Hold the Cheese in the Holy City : Culture: McDonald’s is showing its insensitivity toward the religious nature of Jerusalem.

King David never wrote psalms about them. The Jewish soldiers in the Six-Day War, fighting to recapture from Jordan the ancient Temple’s Western Wall, weren’t longing for them. And the Oslo accord was signed, sealed and delivered without any reference to cheeseburgers.

Even when Burger King opened a Jerusalem franchise a few years back, followed shortly by a Wendy’s, there was nary a cheeseburger in the Holy City.

But now McDonald’s has come to town, just in time for Jerusalem’s 3,000th birthday celebrations. And as if we don’t have other things to think about, now the city’s got cheeseburgers on its mind.

At Passover, Jews ask: “Why is this night different from all other nights?” Now we can ask, “Why is this burger different from all other burgers?” Why are there pickets outside McDonald’s and petitions signed by thousands of citizens asking McDonald’s to respect the uniqueness of our capital and articles in the Jerusalem Post protesting McDonald’s “flagrant insensitivity” to the Jewish character of the state?

What makes it different is the cheeseburger’s mixture of milk with meat, a common enough culinary practice throughout the world, but one prohibited by the Torah. The cheeseburger, in all its glory, is the perfect embodiment of non-kosher food.

“Thou shalt not cook meat in its mother’s milk.” That’s the key line from which the dietary law is derived. One reason for it is that meat represents death (the slaughter of the animal), while milk represents new life. To one who is unfamiliar with these laws, they surely seem strange and unnecessary, but kashrut is one of those practices that have held the Jewish people together for 3,000 years. It’s a worldly, mundane tool with which we remind ourselves constantly of the Creator’s presence and actualize that consciousness.

In his reply to a request that the company conform to Jerusalem’s status quo, McDonald International CEO James R. Cantalupo said that the company would continue to offer “the same choices as McDonald’s offers around the world.” Then, with pride and apparently unconscious irony, he wrote that “during Passover, all our restaurants (in Israel) served hamburger buns made from potato flour and served chicken McNuggets with breading made from matzo flour. In Muslim countries, ingredients are prepared according to the Islamic dietary laws; [and] restaurants that open in India in 1996 will not serve beef.”

He then went on to say: “At McDonald’s, we strive to be a responsible corporate citizen and a good community neighbor. Whether in the United States, Israel or any of the 80 other countries in which we do business, we always try to be sensitive to the cultural and religious heritage of the community.”

In practice, however, McDonald’s has related to our heritage in such a way that President Ezer Weizman was moved to say, “Beware of McDonald’s.” One example of its gross insensitivity was the placement of an outlet right on the Golani Junction, whose historic significance as the site where many died defending the border against the invading Arab armies in 1967 has been forever obscured by the presence of a fast-food restaurant.

What makes McDonald’s different from all the other multinational food franchises doing business in the capital? The latter have made their Jerusalem outlets kosher, in keeping with the unique character of the city, and close shop on the Sabbath. McDonald’s, however, has been unable to resist the extra buck to be had by violating the norm, thereby exacerbating tensions between religious and non-religious citizens. In a city whose religious sector constitutes more than 50% of the population (and whose non-observant Sephardics and Yemenites are still sufficiently identified with their roots to balk at eating milk and meat together). McDonald’s offers Israeli youth and tourists that extra bit of Americana they can’t get anywhere else in the city. Indeed, for many Israeli children, the Jerusalem McDonald’s is giving them their first exciting break with their own religion, complete with free balloons.

Why is McDonald’s violation of kashrut in Jerusalem different from kashrut violations committed by individual citizens? McDonald’s is more powerful--not only financially but as a cultural symbol. Its invasion of our tiny country is like having a careless American giant stride smilingly in, unaware of all that’s precious underfoot.

During this period when Israelis are expected to sacrifice physical security for the sake of an insecure peace, McDonald’s also can do its bit for the peace process. McDonald’s may have planted golden arches irrevocably in our midst, but please, Mr. Cantalupo, at least hold the cheese.