Why American Eagle Now Has a Mezuzah at its
Times Square Flagship
American Eagle Outfi tters now has a mezuzah on
the front door of its fl agship Times Square location,
courtesy of Chabad, the Chasidic outreach movement.

The parchment with Jewish holy text in an oblong
metallic case, traditionally a marker of a Jewish home
or establishment, was affi xed on the apparel brand’s
door as part of the recently concluded convention of
CTeen, Chabad’s youth group. At a concert in Times
Square on the night of Feb. 25, thousands of teens
from more than 30 countries gathered to sing Jewish
songs — and witness the mezuzah being hung.

Out of all the retailers in Times Square, how did
Chabad choose American Eagle?
That question has proven surprisingly hard to
answer, as representatives of neither Chabad nor
American Eagle agreed to speak on the record about
the relationship between the Chasidic movement and
the apparel brand.

But a clue to the reason lies with American Eagle CEO
Jay L. Schottenstein, a Jewish philanthropist whose
family has donated tens of millions of dollars to a range
of Jewish organizations. ArtScroll’s translations of the
Talmud, for example, bear the name “Schottenstein,”
and the family has given to a range of Jewish institutions
in Columbus, Ohio, where the Schottenstein family is
based. American Eagle’s revenue for fi scal year 2022
was projected at nearly $3.5 billion, according to Forbes.

Chabad is among the benefi ciaries of the Jay and
Jeanie Schottenstein Foundation, which gave more
than $200,000 to the movement’s institutions in 2020,
the most recent year for which tax documents are
available. Since 2014, American Eagle has also given
Chabad access to the retail giant’s gigantic advertising
screens in Times Square.

Rabbi Aryeh Kaltman, a Chabad rabbi from Columbus,
told the New York Jewish Week that American Eagle is
“the most inclusive brand there is in America.”
“I salute them,” Kaltman said. “It meant so much to
every teenager who was there. It was an expression of
Jewish pride.”
Stefan Schiff , a senior and tennis star at Bexley
High School in the Columbus, Ohio, area, was the
conference attendee who placed the Jewish ritual
object on the store’s doorpost.

“This is a big honor for me,” Schiff said in a statement.

“I am proud to be a part of such a tremendous display
Attendees of a Chabad teen convention in Times
Square pose next to the mezuzah affi xed to the
doorpost of American Eagle Outfi tters’ fl agship store.

of Jewish pride together with my Jewish brothers and
sisters from around the world.”
Chabad said that the ritual object is “Times Square’s
fi rst-ever mezuzah,” a bold claim that is almost certainly
inaccurate. The New York Jewish Week did not determine
conclusively whether a mezuzah is, at present, affi xed to
any doors in one of the busiest public spaces of the most
Jewish city in the country. But less than a decade ago, a
building on 40th Street and Seventh Avenue was home
to a synagogue, the Garment Center Congregation. That
building’s address currently boasts the Margaritaville
Resort Times Square. (The synagogue, incidentally, is
suing the building’s developer).

Additionally, which set of blocks, exactly, counts as
“Times Square” is up for debate, though an expansive
defi nition proposed last year by New York City itself
includes parts of the Garment District, which was once
heavily Jewish. Those borders also include at least one
synagogue. ■
Jacob Henry | JTA
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