The Daily News, Miami Herald, Newsweek, JTA, Fox News, and NBC all write that Morteza Javadi is a Hasidic Jew who is suing McDonald’s over not being hired due to his beard.
As a Hasidic Jew who has never trimmed his beard, I wondered what kind of Hasidic Jew would possibly work at McDonald’s?
And I’m not talking about the Glatt Kosher McDonald’s in Buenos Aires. Working in a non-kosher McDonald’s is pretty much anathema to a Hasidic Jew.
It only took a little bit of searching to find Mort’s YouTube channel for his “Mahi Ministries” (Disclaimer: Missionary videos) and the website for his ministry. He’s clearly a Christian missionary and doesn’t resemble anything close to a Hasidic Jew. But I suppose that wouldn’t make the same headlines?
I guess I’m not surprised by the media’s lack of research. If you’ve ever read a news article about a subject that you’re familiar with you know that they are full of factual errors and lazy reporting. It’s unfortunately rare to find well researched news these days.
But what was Mort’s motivation? Was this all just a cash grab for an easy lawsuit? Publicity? What are your thoughts on the story?
thank you reb dan yasher koach to you for being the first one to correct this error.
I knew it didn’t make sense, an Orthodox Jew is not allowed to cook milk and meat together, so how possibly can he work in McDonald’s
Yup, a Jew can’t even derive any benefit from milk and meat!
One of the articles said he applied for a maintenance job and wouldn’t be working with food. But that’s besides the point. He’s far from Hassidic and shouldn’t be claiming to be one and the media should call him out on that but they didn’t even bother researching. Now we can better understand Trump’s constant claims of #fakenews
This is idiotic. They misclassified him as a Chassid (presumably that’s what he identified as and who are they to explicitly tell him otherwise). The article overall is exactly right, save for that bit of arguable information.
Let it go.
Actually, first of all if it’s a neveila then you’re allowed to cook it with milk. Second, the race that they put these on afterwards isn’t considered halachically cooking, to make it asur.
@Rabbi, not true at all — entirely forbidden to cook nevailah (beef) with milk — see dagul mervova yoreh deah siman 87.
You are confusing Ha’naah with Bishul (and even by Ha’naah it’s a debate). http://www.hebrewbooks.org/rambam.aspx?sefer=5&hilchos=28&perek=9&halocha=6&hilite=
It was the opposite, you can have hana’ah, you just can’t do the act of cooking. Look in pischei teshuvah.. And it also meant to say, that putting a slice of cheese on a burger might not be bishul. It has to be done through fire for the issur deoraisa.
What’s the discount code? I don’t see a link
#RibSammich
I read the story, and was wondering. It sounded very weird. Thanks for doing the research and setting the facts straight!
Just to add to the media sensation is the yeshiva world website of course when they feel the need to copy/paste these silly articles and post it on their websites.
YWN, enough you are biased and very unyeshivish change your website name, and stop overstuffing it with tzedaka advertisments worse then shomer shabbos.
i read he was trying to work there as a janitor. The post reported he was a chabad chossid
Chabad chossid. LOL! #FakeNews at its finest!
Hell of a generalization to say “if you’ve ever read a news article about something you’re familiar with you know they’re always wrong and lazy.” Even if they were in this case.
Anyhow, took me five minutes to find the actual news release stating he’s a Rastafarian, for whom dreadlocks are important. https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/7-12-16.cfm
That’s a different person back in 2016. Great job researching
@Dan on the other hand – thnx for showing this fake news for what it was.
Different guy, different law suit
Every news article that I’ve ever read on topics than I am knowledgeable in, such as aviation and loyalty for example, have been laughably bad and full of errors that could have easily been avoided with better research.
Concerningly, even articles that do consult experts still get it wrong. I’ve seen that firsthand when I’ve been interviewed for hours and then it’s summed up incorrectly in one paragraph. This has happened to me personally in national media like Bloomberg and in just about every Jewish media article on our Antarctica trip. That’s why for the most part I turn down media requests.
But then I’ll read an article on medicine and think it makes sense, until I bring it up with family members in the field who say that it is full of errors and lack of proper understanding.
In an ideal world experts would be writing articles in their field, but instead we have reporters covering every topic under the sun.
That’s not to say that there are no worthy news articles out there. But I think it’s fair to say that the majority of news articles these days are of very poor quality reporting. Eyeballs are more valued than accuracy.
This phenomenon is so wide-spread, that they even comes a tell for it: Gell and Mann Amnesia
Fascinating, thanks for posting!
There’s a famous story with R Chaim Brisker. He was against the idea of an Aguda newspaper. He supposedly told the Chofetz Chaim “Who is going to write in this newspaper? You? You don’t have time. Me? I don’t have time. So who then? Those that have time!”
