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Jan 4, 2018, 10:26 PM

Envy Isn’t Jewish

As a typical Jewish child attending a suburban prep school, I lived through the season just concluded with a certain feeling of envy. Most friends and neighbors were celebrating a big, gaudy holiday season, while I and my Jewish...

Dec 11, 2017, 6:53 PM

Reform’s Celebration of Lawlessness

by Rabbi Pesach Lerner and Rabbi Yaakov Menken On Thursday, November 17, Rabbi Joshua Davidson did something truly extraordinary: he prayed the weekday morning service. The synagogue which he serves as Senior Rabbi, Temple Emanu-El in New York City, apparently...

Sep 18, 2017, 7:24 AM

Jewish Continuity Isn’t a Zero-Sum Game

A headline implying Orthodox communal vibrancy threatens liberal Judaism got it exactly wrong

Aug 18, 2017, 7:06 PM

President Trump is right, again

Jewish Antifa activist Daniel Sieradski. (CC BY-SA 3.0 Mobius1ski/Wikipedia)

The real question is why is the left whitewashing Black Lives Matter and Antifa?

Oct 31, 2016, 6:14 PM

Election Frenzy

To the great surprise of no one, I expect to pull the lever (which is to say, press the electronic button) for Trump. I have a set of reasons for so doing: his support for Israel, his But what...

May 24, 2016, 7:13 AM

The Dor Yeshorim Rap

Why the talented beatboxing Bais Yaakov girls didn't want their viral video made public at all

May 22, 2016, 5:06 PM

Speak the Truth, with Conviction

Today as always, our enemies are unafraid to speak lies with complete conviction. Just as their predecessors claimed as fact that Jews are disloyal, controlling and murderous, so too today. But in our day, we are afraid to speak...

Mar 23, 2016, 3:48 PM

Remind the University of California Regents That It’s Purim

Tomorrow, March 24, Jews around the world will celebrate the holiday of Purim. This holiday does not commemorate the inauguration of a new country, a great victory for freedom, or even the birth of a great leader. Rather, it...

Feb 15, 2016, 7:00 AM

Rabbi Gordimer and His Critics

That Rabbi Avrohom Gordimer has become the standard bearer in the face of the Open Orthodox onslaught is truly quite remarkable. Until he started writing for Cross-Currents, we had not met, and it was only perhaps two years later that...

Dec 30, 2015, 8:53 PM

Pharoah and the Jews: A Case Study in Anti-Semitism

The biblical book of Exodus begins with the tale of Pharoah and the Jews under Egyptian rule. Most people are at least vaguely familiar with the story, but few notice that it is the first account of organized, institutional...

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About Me

Rabbi Yaakov Menken is the Managing Director of the Coalition for Jewish Values, a Baltimore-based Rabbinic Public Policy organization supported by hundreds of observant rabbis.