When Marti Lieberman opened Mac Mart nearly 15 years ago, she never imagined her macaroni-and-cheese shop would one day be singled out by activists seeking to drive Jewish- and Israeli-owned establishments out of Philadelphia. 

Now her restaurant is among six named in a flyer promoting a bicycle boycott rally by anti-Israel groups in the city’s Rittenhouse Square neighborhood on Sunday.

The list of targeted businesses includes Israeli restaurants Dizengoff, Goldie and K’Far Cafe, sandwich shop Huda and Schlessinger’s Deli, alongside Mac Mart. The activist groups’ flyer declares that “these Zionist establishments must go,” prompting condemnation from local Jewish organizations, which have called the campaign an effort to intimidate and exclude Jews from Philadelphia’s economic and civic life. The rally is scheduled for the eve of the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the 1938 Nazi pogrom against Jews which included the looting and destruction of Jewish businesses.

Mac Mart has not previously been publicly singled out in this way, Lieberman told Jewish Insider. Though she has never brought her religion into her interactions with customers, she said she has no intention of concealing it. “I refuse not to wear my Magen David,” she said. “It’s on display for people and they can interpret it how they want.”

“There are people who see the star and think I’m Israeli. These people are clearly not educated well,” she said, adding that Israeli-owned businesses have been targeted at a much larger scale, pointing to prominent Israeli American chef Michael Solomonov and his Philadelphia-based restaurants, making the public targeting of her own small business particularly unexpected.

Lieberman said Mac Mart has already weathered its share of challenges outside of boycotts, including the COVID-19 pandemic, which prompted her to rethink the business and transform its former Rittenhouse storefront into a grab-and-go kiosk. The restaurant is closed on Sundays, meaning it will not be operating during the planned rally. But Lieberman said the public targeting is still troubling, particularly as a business owner who has worked to build a loyal customer base in the neighborhood.

Jason Holtzman, chief of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, told JI, “This feels different because they’ve extended it past Israeli restaurants. All these restaurant owners have in common is that they’re all Jewish.” 

“This should be widely condemned by all of our local leaders — whether they’re civic leaders or faith leaders, this is a time where we need the community to come together and say [Jews] belong here,” Holtzman said.

In response to the rally, the JCRC is organizing a Friday lunch at one of the targeted restaurants, bringing together local leaders to demonstrate solidarity with the businesses. Holtzman said details are still being finalized and urged more elected officials to participate. “The best public statement they could make” is to attend the lunch, he said. 

“We’re telling people to go and eat at these restaurants, buy as much food as you can from them,” said Holtzman. “Let’s make some record sales.”  

Allan Domb, owner of Schlessinger’s Deli — which his grandparents Joseph and Molly Schlesinger first opened in the 1920s — said he was similarly surprised to find his business included in the campaign. “I’m not sure why this group is targeting me over owning a delicatessen,” Domb told JI. 

“It clearly seems to me to be a high level of antisemitism because I’m Jewish,” said Domb, a Democratic politician who served as an at-large member of the Philadelphia City Council from 2016 to 2022. 

Domb said he has contacted the police captain in his district to ensure the deli is prepared for Sunday’s demonstration, though he hopes the event will not lead to any confrontations. “I’m hoping there won’t be any type of violence, but just in case we should be prepared,” he said. 

Domb plans to carry on with business as usual, serving the pastrami sandwiches, matzah ball soup and other deli staples that have made Schlessinger’s a neighborhood fixture.

“Most of the time the initial noise is much greater than the reality,” he said. “Not only are we going to stay open on Sunday, but I’m going to be there myself.”