First thing you think upon reading it.
Interest-free lending available to the sons and daughters of Israel.
I think it’s probably an ad for that Jewish organization that lends money at no interest to borrowers with co-signers (and some other strict requirements). I forget what they are called.
A gemach, but I have an advantage with questions like this.
A Jewish Free Loan society. No-interest loans, basically. I’ve never looked into the terms but at least in NYC, there are several legit charities along these lines.
Ah, so it’s not like sugar-free cookies.
Radio Free Europe.
To my (Gentile) ears, it sounds anti-Semitic (Jew-free loans) at first pass. Then maybe you stop and think that maybe it means “free loans to Jewish people”
First impression in the racist one though, even though it’s grammatically incorrect.
Is it a newspaper headline? And if so, what do the newly liberated loans have to say about it?
Okay, my sister is right. My mind is complicated and weird. Because the instant I saw it I thought: “Who is advertising loans to anti-semites?? On National Geographic’s You Tube Channel? Why isn’t someone monitoring this???”
Because yes, my mind translated it as “Loans Free OF Jews” Not “Loans Free FOR Jews”.
It is some comfort that the best grammarian I know thought exactly the same thing, only she expressed it as “I’m not a jew and I will give you a loan” (although she is Jewish)
Another Jewish friend thought of it similarly, only even more rudely, in that she thought they were going for the slur aspect, something along the lines of “we won’t JEW you”, which is even stranger.
HA! So I’m not alone!
This is what I thought at first. I’m not Jewish, but I really, really hate that turn of phrase.
My next thought was that it was missing a hyphen and that they meant Jewish-free lending. Like either they weren’t Jews or didn’t lend to Jews.
It never occurred to me that it would be a place that would lend to Jews only and free of charge at that.
I saw where you were going with this thread the moment I read the title. Except a thinking person would immediately dismiss that interpretation as too ridiculous, and assume the most likely explanation is the correct one.
Well, I am a thinking person, but I never having heard of companies that make loans to any particular religious group for free, so that never crossed my mind. I assumed the OP had made up the sign to start a discussion.
Monitoring it for what?
Not all Jewish Free Loan organizations loan only to Jews. In LA, the Jewish Free Loan Association engages in interest free microlending to anyone.
You know; deviance, irreverence, general brigandry… the Internet Police have a very tough job.
Cool! Love learning new things…
Yes, that’s the one I was thinking of that requires a co-signer on every loan. Do the other organizations typically always require a co-signer as well?
You’re probably thinking of the term Judenfrei.