Just an anecdotal incident for what it’s worth: Read a news blurb about a Rebbi of mine that went out of town and his brother gave shiur instead. I was the one who picked up the phone in the yeshiva to answer the “newspapers” questions, yet somehow they managed to mess up at least 2 facts…
Dead
Still working for me. In for 1000!
Thanx for setting the facts straight
Let’s see which news outlet corrects their story first. My guess, none!
WHO EVER IS BORN WITH THIS NAME IS A PERSIAN MOSLEM FOR SURE.
Exactly ☝️
You two have problems. The comment section is a cesspool. Every time.
Why so?? Just because you’re unfamiliar with real Hasidic names?
I called and informed Fox News of the news mistake. I thought that it was the ethical thing to do before too many people take advantage.
Thanks for ruining it for the rest of us. Here come the cancellation emails…
Ya
It is not the job of the news media to investigate the background of plaintiffs who have the full faith and credit of the United States government behind them. Do you know how rare it is to get the EEOC to take a case? They usually just issue a letter that says, “We can’t help, go ahead and sue them yourself if you want.” In this case it took three years for the Trump Administration to bring the case.
The defendants, if they want, can now raise the issue of whether someone they did not hire is really a Hasidic Jew. Had they offered to hire him if he could prove his religious credentials, they might have a defense. I think the story is newsworthy, and factual, because it points out an issue of employment discrimination. And do all Hasidic Jews refuse to do any work at all for a McDonald’s? We don’t know the job involved flipping burgers. It was for “maintenance.” For all we know, he could be maintaining their computer systems from home.
You are probably correct that this is the person with the same name in Kansas City. It is not the clean-shaven chemistry professor in Ohio with the same name. It seems to be a common name in Iran, of all places. Does the First Amendment guarantee a person’s right to call himself Hasidic, or does freedom of speech and freedom of religion not extend that far? Stay tuned.
Nope…not gonna honor it. They said it was a pricing error
So this press release from EEOC had it wrong too?
https://www1.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/7-16-19.cfm
Do you expect more? Remind me who the chair is and who appoints them? This should be what you have come to expect from an executive agency…
Here’s another example of a Fakenews media mess up that many of us here are familiar with:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=lLjtvaHK44w
The “fact” that he is a Hasidic Jew is in the lawsuit filing from the EEOC.
Thank you for reporting that he’s not.
Perhaps this plaintiff self-identifies as a Hasidic Jew and the EEOC accepted it. But that doesn’t actually make him a Hasidic Jew. Theoretically, I could self-identify as a Persian cat, apply for a job at McDonald’s, get turned down because of my religiously mandated beard, and we’ll have headlines reading “Persian Cat Sues McDonald’s for Discrimination.”
Even the Jewish Press didn’t bother. (not shocking though)
thanks, good article.
A guy who says he is blind is suing Domino’s because he can’t get the same discounts online, using their website or apps, as sighted persons. He won in the Ninth Circuit and Domino’s wants to take the case to the Supreme Court. Domino’s says the firm representing the plaintiff has filed 14 suits on his behalf, and more than three dozen for another guy.
Is it the obligation of the news media to stake out the plaintiff and follow him for a few days to make sure he is blind? I suppose they could pay for that by raising their subscription and advertising prices. Everyone knows the media are flush with money these days. Or is it their obligation to check online at the court house on what cases have been filed or decided or dismissed, and report the allegations from both sides?
And what if there is a third party with an interest in the case? There may be a duty to report their views, also. What if the third party, though, is a collection of random people chanting “fake news”? What if there is no person or organization to call to verify whether someone belongs to a protected group? Do you call another blind guy, to ask if he thinks the alleged blind guy really can’t see? And does it really matter, if the pizza place already admits that its system discriminates against the blind?
https://www.levelaccess.com/ninth-circuit-reverses-robles-v-dominos-pizza-llc-holds-ada-title-iii-suits-dont-violate-due-process-rights
No, but if a 30 second Google search reveals that he is not blind, that would be considered basic due diligence.
If I sued someone as a Native American or as a Mulsim I’d be laughed out of court and the media. Why is this different?
Until your very last sentence, I was under the impression that the blind guy was suing Domino’s Sugar.
They did say in the video it was for a maintenance position. Not sure if that is clear cut and forbidden. Seems like a cash grab by the facts in this article. Thank you for this. Once again you come through with excellent content!!!!
Shout out to Dan’s Deals on Arutz Sheva.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/266358
Don’t expect better from NBC Fox News and the others are 3rd tier websites.
The only question is….how do we know that this is not fake news?? Lol
He’s not a christian missionary.. From his videos, He’s promoting Islam.. He claim to be a jew, confirming that Islam is the true religion because Muhammad and Islam is mentioned in the jewish books.
he could be a Christian acting as a jew who supports Islam so that other Christians can use this to accuse Muslims of Deception. or he could be simply an Iranian mizrahim jew.