Bungle In the Jungle
5 min read
6 min read
6 min read
A Cornell student’s antisemitic rejection to a job interview triggered a firestorm, and a wave of Jewish pride.
"Not interested in working for a Jew." That's what a Cornell student wrote back to Gabe Einhorn's company, two weeks after applying for a summer internship. Gabe, 24, wears a kippah proudly in every video he posts online. He never expected hatred like this to find him.
Gabe and his brother Aiden started a company called VryfID, a real estate service that sets up renters with landlords. They worked tirelessly to get the company off the ground.
Aiden, a senior at NYU, tapped into his university connections to find interns from campuses who might be interested in working for them.
The brothers posted summer internship opportunities on the hiring platform Handshake and got a lot of interest: 120 people applied.
Aiden and Gabe Einhorn
A Cornell student named Austin Franco applied and was on of the 60 applicants chosen for an interview. Franco never responded. Aiden followed up a few times to try to coordinate but didn’t get any response.
Two weeks later, Franco wrote on Handshake: “Not interested in working for a Jew.”
Aiden saw the response and was shocked. “Gabe, you gotta check this out. This is crazy!”
For the past year, Gabe had been posting on social media and proudly wore a kippah in all his videos. This was the first time he had encountered online hatred. “I’m Jewish. I wear a kippah and am very proud of it. It was never a second thought. Never a problem for me.”
A scene from one of Gabe’s videos
One thing multiple people advised Gabe when he started working in real estate was to never talk about politics or religion.
Gabe had no problem staying away from politics, but a huge part of his side hustle—and his identity—is talking about religion.
Gabe has a clothing brand called Prays; he takes different quotes from Tanach (Scriptures) in English and prints them on the back of his shirts. He also creates a videos series where he walks around NYC interviewing people from all walks of life and religions about their faith. He has interviewed famous athletes and celebrities, all while wearing his kippah.
“I never directly pushed any agenda or was an activist. I was someone building a real estate company. I never encountered hate online until this point.
“I thought to myself, If you’re going to hate me because I am Jewish, I’m going to be even more proud of it—and I started pushing back.”
Gabe wanted to expose the blatant antisemitism he experienced but decided not to reveal the Cornell student’s name.
Overnight his phone exploded with both positive and negative messages. Everyone had a different opinion. Some said the story was not true. Some tried to find out the kid’s name. Others told Gabe to expose the boy’s name. All sides were fighting with each other over this post.
Within a couple of hours, Franco wrote back:
“I have not had a positive experience with Jews and that’s why I don’t want to work for Jews.”
No apology. No regret. Just hatred toward a collective people because of one bad experience.
Franco’s reply created a flood of messages of people vehemently against Gabe. Radical white supremacists were writing, “Kill the Jew.”
A GiveSendGo page was created for Franco to support him in his “resistance” against Jews, bringing in $20,000.
Posts included remarks like, “This guy stood up to Jews. He should be rewarded.”
People started coordinating campaigns to gather Gabe’s information and attempting to destroy his business and his family’s safety.
“Last week was really tough,” Gabe said in an Aish.com interview. “Probably the worst week of my life. I was scared for my personal safety and our business. We had to have police patrol outside our house and NYPD involvement.”
Despite the threats, Gabe recognizes that a lot of positive things have come from it.
“So many Jews around the world—people I don’t even know—have reached out to support us and our business financially and emotionally. As Jews, we are so connected and we look out for each other. There are so many people I’ve never met before who reached out to support. We are a small but strong nation.”
After the wave of media attention, Gabe is staying focused on building his business.
“We pre-verify renters through credit checks and basic screening, then matchmake them with landlords and apartments that fit their profile.”
They plan to use AI and matchmaking to turn it into a full marketplace. “We plan to launch aggressively in New York within the next 4-6 weeks.”
Meanwhile, Gabe is dismayed that Franco was rewarded for his “resistance against the Jews” with $25,000.
Gabe expressed, “We see major politicians, especially here in NYC, with huge platforms being openly antisemitic and still being voted in. Today, it feels easy to say whatever you want, even if it’s false or wrong. For many young people, social media is their news. If the videos they see tell them Jews are evil, and that’s all they consume, that becomes all they know. Then they see kids being rewarded for this behavior, which only encourages more of it.”
