Responding to news that President Donald Trump had commuted the sentence of Shalom Rubashkin, former head of the Agriprocessors Kosher Meat plant in Postville, IA, Rabbi Pesach Lerner, President of the Coalition for Jewish Values, said:

“This was an extremely welcome decision from the Trump Administration. There was widespread, bipartisan sentiment that the prosecution was vindictive and the sentence disproportionate. His family has longed for this day for eight long years.”

As Executive Vice President of the National Council of Young Israel at that time, Rabbi Lerner was one of the first public advocates for Sholom Rubashkin and his family.