“We have a duty to warn and alert the public to the phenomenon which has spread in our city: the cheap culture of eating while walking in the street. This was considered cheap behavior of the fringes of society or the weak-minded until a few years ago, and the public would treat [the practice] as such."
Haredi Rabbis Ban Sidewalk Cafés, Grab-And-Go Fast Food
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
A group of rabbis in the haredi city of Bnei Brak have banned kosher street food.
“We have a duty to warn and alert the public to the phenomenon which has spread in our city: the cheap culture of eating while walking in the street. This was considered cheap behavior of the fringes of society or the weak-minded until a few years ago, and the public would treat [the practice] as such,” the rabbis wrote in a pashkvil, wall poster, Arutz Sheva reported based on a report in Walla! News.
The paskvil cites the Talmudic saying that "he who eats food at market is like a dog" and reportedly goes on to condemn eating at tables outside fast-food chains and accuses those chains and other food vendors of tricking the haredi public into following “low class” behavior which detracts from "self-respect and the respect of families."
The rabbis of the Talmudic era would condemn street food, the pashkvil’s rabbis – who include top local haredi rabbis like Yehuda Siliman, Moshe Shaul Klein, Sriel Rosenberg, Menachem Mendel HaCohen Shafran, and Masoud Ben-Shimon – insisted.
The decision to suddenly ban street food is likely a response to the popularity of fast food chains like Coffix and its competitor Coffiz, both of which were previously condemned by haredi rabbis for selling products at lower prices, hurting the income of their locally-owned competitors.