Gabe believes that the more you lean into your identity, feel proud, connect, and build with people, the better your life becomes.
“If we lean into who we are and recognize how strong and connected we are, there is nothing to fear. Combatting antisemitism starts with education. We have to know our history and understand our religion.”
Students in public schools often enter college without knowing how to respond or engage when these issues come up. They are left sitting silently—or sometimes become self-hating.
“Basic education matters. Not everyone can afford Jewish day school but every child should have some sort of Jewish education early in life, so they know who they are and where they come from.”
In a moment that could have made him stay quiet and hide, Gabe chose to push back and lean into his Jewish pride. Not to become consumed by hate, but to become more rooted in who he is. Prejudice and hate may make some noise but identity, community, and conviction build something that lasts.
Who forced this kid to apply to a company he didn't want to work for? If you have strong feelings against working for certain people maybe do some home work before applying. All he had to do was not accepts a position. He was the one that made it a public issue. He didn't stand up to "them". They were offering him a job.
A long time ago Ivy league colleges had a quota how many Jews can go to their schools, this practice took a long time to get rid of, now they might have a quota on how many Asian students can get in to their colleges, that is what I heard lately, I guess some colleges and universities have a problem with smart minorities, now Muslim Arab oil and and gold countries that are terrorists send monies to schools from kindergarten till colleges / universities to hate Jews and Israel by brainwashing them, unfortunately these students don't learn critical thinking, and believe the propaganda, falsehoods, lies that are said their playbook is from the Nazis ( Y"S) Joseph Gobbels ( Y"S) the propaganda minister of Nazi( Y"S),Germany,
How do we see the teeshirts?
““Basic education matters. Not everyone can afford Jewish day school”
No one—NO ONE—is turned down at private Jewish day school for inability to pay. They all charge on a sliding scale and theres no end of donations to pay tuition.
As to anti-semitism, keep those borders open, keep letting the Jewish far-left control the Jewish narrative and there will be plenty more anti-semitism where that came from. Qatar can pay for any amount of anti-Semitism.
I enjoyed the article and the many comments. I especially connected with the comment about the polio vaccine. For a small group we have contributed so many positive things. Yes, indeed, give up everything created by Jews. Let's see how good their life is without those benefits!
Hared is a sign of mental illness, soul sickness.
Shabbat Shalom, the truth about antisemitism, or the hatred because of the color of the skin etc. I believe that the people that do not love others, because of whatever reasons, is because they were not loved by both parents, or one parent. Or they heard the grownups talking in an evil way against Jews, or people with different color of their skin, etc. Non the less, hatred is the opposite of LOVE. If we do not love HaShem, we cannot love neither ourselves, nor our fellow ones. Let us all practice real love, even if it means to learn how to do so, because life is a lot better and happier, loving ourselves and our fellow ones. Have a joyful and a love full Shabbat.
So he had a bad experience once with a Jew, so never again... What happens if he has a bad date with a woman. Does he turn gay?
So proud of this young man. Antisemitism has been around for too long. To be rewarded for it is shocking & so sad! Well done for being proud to be Jewish!
The surname Franco is to be found amongst many Sefardi Jews (and their descendants who converted out). Could Austin Franco pass muster under the Nuremberg Laws? Just wondering!
I think he wouldn't, because if you had any Jewish dna, you ended up in Ghettoes and/ or concentration camps, actually Carlos Santana family tree had Jews that were forced to convert to Christianity, and is proud rhat he has Sephardic Jewish dna he speaks Hebrew, and uses phrases that come from Judaism, actually around 25% of Hispanic people have Sephardic Jewish dna , even if they hide the fact and say they hate Jews, some Sephardic Jews don't l8ke Askenzi Jews so much, during the Holocaust some Jews didn't like other Jews, because they came from different countries, I guess that is why are still in exile
Would PA head Abbas pass muster? He is Jewish one side going back to the end of Spanish Jewry in 1492 - descended one of the first Jews to arrive in today's Safed in northern Israel. PLO officials would tease him by writing "Jewish Agency" on his office door!
