Yaakov Menken

Managing Director, Coalition for Jewish Values

Apply for a Blog

Jan 23, 2025, 5:16 AM

The Revealing Response to Project Esther

Heritage Foundation by Mike Licht with CC BY 2.0 license, on Flickr.

When non-Jewish groups work to fight antisemitism, they should expect to earn grateful appreciation from the Jewish community. This is especially true today if they have the ear of the incoming Trump Administration. But if those groups are politically...

Sep 3, 2023, 10:58 PM

NYTimes smears Hasidim again… now, in Yiddish

Background image: Rabbis and supporters of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party during a gathering, January, 2013. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90); Montage by The Times of Israel.

No matter that a thriving community speaks Yiddish as their first language – it's only relevant when spoken by non-Hasidim

Jul 21, 2023, 6:48 AM

When President Herzog Spoke to Congress

I was honored with an invitation to Israeli President Isaac Herzog's address to Congress on Wednesday, and would like to share a few reflections. Overall, especially up to the final quarter of his time, I thought that President Herzog spoke...

Apr 22, 2023, 11:27 PM

Exclusion Via Inclusive Language

The Extraordinary World Zionist Congress took place in Jerusalem last week, filling the place of the canceled convention of 2021. As a delegate of the new Eretz HaKodesh slate, I was asked to serve as the Vice Chair of...

May 22, 2022, 1:07 PM

Lessons from a Failed Rally

By all accounts, last week’s “Jewish Rally for Abortion Justice” was a dud. Public support failed to materialize, despite the rally’s backing from many of America's largest Jewish organizations. The Forward, a staunch bastion of left-wing thought, generously suggested...

May 6, 2022, 12:47 AM

When “Bigot” is Projection

Last week, serial entrepreneur and Provocateur-in-Chief Elon Musk tweeted a meme suggesting that the left in this country has veered so far from center that those formerly considered centrists and even moderate leftists are perceived, today, as on the...

Apr 27, 2022, 1:59 AM

Ortho-doxxing at the Washington Post

The Washington Post doxxing of LibsofTikTok is even more reprehensible than it seems on the surface. That is because the reporter, Taylor Lorenz, also thought it acceptable to highlight her victim’s Orthodox Jewish identity during an ongoing wave of...

Nov 29, 2021, 5:53 AM

Intolerant Pluralism, American Style

The American liberal movements are pushing for greater recognition in Israel, including in Israeli media. Arguing his case, Conservative Rabbi Yizhar Hess wrote not long ago that “all streams of Judaism have beauty,” claiming all must be recognized in...

Nov 12, 2018, 6:40 AM

The politicization of anti-Semitism

In the Oct. 24 issue of Mishpacha magazine, popular in the Orthodox Jewish community, columnist Jonathan Rosenblum interviewed Jonathan Neumann, author of the excellent book dismantling the false equivalence between Jewish values and liberal activism, “To Heal the World?”...

Sep 16, 2018, 6:22 PM

Sometimes, the Truth Isn’t Allowed on Quora

I'm offering this without my own commentary for your evaluation. Comments are invited, especially ones that can explain and justify Quora's policy decision. The Question: Why don't the Israeli occupiers of Palestine go home and leave the Palestinians alone? My Answer: If...

Load more

About Me

Rabbi Yaakov Menken serves as the Executive Vice President of the Coalition for Jewish Values, representing the voice of over 2500 traditional, Orthodox rabbis in matters of American public policy.

Contact Me