Sometimes something crosses a line so clearly that there should be no need for debate, nuance, or excuses.
I was shocked and disgusted to open this week’s 5 Towns Jewish Times and see, on page two, a full-page, full-color advertisement promoting cannabis.
Page two. Full page. In a publication distributed throughout the frum community.
How did we get here?
How does a frum newspaper, read by families across Far Rockaway and the Five Towns, accept an advertisement promoting a substance that has caused tremendous destruction in countless lives and families? How does such an ad make it through the sales department, the graphics department, management, and ultimately into print without someone saying: This does not belong in a frum newspaper?
And where is the outrage?
Where are the Rabbanim of Far Rockaway and the Five Towns? Where are our community leaders? Where are the organizations that deal every single day with the devastating consequences of substance abuse?
This cannot simply be shrugged off with the response that cannabis is legal in New York. Plenty of things may be legal but are entirely inappropriate to promote to a frum readership. A newspaper serving the Torah community has a responsibility that goes beyond asking whether an advertisement complies with state law.
Anyone who believes drug abuse is some distant problem affecting other communities should speak to the people on the front lines.
Ask Achiezer.
Ask Amudim.
Ask Ohel.
Ask those involved in addiction treatment and rehabilitation.
Ask a longtime Hatzolah member how many overdose calls volunteers have responded to in New York City and elsewhere. Ask how many parents have gotten the phone call that changed their lives forever. Ask how many marriages and families have been torn apart by addiction.
Cannabis is not the same thing as every other drug, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest. But neither should we pretend that aggressively marketing recreational drug use is harmless, particularly in a community already struggling with substance abuse and addiction.
There is another issue here as well: normalization.
Advertising works. That is why companies spend enormous sums of money on it. A glossy, professionally designed, full-page cannabis advertisement does not merely inform readers that a product exists. It normalizes it. It presents it as another ordinary consumer product — no different from a restaurant, mortgage company, supermarket or vacation destination.
Is that really the message we want appearing on page two of a frum newspaper?
There must be a line.
Our community newspapers are not merely businesses selling square inches of advertising space. They enter thousands of Jewish homes. Children see them. Teenagers see them. Yeshiva bochurim and seminary girls see them. Parents reasonably expect publications marketing themselves to the frum community to exercise some basic level of judgment regarding what they bring into those homes.
This demands more than private grumbling.
The 5 Towns Jewish Times should publicly explain how this advertisement was accepted and commit that advertisements promoting recreational cannabis and similar substances will not appear again.
Local Rabbanim and community organizations should make their position unmistakably clear as well. Silence sends its own message.
And advertisers should understand that frum consumers have every right to demand standards from the publications they financially support.
If we remain silent every time another boundary is crossed, we should not be surprised when, a few years from now, we look around and wonder where all the boundaries went.
There are moments when a community needs to say, loudly and without embarrassment: No. This is unacceptable.
This is one of those moments.
Y.G. – Five Towns
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26 Responses
Why you not outraged about the alcoholic beverages advertising? If you don’t think alcoholism is an issue in the Jewish community, ask those on the frontlines.
Ask Achiezer.
Ask Amudim.
Ask Ohel.
How is this different from advertisements for GLP-1 medications? Those medications also list potential side effects, while medical journals have documented various benefits associated with their use. My point is that, while you may believe there are no benefits to using cannabis products, others would argue that there are numerous potential benefits.
I never comment here but this is a shocking new low. Wow
This is the third week they ran this ad. I know for a fact that leading rabbis in the community called the owner of the newspaper who doesn’t care what any rov has to say.
How is this real?
Finally a mailbag I actually agree with. Why are we silent?
Ads for gambling apps coming up in a jewish paper soon
After that?
Kosher prostitution ads.
Shame on the newspaper. This crosses all boundaries
well sof sof it is inappropriate and also a sign of the times we live in. sadly.
As someone who enjoys smoking weed like myself, I still don’t think this should be advertised in our publications. It’s simply not necessary. If it’s already so legal and accessible, then theres just no need to contribute to it more.
on the other hand–what do you REALLY expect “the rabbonim” to do about it? They have 1000 other more pressing things to deal with and in all honesty they are powerless to stop it In other words, it’s not worth their breath to get involved
We have videos bh rabbanim assuring (rightfully so) dsngerous electric scooters.
There is nothing more dangerous than this.
I expect a full throated macha by the rabbonim.
By thr way, pretty sure this rag is distributed all over the tri state area. Not just the 5T.
Benefits or no benefits, I can’t help but notice that many of the people I know who use these drugs are not the most stable, productive, or well-adjusted members of society. Yes, they may have responses like, “How is this any different from alcohol?”
First of all, they do have a point: alcohol abuse and drug abuse can both be equally destructive. However, two wrongs do not make a right. When someone ends up in rehab because of substance abuse, all of these comparisons and excuses provide little comfort or help.
It’s sad to see the direction this generation seems to be heading in.
The best way to make a LOUD and worthwhile Machaa is to not look at the papers, don’t support the Paper in any way. Please don’t bring it into your house (even to use as toilet paper)
Guys, we’ve reached a new low!
John Peace & outoftownjew, what have you been smoking?
