By the way, the comments that numerous readers have left on the page containing the Jewish Standard’s original craven apology are pretty terrific, almost uniformly in condemnation. Most of them are wonderfully heartfelt and well-written.

And some of them are just funny. This one made me laugh.

You people are just a “ray of sunshine” for everyone, aren’t you?

Good luck with your Einstein decision to align yourselves with the haters.

I don’t know how to explain why, but there’s just something so great and Jewish about that comment.

This is my other favorite:

There are not words strong enough to shame you. Not even in Yiddish.

There’s some fascinating follow-up to the story of the Jewish newspaper in New Jersey that decided to discriminate against gay couples.

Yesterday, the newspaper published a new statement saying that it may have acted too quickly in deciding to discriminate:

We ran the wedding announcement because we felt, as a community newspaper, that it was our job to serve the entire community — something we have been doing for 80 years.

We did not expect the heated response we got, and — in truth — we believe now that we may have acted too quickly in issuing the follow-up statement, responding only to one segment of the community.

We are now having meetings with local rabbis and community leaders. We will also be printing, in the paper and online, many of the letters that have been pouring in since our statement was published.

We urge everyone to take a step back and reflect on what this series of events has taught us about the community we care so much about, and about the steps we must take to move forward together.

There’s also word that the editor of the paper, Rebecca Boreson, personally disagreed with the decision to discriminate but was pressured into it by the Orthodox community of Teaneck, NJ, where the newspaper is published.

It’s also possible that the newspaper was essentially blackmailed into this decision by the organization that certifies kosher restaurants, which threatened to decertify any kosher restaurant that continued to advertise in the newspaper if the newspaper continued to run same-sex marriage announcements:

It is my understanding that the Jewish Standard was basically being blackmailed. The RCBC, the Orthodox Rabbinate threatened to take away the hechsher, the certificate of kashrut, from any restaurant that continued to advertise in the Jewish Standard if they did not announce that they would never publish another gay wedding announcement. This would effectively put the Standard out of business, as it is advertising and not subscriptions that keeps their doors open, and it would have put the Kosher restaurants, caterers, and other Kosher food providers in the position of having to find another hechsher, which in Bergen county would be hard to do. It would alienate the Orthodox community from all of the liberal Jews who keep Kosher and it could cause financial havoc in the Jewish community. RCBC should be ashamed.

If true, these are disgusting and thuggish tactics.

On the other hand, this is not an example of courageous journalism, either, and it could have been handled much better. The publishers of the newspaper look like total cowards. As one commenter here says:

I’m not going to say “thanks” for your reconsideration on the subject like some other people. I’m taking a step back and I’m still baffled by the quick kowtowing to these Orthodox Rabbis SO quickly- like they were the Sopranos threatening cement shoes.

Additionally, here’s an interview with the couple who was the subject of the original wedding announcement that started this whole thing. They talk about what they think of all this:

I would hope that people don’t jump to conclusions and blame the newspaper. I think they made a mistake but are a generally good and pluralistic newspaper. The Jewish Standard will stay afloat with support from the greater community. They don’t need to toe the Orthodox line.

Finally, the New York Times might be working on a story about all this. That wouldn’t be surprising.

Two weeks ago, a Jewish newspaper in New Jersey, the Jewish Standard, published a wedding announcement for a totally adorable same-sex Jewish couple.

Now the newspaper is apologizing for it and saying it won’t happen again:

We set off a firestorm last week by publishing a same-sex couple’s announcement of their intent to marry. Given the tenor of the times, we did not expect the volume of comments we have received, many of them against our decision to run the announcement, but many supportive as well.

A group of rabbis has reached out to us and conveyed the deep sensitivities within the traditional/Orthodox community to this issue. Our subsequent discussions with representatives from that community have made us aware that publication of the announcement caused pain and consternation, and we apologize for any pain we may have caused.

The Jewish Standard has always striven to draw the community together, rather than drive its many segments apart. We have decided, therefore, since this is such a divisive issue, not to run such announcements in the future.

In an incredibly heartening turn, tons of fellow Jews have posted comments on that page in response, strongly disagreeing with the decision.

The Jewish Standard claims to be “not affiliated with any program, organization, movement, or point of view, but is dedicated to giving expression to all phases of Jewish life.” It is based in Teaneck, NJ, home to a large number of Orthodox Jews, but it puts itself forth as a newspaper for all Jews, not just for the Orthodox community.

As a gay man, a Jew, and a New Jerseyan by upbringing — heck, as a human being — I find this decision to be disgusting, cowardly, and hurtful. It makes me sick.

It would be one thing if this newspaper marketed itself as an exclusively Orthodox newspaper, catering to that steadily shrinking segment of the Jewish community. But it doesn’t. Its mission, as stated is, in part:

TO PROVIDE the Jewish communities of Bergen, Hudson, Passaic, and Rockland counties with an indispensable newspaper that will present local, national, and world news of Jewish interest….

Not just the Orthodox community. The entire Jewish community: Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, unaffiliated.

According to many of the commenters, the newspaper has no problem advertising restaurants that serve non-Kosher or inadequately Kosher food. It has no problem publicizing events that occur on Friday night or Saturday, when observant Jews would be celebrating Shabbat. But somehow a small portion of its readership has experienced “pain and consternation” at the announcement that two people have fallen in love and wish to spend the rest of their lives together.

What kind of heartless human being would feel “pain and consternation” at the joyful celebration of two people who love each other? What about the pain and consternation caused to gay Jews and their families and friends who now know that their life events are not worthy of being publicly celebrated in a community newspaper? What’s even more callous and disgusting is that this happened several days after a gay New Jersey college student killed himself after his asshole roommate decided to air live video of him “making out with a dude.” It’s because of decisions like the one the Jewish Standard has made — decisions that encourage the idea that gay relationships are never as good as straight relationships — that young gay people decide to kill themselves.

It seems to me that this was a business decision. The Jewish Standard is probably worried that the powerful Orthodox community will cancel its subscriptions and its advertising if the newspaper persists in being inclusive.

Well, a few years from now, the editors of the Jewish Standard are going to look upon themselves and their decision with great regret, embarrassment, shame, and remorse — just like businesses in the 1960s that used to cater to racism out of fear of losing money or rocking the boat.

I don’t see how this is any different from the newspaper in Maine that apologized last month for showing American Muslims celebrating Ramadan on September 11.

I’d never heard of this newspaper — it doesn’t publish in the county where I grew up. I’m more familiar with the New Jersey Jewish News, which I think my parents subscribe to. So, congratulations to the Jewish Standard: your cowardly, hurtful business decision has broadened your public profile.