In the haredi Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood of Geula, a newly renamed pizzeria advertised a special just for Monday: Customers who bought two slices would get a free order of fries.
The timing wasn’t random. The shop’s new name is Pizza Trump, and the special was pegged to the inauguration of its namesake, who returned to the US Presidency on the day the deal was offered.
The restaurant’s slogan: “Make pizza great again.”
Did the shtick bring in more customers? “Maybe,” said owner Yitzchak Babayoff, who added that some customers asked “to make their whole order free” in the President’s honor.
The shop, which served Hasidic diners late on Monday, is lined with framed portraits of revered Jewish luminaries — Rabbi Yeshaya Steiner, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, and the Gerrer Rebbe. Next to them is a photo of Trump, smiling — or smirking, depending on one’s outlook — and flashing a thumbs-up.
Planned name change
Naming the pizzeria after a U.S. president wasn’t Babayoff’s idea. For three decades, it had been called Klinton Pizza, after the president who visited Israel several times during his term in office in the 1990s (and whose name the sign misspelled). Babayoff bought the pizzeria four years ago and had long planned to change its name.
“I kept changing my mind about what to call it. But when Trump was running for office, the American Briskers were urging me to name it after him,” he said, referring to the students at the yeshiva around the corner from his store, which follows the Brisk Orthodox movement.
“When Trump was nominated, I said, yalla, let’s do it. He’s going to be good for Israel, he has a Jewish son-in-law,” he said.
The pizza shop is not the first location in Israel named for Trump. After he recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights during his first term, Israel established the town of Trump Heights in the Golan. Today, its small number of residents, living near the front lines of the recently ended conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, hope that his reelection will spur the village to grow.
Avi Chechik, who was dining at the pizzeria, said he believed Trump was “one of Israel’s greatest supporters.” He listed a number of actions Trump took in office during his first term, including recognizing Israel’s claim to the Golan and moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.
“Many presidents have spoken about Israel, but he is the one who actually delivers,” he said. “He is one of Israel’s greatest allies. His administration is filled with people who support Israel, and we can’t expect better than that.”
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