Nordstrom
This Feb. 15, 2012 photo, shows a Nordstrom Rack store at The Promenade at Howard Hughes Center in Los Angeles.
(Damian Dovarganes | The Associated Press)
Nordstrom is under fire for a sweater that some say is offensive to Jews.
Today Style reports the blue Hanukkah sweater features the words "chai maintenance," a play on the Hebrew word "Chai," which means life.
Some versions of the sweater also include the words "Hanukkah J.A.P," which is short for "Jewish American Princess," the Huffington Post says.
The Chicago Tribune says several negative comments were posted to Nordstrom's Facebook page last week.
"I'm very disturbed by this sweater and the negative stereotype of Jewish women," one poster writes, also calling the item anti-Semitic.
Another customer posted to the page saying they were disappointed that Nordstrom would offer a "degrading" sweater that makes fun of Jewish women.
Representatives from Nordstrom responded to the comments, saying that the item isn't something the store should have sold. The Huffington Post says Nordstrom soon announced that the sweater would be removed from their site.
"We made a mistake by not looking more closely at the words on the sweater before we posted it -- had we done so, we wouldn't have offered it," Nordstrom spokeswoman Tara Darrow says. "As soon as we heard from customers, we removed it from our site right away. We're terribly sorry for offending people and sincerely apologize."
A version of the sweater is still for sale on Amazon, Today adds.
