A Swampscott, Mass., bakery owner says the state's primary Jewish organization has threatened to take away his kosher designation unless he closes on Saturdays.

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Bernard Newman said his family has always used kosher ingredients at Newman's Bakery, which they have owned for 43 years, and the Rabbinical Council of Massachusetts gave it permission decades ago to open on the Jewish Sabbath, the Boston Globe reported Friday.

However, Newman said the council has told him he must close the business on Saturdays or the bakery will lose its kosher approval.

"God said you should keep the Sabbath, you know, and we felt that with the store being open on Shabbos, we just didn't want to continue on," said Rabbi Abraham Halbfinger, director of the council.

Newman said he will continue to keep his bakery open on Saturdays whether or not the council approves.

"It's hypocrisy," he said. "How can we be kosher one day and not kosher the next day?"