The message was a surprise for some.
Redmond’s Odem Theater Pub sent out an email to subscribers Tuesday morning, announcing upcoming films…and asking a question.
“So will we be requiring Star of David yellow arm bands issued by the State of Oregon showing your Vaccine Status for entry? Please contact your Hitler Youth Leader or SS officer to obtain one.”
A post with the image on Central Oregon Daily’s Facebook page gained more than 200 comments on Wednesday.
Some people like Christina were shocked at the message, saying, “Comparing vaccines to the Holocaust is so disgusting and insensitive.”
Others sided with the theater, like Jeff, who said, “Right on. Need more businesses standing up to this dictatorship.”
We reached out to Odem Theater Pub multiple times for a comment but received no response.
Rabbi Yossi Feintuch, who serves at the Jewish Community of Central Oregon, says there is no room for such a comparison.
“To compare an overreach by the government, which leaves you still with alternatives to sort out, to children who were simply selected for being Jewish…to wear this armband that doomed them to a horrible death in concentration camps…how could anyone compare anything like an overreach by the government to a situation like that?” Feintuch said.
“Even when the government is overreaching, you still have an alternative and you’re not going to die from taking any alternative,” he added.
The Rabbi has felt the pain of the Holocaust firsthand.
“I was deprived of the joy of knowing grandparents and uncles and aunts who were all exterminated during the years of the Sho’ah, the Holocaust,” he said.
He believes that taking time to research the events of history will make a difference for those who compare it to modern-day America.
“If such a person who believes there is room for such a comparison would even read a little bit about the Holocaust and the history of these armbands and where they led, they would on their own decide there is no room to compare the two, and they would see that it is not only ridiculous, but it is abusive to the memory of the Sho’ah, of the Holocaust,” Feintuch said.