The halcha is to be don lecaf zechus.
i am in my office and along with 6 other co workers are trying to be melamed zechus.
we are all unable to come up with even one thing possible.
anyone who thinks this is ok, is a pothead.
there is no other explanation
This is so sad to see. Klal Yisroel is sinking so fast. And for all those saying we have alchohol ads in papers, you can’t posiobly even equate the two. Youn know it, I know it, and we all know it.
Yes alchohilism is a terrible mageifa. But alchohol plays a major role in yiddishkeit. Every bros. Eveey time you bentch with a mezuman. Fri night kiddush, shabbos morning kiddish, havdalah, sheva brachos, a chupa, pesach and on and on.
this is a terrible thing and this newspaper should post an apolgy on his front cover
How about this article in the 5TJT
https://5tjt.com/lchaim-rethinking-alcohol-in-the-jewish-community/
Waiting for Mrs Rachel Tuchman to speak out now.
How about this article on the 5TJT
https://5tjt.com/safe-space-thoughtful-answers-to-the-things-we-dont-say-out-loud/
Waiting for Mrs Jessica Steinmetz to speak out now.
Will not be reading it going forward, bli neder. People should stop allowing the publication into their homes. That will be the loudest and most obvious protest to the editors. Rabbonim should speak out clearly in their shuls to condemn this advertising and encourage people to be cautious with the material they allow around their families. We can’t assume anymore that a publication produced by and for frum people guarantees kosher content.
To those saying “how is it different from alcohol”- alcohol unfortunately has been normalized for centuries and does have a legitimate if limited role in mitzvah observance and simchas. Cannabis is a much newer thing in our communities, particularly in terms of widespread use and danger to young people. It has limited medical uses but that’s not what we’re talking about. It’s presented as largely harmless but absolutely can devastate lives and families. Unfortunately, too many people know this firsthand.
Unfortunately you’re just discovering that many of these Publications don’t actually have rabbinical supervision even though they feature many articles from rabbis, it’s not the first time advertisements from them have crossed the line. They’re in the business of making money, and Those ads made them a lot of money. Frustrated customers will just be told not to read the paper if you don’t like what’s in it, but don’t make the mistake that rabbis are supervising anything
I certainly understand where the writer is coming from and I’m not poo pooing it at all. I also don’t believe this should be in a Jewish publication. I don’t care what else they have in this allegedly Jewish publication, 2 wrongs don’t make a right.
I do have to say, unfortunately the problem is also that our own people are involved in these businesses. Yes, I know that is something that some people have a hard time hearing. OUR OWN PEOPLE ARE OWNERS OF THESE BUSINESSES. It doesn’t make a difference whether it’s the Cannabis or whether it’s the edibles. It’s our own people that are involved in this business. And like people who are involved in these kind of things, they think they’re the most wonderful people in the world.
I would love to ask the writer whom it is that they’ve been voting for. Have you been voting for a leftist Democrat because you want the programs etc etc that the Democrats keep throwing at people, or have you been voting for candidates on the right? Because all this stuff being legal is really due to our current piece of garbage lousy trash Democrat Party. These are the idiots from The ’60s who wanted love and peace with extra curricular leaves burning. So the issue is, the community needs to look at themselves. Who did you vote for? Even if you voted for a “frum” person who’s a democrat, you’re just as at fault because when you sleep with dogs, you get fleas. Look at all those “frum” Democrats and the garbage that they vote for just because they have to go along with the party over what they know is emes
A frum, more right wing, magazine with a much larger readership, just did an extensive puff piece on illegal hallucinogenics and faced zero push back from any organizations or rabbanim. The new standard has been set, mind altering drugs are allowed. At least cannabis isn’t illegal.
I have tremendous hakaras ha’tov to H”KBH that I don’t live in 5T, Tri-State, or any other place so horribly plagued.
Here’s a radical idea that may ruffle some feathers. I happen to not be in the neighborhood and do not have connection to this media outlet. But the greatest revenue to media is advertising, not subscriptions. I would campaign to the other large advertisers to withdraw their ads from 5tjt. Those that refuse, I would recommend a grass roots boycott of their businesses. Money talks. So far, weed ads bring money to the paper. If that faucet stops, they will pay attention to the issue. Till then, money talks, mine says good bye.
Yes, it is terrible, and one has an obligation to protest.
The newspaper’s bottom line is profit. They make money publishing the ad, so they’ll make excuses why it’s OK to do so. The most effective measure to stop them from running the ad would be to make it cause a loss, not a profit. IF ALL OTHER ADVERTISERS WOULD THREATEN TO STOP ADVERTISING IN THAT PUBLICATION, rest assured that the offensive, evil ad will be dropped lickety-split. People can write letters to the other advertisers urging them to take this step, and saying that if they don’t take social responsibility, the writer will stop using their product or service.
“Shocking Cannabis Ads In A Frum Newspaper”
It is a newspaper of a family of the Chabad Lubavitch sect. They are promoting Chabadianity regularly, and boasting of their ties to it. The publisher’s grandfather was gabbai at their HQ in Crown Heights.
They have multiple times run full page ads in recent years promoting the late Rebbe of the sect as Messiah, even though he died over more than thirty years ago. They think they can do as they please, their leader cannot rebuke them from his grave in Queens.