Free Cone Day falls on Yom HaShoah

Tomorrow, April 25, 2006, marks to different important events, depending on who you are. One is Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day, when kids get a free cone of ice cream after waiting on an outrageously long line. The other is Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day (literally “Day of the Holocaust”). Obviously, these events are polar opposites. While one represents fun, being carefree, and American consumerism, the other represents death, destruction, and mourning. What I find appalling is that B & J actually scheduled their famous “holiday” on Yom HaShoah. Of course Ben and Jerry are probably not observant Jews, and Yom HaShoah is not an official U.S. holiday, but it still shocks me that they put such a pointless, joyful day on a holiday that marks one of the world’s greatest tragedies. There is no doubt that in a company as large as B & J had a relatively high-ranking person who knew about Yom HaShoah. I’m not trying to accuse B & J of anti-semitism, but I just thought that it was interesting that Free Cone Day and Yom HaShoah coincide. So, when you’re enjoying your free ice cream cone tomorrow, try not to forget the six million Jews, plus three million homosexuals, gypsies, and those physically and mentally handicapped, who were murdered only 61 years ago.

Technorati Tags: , , , , ,

4 Responses to “Free Cone Day falls on Yom HaShoah”


  1. 1 Austen

    I guess that you could think of them as balancing each other out… Like yin and yang. Maybe they meant to bring some joy and happiness into a normally mournful day.

    Then again, younger kids don’t really understand the holocaust.

  2. 2 Mike

    Ben Cohen (who has the same name as my father) and Jerry Greenfield are both Jewish.

  3. 3 Aaron

    Cool!

  4. 4 Austen

    Anyway, on a lighter side: I got my free cone! It was C-H-O-C-A-L-A-T-E-Y. It was worth the long line wait.

    And in class we watched a documentary about Anne Frank’s Diary and her life before, during, and after (well, her father’s publishing the book) the Holocaust.

Leave a Reply