Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice

Articles written by Yaakov Menken


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  • Jewish students must realize that SJP is about hate-only hate

    Yaakov Menken, JNS.org|Dec 23, 2016

    When students at Toronto’s Ryerson University Hillel proposed to their Student Union that the university participate in the broader Canadian Holocaust Awareness Week, they did not anticipate the jeers, snickers, and eventual walkout to prevent a quorum from approving the motion. Nor did they anticipate that this hateful behavior would be led by members of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). Hillel students assumed SJP would respond as Hillel and most groups would respond were any minority group to propose an event promoting awareness of a...

  • Counter-Point: Pursuing peace and straightening the record

    Rabbi Yaakov Menken and Rabbi Pesach Lerner, JNS.org|Jul 29, 2016

    The recent op-ed by Yair Sheleg, “Israel’s battle for peace between religion and state,” is troublesome in several ways. While he portrays himself as a dispassionate analyst, it is clear that Sheleg’s essay intends, on the contrary, to inflame passions. The editor’s note added by JNS.org is revealing. In lieu of “haredi,” the writer used the pejorative term “ultra-Orthodox,” prompting this editorial disclaimer. In an era when we express sensitivity and consideration toward minority populations, we allow them to choose the terms of their ow...