Happy New Year! I think?
In light of one of Judaism’s most important holidays, Mike Elk, the labor reporter Politico fired in the summer of 2015, is using the holiday to ask people for money. He has always called the firing “illegal.” He received a buyout from the whole fiasco.
I would normally say God might not mind such a bold request for money on Rosh Hahsanah. But this time, I think he might be a little miffed by holiday fundraising.
Technically the holiday began Sunday night at sundown and concludes tonight.
I suppose the upshot here is that Elk, who is Jewish, didn’t try to do this on Yom Kippur — the sacred holiday of atonement in which observant Jews ask to be forgiven for their sins over the past year.
“Folks, L’Shana Tova!” Elk exclaimed in a mass email to his Payday Report readers. (Hebrew to English Translation: Have a good or sweet year!)
“I hate to interrupt folks on the New Year, but this year, we at Payday, are gonna be more transparent about pressing financial needs in the hopes of creating more sustainability for the project,” he wrote.
But come on. Let’s all get past any guilt. As much as he hates it, Elk will interrupt the Jewish new year because his first financial report is coming.
“At the end of this month, we are gonna roll out our first full monthly financial report so you can see where all of Payday’s revenue goes,” he wrote. “In the interim, we gotta pass the hat on Rosh Hashanah as our car insurance is late and they will cancel it unless we pay them $132.”
I never knew this before. But Rosh Hashanah now means paying for Mike Elk’s late rental car insurance.
Let’s just hope this time he doesn’t lose his car keys, or we’ll be asked to fork up the dough for that, too.