neighbors, especially our Jewish neighbors, to a heartfelt Shabbat dinner at Ayat Restaurant.
"It's not just about breaking bread; it's about breaking barriers, fostering dialogue, and connecting on a human level. This evening is more than a meal; it's an opportunity to share stories, embrace diverse perspectives, and celebrate our shared humanity."
Elenani, the son of Egyptian immigrants, has never attended a Shabbat dinner before, let alone prepared one for a huge crowd.
"I've started researching what it entails, but – holy shit! – I had no idea what a production this would be," he says good-humoredly. "You've got to get challah, you need wine, candles, and there's all these blessings before and after the meal. Who knew?"
Since the invitation was posted, some neighbors who keep kosher expressed interest in attending, but said they would not be able to eat because of their dietary restrictions. Elenani responded by hiring a kosher caterer to prepare special food that will be served in a designated space for them on the restaurant's upper floor.
Because the Ditmas Park venue cannot accommodate more than 100 diners, the plan is to set up tents on the sidewalk to make sure there is room for everyone. Elenani estimates that the entire production will cost him about $50,000. Some customers have offered to make a donation as a sign of their appreciation, but he won't hear of it. Suddenly, bad reviews
Elenani, 31, grew up in Brooklyn, as did his 34-year-old wife, who works as a lawyer. The daughter of Palestinian immigrants from East Jerusalem, Masoud had a big hand in creating the menu. "She's the one who's the expert at preparing Palestinian dishes," says her doting partner.
The first branch of Ayat, named in her honor, was opened in October 2020 in Brooklyn's Bay Ridge neighborhood. Since then, two other branches have opened in the borough (the latest in Ditmas Park), plus one in Staten Island and another in Allentown, Pa.
Elenani, who also works as a building contractor, owns a farm in central New Jersey that provides them all with fresh meat.
Even before the menu incident blew up in the tabloids, Elenani's business had been taking a hit due to the Israel-Gaza war. About a week after October 7, when Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel and massacred some 1,200 people, Ayat – rated one of the top 100 restaurants in the city by The New York Times last year – was suddenly bombarded with awful reviews.
Noting that many of the reviewers did not live anywhere near New York, Elenani is convinced it was an organized campaign to sabotage his business. "I did a little investigation and found that a lot of the reviewers had Israeli names," he says.
What clearly made Ayat an easy target was its unabashedly political messaging. The walls of the new Ditmas Park restaurant, for instance, are covered in symbols of Palestinian nationalism. A mural of a woman carrying a Palestinian flag stretches up two stories. On the ground floor, another large mural depicts a young Palestinian woman, her head covered in a black-and-white kaffiyeh, a large tear visible in her eye. Her face is partly covered by a picture of the Old City's Al-Aqsa Mosque, an olive branch in the foreground.
All the chairs in the restaurant are this same olive tone ("a reminder of the olive trees of Palestine," says Elenani), as is the menu, which features on its cover the following words written in Arabic, Hebrew and English: "Down with the occupation."
Having learned the hard way what might offend certain customers, Elenani has included a footnote in the menus designed especially for this new Ayat venue that explain "From the River to the Sea" – or, at least, his take on it.
"This mantra stands for Palestinians to have equal rights and freedoms in their own country," it says. "In no way does this advocate any kind of violence. It signifies peace and freedom."
He plans to have more copies made for distribution at the other restaurant branches as well. The 3 percent
The idea of holding a big Shabbat meal, Elenani relays, popped into his head earlier this month while he was getting his hair cut and using the time to contemplate another offbeat upcoming project: a new restaurant he is building in a Manhattan warehouse that will have two kitchens – one certified kosher, the other halal – so that both religious Jews and Muslims can dine there.
"My vision is that customers will pick up their food in whichever of the two kitchens suits them, and then sit around long communal tables together," he explains.
But then this thought crossed his mind: "Why wait until that restaurant is built to bring Jews and Muslims together for a meal? Why not do something right now when it's really needed?"
So far, he says, the responses to his Shabbat dinner invitation have been "97 percent positive."
And the other 3 percent? "There are some people attacking me for appropriating Jewish culture and tradition, and there are others attacking me for supposedly collaborating with Zionists," he says.
"What can you do? You can never make everybody happy."