There’s a religious war brewing in Brooklyn as the Kosher Gym goes goy.
The Flatbush fitness center that has followed strict religious rules with separate facilities for Orthodox Jewish men and women is being sold to a national chain that is outraging Orthodox gym rats who work out in yarmulkes and ankle-length skirts.
The gym will soon be open on the Sabbath, add TVs and popular music, and display ads that could feature immodestly dressed women, according to notices sent on July 30 to pious patrons announcing the gym’s deal with an unnamed chain.
“Staff may not be as modestly dressed as you have been used to, and the music and programming may not be on an acceptable standard,” the memo warned.
Yehuda Fulda and Ori Kahn reached a deal to sell the place in July for $2 million, according to the Jewish Press. They hope a Jewish buyer comes forward with a better offer.
The owners’ notice offered this advice to the bible-bearing body builders: “We apologize in advance and recommend that you bring your own entertainment, or just don’t look.”
Those who have decided the Kosher Gym is no longer suitable for them have been greeted with a strident refusal after seeking to end their ironclad $480 annual contracts.
“It seems to me that there’s something not kosher about the Kosher Gym,” said Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind, whose office has received 40 complaints from gym members in the last year.