7-Eleven announced last week that it is closing more than 400 stores in North America, where there are currently more than 13,000 locations. The convenience store chain began in 1927 when one of the locations of the Southland Ice Company in Dallas began selling milk, eggs and bread in addition to ice. This successful strategy led to the creation of the Southland Corporation which expanded these convenience stores, renamed as Tote’m Stores. In 1946 they changed the name of the expanding chain to 7-Eleven, reflecting the extended hours that the stores were open, which was very unusual at that time. Southland went on to open more stores and also to purchase competing convenience store chains, achieving a value of more than $5 billion in the mid-1980’s, before taking a huge financial hit during the stock market crash of 1987. Southland eventually filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy and ownership was transferred to a Japanese corporation. What is a Jewish connection to 7-Eleven?

‍ 7-Eleven (14454510498) by Mike Mozart  is licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

A. 7-Eleven opened their first store in Israel in January of 2023 at Dizengoff Center in Tel Aviv. The Israeli franchisee, Electra Consumer Products, announced plans to invest more than 60 million New Israeli Shekels to open dozens of additional stores in the coming years.

B. The Star-K kosher certification organization publishes a list of more than 300 kosher flavors of 7-Eleven Slurpees available in the United States, including Dad’s Hawaiian Shirt, Tiger’s Blood, and Monster Mutant Red Dawn.

C. In April of 2024, Electra Consumer Products, the Israeli franchisee of 7-Eleven stores, announced that it would be closing all ten of their stores after having lost more than 60 million New Israeli Shekels over the last year.

D. The 7-Eleven store in Monsey, New York, sells certified kosher Big Bite hot dogs, chulent and kishke, to accommodate the needs of the huge Orthodox and Chassidic community in that town. The store’s advertising features the slogan Kosher Heaven at 7-Eleven.

E. When franchisee Electra Consumer Products opened their first 7-Eleven store in Israel, they promised that their stores would be kosher, to ensure that the large Orthodox population would patronize the store. However, the Chief Rabbi announced that Jews should not enter 7-Eleven stores because of the quote from Joshua 7:11 which reads “Israel has sinned! They have broken the covenant by which I bound them. They have taken of the proscribed and put it in their vessels; they have stolen; they have broken faith!” As a result, the 7-Eleven stores in Israel have all shut down.

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