JACKSON, NJ – The editor for a predominantly Jewish magazine who published a divisive and insensitive article condemning Christmas lights and decorations in Jackson Township said the article ‘slipped through the cracks’ and the author has since been fired.
Bayla Brooks, whose real identity has yet to be confirmed wrote about the ‘grotesque’ and ‘disgusting’ Christmas lights and decorations in her Jackson neighborhood when she moved in six years ago. She said those lights almost caused her to back out of her contract to buy a home in the community which was at the time, just starting to grow into an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood.
Managing Editor Shulamis Nieman, of the Jackson Pulse, affiliated with the Lakewood News Network, and Voice of Lakewood magazine said Brooks was fired.
“We would like to extend our sincerest apologies regarding the article ‘Our Lights’ that was printed in the Jackson Pulse, Issue 12,” Nieman said to New Jersey 101.5 in a statement after the radio station picked up the Shore News Network article on the incident. “The article does not represent our views or the views of our readership. We value and respect our neighbors, of all religions and faiths. We are deeply distressed that an article that does not reflect those values has slipped through the editorial cracks.”
Tzvi Herman, the former Community Liaison for the Jackson Pulse has not yet commented on the matter. Both Herman and Shullamis have also remained silent on their publication’s alleged connections to the now-defunct former hate-speech website Rise Up Ocean County. Herman’s name was removed from the publication shortly after the controversial December 7th issue.
The Jackson Pulse will live in infamy as a result of the publishing of that article.
According to a public records search, no person named Bayla Brooks lives in the neighborhood described in the article. It is unsure if Brooks was a pen name for Herman.