On the other hand, the Nazis rejected the US Southern "one drop" rule - if someone had no Jewish grandparents, but Jewish ancestry further back, they counted as gentiles and were not persecuted at all (for that reason, anyway). In contrast, an American in 1925 and beyond could have one 10x great grandfather who was Black and they would be considered Black, even though their DNA would be less than 0.1% (1/2,048th) Black.
I guess you don't know the list about Aryans and non Aryans there is a whole list in Yad Vashem, about who the ,Nazis( Y"S) deemed subhuman or worst, and besides Jews there are other minorities too, the irony is the baby they picked as the model Aryan baby was actually a Jewish little girl, in my opinion the PA are Nazis ( Y"S) that spesk Arabic, instead of a. watermelon flag they should show the truth and show a Nazi ( Y"S) flag , which is the same goal as the Nazis ( Y"S) to make the world and Israel " Judenrein " ( free of Jews)
The Einhorn boys were raised right -- their parents should be proud. As for Franco, any rewards he gleaned from this will dissipate rapidly and, more than that, he'll see his losses pile up even more swiftly. His name is out there. Doors will be closing in his face, decent people will avoid him, nice women will shun him. he's relegated himself to the small, outlying group of troglodytes and misfits who expend their energies in failure and regression. He officially and publicly signed on for a progression of failure. keep standing strong, Einhorns! You are the future.
Stand strong brother!
So proud of the young people who know and understand the history to enable them to make a cogent response to virulent antisemitism. Sometimes logic and facts don’t work against sheer prejudice but, hopefully, facts will prove successful!
So important to treat everyone with respect. Today's chilul haShem will create tomorrow's person who hates Jews. Every kiddush haShem will create a person who has respect for the Jewish people.
I feel so bad for this poor kid who's afraid to work for a Jew. Oy! It's like a phobia, poor guy. Should we help him out? Should we make sure every single Jewish employer on the planet knows his name so they shouldn't hire him by mistake and give him needless pain, agony and suffering?
P.S. Imagine if he'd said I don't want to work for an African American. He'd probably be locked up by now, no? Anti-Semetism (oops, that's anti-Israelism, of course) is the only legal hatred in today's sad "morality" (besides MAGA and Trump, of course).
Yeah.
Sadly, those who hate, get away with plenty on the African Americans, too. Usually only majority populations enjoy relative comfort of the ignorance of intolerance.
It is so sad that most "Jew Haters" do not have a clue what Judaism is about. Children shoulf be taught the basics at school, not just Judaism, but all religions.
It breaks my heart every time I run across the non Jewish hate mongers who do not have a clue what they are spouting off about ! May Hashem enlighten those who hate.
The haters are ignorant with Judaism there wouldn't be Christianity and Islam, and still people hate the Jews it could be because of jealousy, when you are jealous of someone you start hating them. some people learn to hate, in their homes or now at school instead of learning to love people they lesrn to hate others
Tell the antisemite to give back the medication he received that was developed by Dr Salk and Dr Sabin for polio even if they have to tear it out of his hide.
Well he also needs to hand in his iPhone and any Israeli developed technology too.
Sad little boy.
What a complete idiot! Seriously, how dumb does one have to be to burn a resource that might be a way to find a better life?
The man who trained me in my profession was Jewish, and he loved to call himself "The most obnoxious Jew in Seattle". He wasn't obnoxious. He was the kindest, most generous person I ever met. He spent endless hours helping me, training me, finding me work and laughing at me ( and with me! ) when I screwed it up and we'd start over.
I worked for "Jews" most of my life. So what! I work to support myself, not to pass some sort or idiological purity test. Put simply, the color of money is green. All I need to know is that is that what I'm doing isn't going to lead to a conversation with a prosecuting attorney.
