AG Letitia James warns Jewish community of discriminatory pricing ahead of Passover

New York Attorney General Letitia James in New York City on August 3, 2021. Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images
(JTA) — (New York Jewish Week) — New York Attorney General Letitia James issued a consumer alert on Friday urging Jews to be mindful of discriminatory pricing practices at car washes in the days leading up to Passover.
In previous years, some car wash businesses reportedly raised prices by as much as 50 percent in predominantly Orthodox Jewish communities, according to a press release from the attorney general’s office.
In accordance with the observance of Passover, many Jews do a deep clean of their homes, cars and offices in order to remove every last crumb of chametz, or leavened food products, which are not consumed during the eight-day holiday.
Back in 2011, Met Council CEO David Greenfield, who at the time was a City Council member, told NBC New York that many car wash businesses in his central Brooklyn district offered a “Passover special” — which he alleged was simply a way of ripping off Jewish customers.
“The most egregious thing that we found, and this was really shocking, was that in some cases — for the simple fact that you were Jewish — they were charging between 25 and 50 percent more,” he told NBC New York.
As Greenfield told the station, his office called dozens of car washes, and many of them asked if he was Jewish. When he answered yes to the question, he was given one price; when he called again later and answered no, he received a lower price.
This year, ahead of the holiday which begins the evening of Friday, April 15, James sent letters to two organizations representing car wash owners to remind them that this type of business practice is illegal.
She said it was “shameful” that a warning even had to be sent out to Jewish communities over businesses taking advantage of them during a holiday. “If we learn of any businesses engaging in such disgusting and antisemitic practices, we will not hesitate to take swift and serious legal action,” she said in press release.
Assembly member Simcha Eichenstein echoed James’ statement, adding that the Passover season is already expensive enough. “Many local families struggle to make ends meet at this time of year,” he said. “Shameless overcharging before the holiday is clearly religious discrimination and totally unacceptable in this industry or any industry.”
James said that anyone charged more for services due to religion, race or background should file a complaint with her office.
—
The post AG Letitia James warns Jewish community of discriminatory pricing ahead of Passover appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Get the Forward delivered to your inbox. Sign up here to receive our essential morning briefing of American Jewish news and conversation, the afternoon’s top headlines and best reads, and a weekly letter from our editor-in-chief.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 3
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 4
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ includes 17% tariffs on Israeli imports, even as Israel cancels tariffs on US goods
-
Fast Forward Hillel CEO says he shares ‘concerns’ over campus deportations, calls for due process
-
Fast Forward Jewish Princeton student accused of assault at protest last year is found not guilty
-
News ‘Qatargate’ and the web of huge scandals rocking Israel, explained
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.