In the News

The Coalition for Jewish Values, a new right-wing Orthodox organization, released a statement calling on YU president Ari Berman to “publicly disavow this repugnant statement, and refer Professor Olson’s endorsement to the appropriate faculty committee for review.”

In a December 14 letter to Dr. Berman, six rabbis, the officers of the [CJV], claimed that the statement “misportrays propaganda” as fact. They requested “that Yeshiva University publicly disavow this repugnant statement” and referred “Professor Olson’s endorsement to the appropriate faculty committee for review.”

A coalition of rabbis is criticizing the Trump administration for re-nominating radical sexual identity activist Chai Feldblum to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

In support of its statement, the CJV pointed out something I wasn’t aware of. In 2012, Feldblum was part of the EEOC when the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rejected its position.

The Coalition for Jewish Values welcomed news that US President Donald Trump had commuted the sentence of Sholom Rubashkin, former head of the country’s largest kosher meat-processing company, who had been sentenced to 27 years in prison for fraud and money laundering.

In a letter last week to YU President Berman, CJV President Rabbi Pesach Lerner and his colleagues argued that Olson’s participation in the divide-Jerusalem declaration is so far outside the Jewish community consensus that he is “harming the university’s reputation in the eyes of the Jewish community.”

The Coalition for Jewish Values called the move “correct” and urged the president to complete “his pledge to move the embassy”.

The CJV noted that every other country chooses its capital, and all other countries place their embassies in those same cities to facilitate access to officials of the host government.

“What happened with [Deputy] Minister Hotovely is disgraceful,” Rabbi Schonfeld said in an interview with Arutz Sheva. “She made a statement which I believe is correct.”

Yaakov Menken, director of the Coalition for Jewish Values, said Phillips’ case is particularly important for Jews because so much their religious observance is based on their actions.