Orthodox Jewish fitness buffs are outraged that the Kosher Gym in Flatbush, Brooklyn was sold earlier this month to non-Jewish owners who plan to open the gym on Shabbos and make other non-Kosher changes to the facilities. According to the Jewish Press, gym members recently received a letter announcing the sale, for $2 million, to a "national fitness group that focuses on gender specific clubs."
Impending changes include different background music, an immodestly dressed staff and advertisements that Orthodox members are "prohibited to look at." In the letter, members were advised to "bring your own entertainment, or just don't look." And those who sought to terminate their membership were further incensed to find they will not be released from their $480 annual contracts, the Post reports. But a blog operated by the outgoing owners is trying to snuff out the controversy with a post titled "No More Blogs":
Unfortunately the situation has gotten out of control. Blogs are “popping up” all over with all kinds of allegations about Kosher Gym’s business practices. There is a massive Chillul HaShem going on by people alleging all types of things about the gym and its’ shareholders.The "bunch of crooks" has to do with allegations that the gym charged some members' credit cards for classes they thought were included in the original membership cost. The disgruntled members are now talking about a mass protest and a class-action lawsuit against the Kosher Gym. The way things are heating up, this could make the great Big Event Live cancellation controversy of March '08 look like a minor tiff.It’s a Chillul HaShem because they are saying for all to see (including the non religious, and non-Jews) that a place called Kosher Gym, run by religious Jews are a bunch of crooks, and other types of slurs and allegations.
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Do any secular Jews out there identify with these people? Just curious.
Identify with them in what way?
Oy vey is mir.
Exactly how do you make a Gym Kosher?
I guess I can be considered secular, and no, I respect their practices, but if they want a kosher gym then why did they allow it to be purchased by non orthodox Jews?
Separate workout times for men and women.
Ed, who do you mean by "they?" The owners or the patrons? Seems to me like the owners don't give a fuck, they just want their $2mm. The patrons have a right to be unhappy about it, but them's the breaks. If there is a market for kosher gyms, someone will fill the void.
Exactly, just start a new gym. Bonus points if the name can have an Exodus theme.
Given that the name of the place is Kosher Gym, it seems reasonable for members to expect the gym would adhere to practices in keeping with their restricted lifestyle. I expect they should have the unused portion of their membership fees returned. Seems like a pretty dumb move on the part of the new owners to estrange themselves from their customer base.
It would never occur to me that the hasidim would be concerned with their appearance.
The neighborhood is changing. I don't think that there is enough of a demand left. I can't imagine a business would work that hard to alienate the jews if they were a good customer base to serve. Of course the new chain could just be a bunch of rubes in Nebraska who don't understand the neighborhood.
SP is right, this is how capitalism works - if demand is there someone will enter the breach to be the supplier.
#10 - "The neighborhood is changing." - Uh, which neighborhood? Boro Park? Midwood? Flatbush? Crown Heights? And the Jews are mass exodusing to where exactly in this wonderful housing market? The neighborhoods out there are not changing that much.
They can be working out just to be healthy, not because they are "concerned with their appearance." I live in Williamsburg and I see Orthodox at my gym; the Met Pool on Bedford has special women-only hours to accommodate them. According to the Jewish Press story, this gym had separate facilities for men and women, and the new owners plan to continue that practice.
Sounds like what people are most pissed about is the newly enforced billing practices, and really, who doesn't feel kind of ripped off by their gym?
@CR: I was referring to Flatbush, where the gym is located.
Lighten up, Francis.
#13 - In what way is it changing? Because when I visit after having lived there for a couple of years I see very few changes.
Here is the twist; the word "Kosher" in Hebrew when pronounced Kau'sher means "exercise".
When pronounced "Kah-sher" in Hebrew, it means something which is Halachically fit for consumption or use-- in English, the spelling follows the Ashkenaz pronunciation, thus "Ko'sher".
Thus the "Kosher Gym" is a clever double entendre.
What I find most unsettling is that picture. Give that man his own gym for goodness sake!
Leave Pippin Longstockenstein alone!
HAHA.
Time to assimilate.
I recognize that guy. We threw him out of Minyan's Gym because he grunted loudly in the abductor machine and stared intently at our largely Lubavitcher clientele.