Would you want somebody working for you who didn't want to work for you and hated you...and you didn't know it? By telling you the guy might have been doing Gabe a favor. The guy ended up with $25,000 and a whole bunch of social praise and pats on the back, a whole new set of resources and experience as to what works well, got a heck of a reward for it...all because Gabe decided to pursue him AFTER Franco basically said 'leave me be.' Not violent. Gabe could say Ok, you live your life and I live mine. Where is it written he has to love you? So I wonder if there's a lesson there too? My bet is Franco made that up in the first place. Not illegal. And he was going to end up hating somebody anyway for some excuse, Asians or whoever.
One can't make everybody love them. The guy will have his reward in the end, he can live his life through hate if he wants to, and it will eat him up in the end, make him older before his time, and he will have a much less enjoyable life. But you know, that's really his business, and once you know how feels you don't have to pursue or engage further. As the French say, c'est la gare.
But another way to see it: Look how Gabe and his brother ended up, well served, and many good things they'd never expect. They could end up thanking Franco. And Franco benefited. The hate will consume him anyway, for a few bucks. You only get the one life.
I can only imagine what these young men experienced. Some of the comments on my social media feed were truly disturbing. Like was mentioned in the article, some of these people know one Jewish person, if that. Imagine where we'd be if we hated other people based on one negative experience. Wishing the best of luck to these young men.
In 2008, a non-Jewish salesman told me he kept his step dad's Jewish last name, to weed out antisemites. If someone said they didn't want to buy anything from a Jew, he didn't need their business at all. As a Jew, I told him that we appreciate that support.
The non Jewish salesman was smart to weed out anti semites, it was a test to see how the person really is, I agree with your comment
As a very proud Cornell alumna, this info was viral on my Cornell communications. Instagram/ facebook connections… totally disgusting and the recent events surrounding Cornell have not been positive at all.. proud of these ambitious young men and thank you for this article as it is the first time I’ve read anything about the company / founders— how wonderful it was started by these two ambitious brothers. Continued success!!
American Jews need to start making plans for aliyah.
How many more warnings do you need?
💯 %
We can do that, but then that's like having all the ants in one hill so you can exterminate it all together in one shot. No one drives me from my home until I decide. Meanwhile it's enough for now to know that maybe 20 times the number of diaspora Jews exist as unknowing Conversos etc. Like all the Catholics named Diamond, unexplained old family traditions among Christians like lighting candles on Friday and nobody knows why, etc. Today the word spreads with genetics awareness and info through social media; that revenge is enough: You can't escape yourself, even if you don't know it for a few generations.
Also conversos with the surname FRANCO - he's probably has Jewish roots himself. Last laugh on him.
The Rothschild family send their children to different parts of the world, just in case anything happens to Jews, parts of their families will survive, I read about this way to able for his descendants, to survive when the Holocaust broke out, it was a very smart move in my humble opinion
Couldn't Gabe have just said, "Ok, you can go your own way." Like the Fleetwood Mac song. Then none of this would have backfired like it did. Maybe a little tolerance can go both directions. Maybe intolerance did, in a way.
Tolerance of… someone hating Jews? Like it’s a valid personal opinion that should be respected?
Why should it be respected to hate Jews, if it was another minority there would be a lawsuit against talk like this, I hope the brothers have someone that appreciates them, not a person that makes up a excuse because the name Franco, is actually a Jewish Sephardic last name, this ignorant idiot doesn't know he actually has Jewish ancestry himself
If everyone got rewarded for refusing a job, the entire workforce would disappear.
What that student - and others - really learned isn’t just antisemitism, it’s that pandering to fashionable prejudices is more profitable than working.
It appears you’re partly right. We don’t know behind the scenes how people are rewarded for loving those different from themselves. I personally love that you said “ pandering to fashionable prejudices “ because not only have you used “ words now used less commonly “ like a real and thinking person ( instead of saying trending)) it shows that any of us can avoid words that “ follow the crowd.” I’ve been in places and situations where using less trending words and purpose throwing in 1 or 2 popular phrases seems to bring out the humanity in people. We sometimes are what we say. Btw, as Jews, we’re more leading than following so what’s the real reason some of us need to dress and speak like the rest. ( yes we sometimes want to but, all the time????) 🤔
Speaking of fashion prejudice Coco Chanel was a anti semite too, and I think also a German spy