The Rabbinical Alliance of America/Igud HaRabbonim, a professional rabbinical organization with a membership of 950 Orthodox rabbis, calls on the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) to immediately remove the offensive bus ads for the Museum of Sex. “These ads are offensive, shameful and disrespectful,” stated Rabbi Yaakov Klass, a Presidium Member of the RAA and Torah Editor of the Jewish Press. Rabbi Klass added, “these ads are communally insensitive. They undermine efforts to educate children in ways that are age and community appropriate.”
Rabbi Mendy Mirocznik, Executive Vice-President of the RAA added, “these ads are displayed on buses that children take to school. It sets the wrong tone for a day of school, for a day of serious study without distraction. The message of these ads can disrupt the values that parents teach at home. These ads sensationalize the sacred, taking the most private aspects of life into the public arena in ways that citizens cannot avoid. If New York City is to be a safe place for families to raise children, the MTA must take community standards into account when approving advertisements.”
Rabbi Klass emphasized that the RAA disagrees with the MTA that these ads are protected free speech and called upon that the MTA to immediately remove these offensive ads from their buses. Rabbi Klass concluded that the MTA must refrain from ever again displaying such irresponsible and insensitive ads.