Baltimore’s Rabbi Yaakov Menken Named to Religious Liberty Commission

May 19, 2025 JTA

President Trump hopes sending soldiers into the streets of D.C. creates a "new normal" in America, writes Michael Olesker. (Jim WATSON / POOL / AFP, via JTA)

By Grace Gilson

Northwest Baltimore resident Rabbi Yaakov Menken was among four Orthodox rabbis recently named by President Donald Trump to advise his newly formed Religious Liberty Commission.

Rabbi Menken is executive vice president of the Coalition for Jewish Values, a hardline conservative group that claims to represent more than 2,500 “traditional Orthodox rabbis” and opposes progressive values that he says constitute “wokeism.”

Rabbi Menken is also founder and director of Project Genesis, a leader in online Jewish outreach and education that publishes Torah.org, TorahMedia.com, JewishAnswers.org and other content-rich websites. He is author of “The Everything Torah Book” (Everything).

Rabbi Menken earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science from Princeton University, and studied at Yeshivas Ohr Somayach, Beth Medrash Gavoha in Lakewood and Jerusalem, and the Mirrer Yeshiva Jerusalem, before founding Project Genesis in 1993.

In a statement, Rabbi Menken, 60, described the Coalition for Jewish Values as “a vocal advocate for religious freedom protections for Christian and other groups, understanding that any threat to their religious liberty could easily be used against our freedoms as well.”

Twenty-six people were named by Trump to advise the commission.

Critics of the commission have charged that it caters to the concerns of evangelical Christians and reflects a broad effort by the Trump administration to erode the separation of church and state.

Trump has expressed skepticism about the very principle, including at the White House Rose Garden event May 1, on the National Day of Prayer where he announced the commission.

“Separation? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I’m not sure,” he said, adding, “We’re bringing religion back to our country. It’s a big deal.”

At the time, Trump appointed several people to the commission, including a host of Christian leaders and influencers as well as Carrie Prejean Boller. former Miss USA runner-up, and television personality Dr. Phil McGraw.

The appointees included one Jewish leader, Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, a senior scholar at the Tikvah Fund, a politically conservative Jewish think tank, and spiritual leader of New York’s Congregation Shearith Israel, an Orthodox synagogue that is the oldest Jewish congregation in the United States.

Last Thursday, Trump announced three advisory committees to aid the work of the commission. Their members include four other rabbis and two Jewish leaders.

All of the rabbis are affiliated with Orthodoxy, which comprises 8% of American Jewry but constitutes a significant portion of Trump’s Jewish support.

While the vast majority of American Jews disapprove of the job Trump is doing as president, Orthodox Jews have shown strong support for him: More than 71% approve of the job he is doing while fewer than 20% disapprove, according to a recent poll.

Besides Rabbis Menken and Soloveichik, other Jews named to the commission advisory committees were:

Jason Bedrick, the first Orthodox Jew elected to the New Hampshire legislature. Now a research fellow at the Center for Education Policy at the Heritage Foundation, he describes himself as a “stiff-necked Jew” on his X account, where he often advocates for school choice.
Rabbi Mark Gottlieb, Tikvah’s chief education officer and founding dean of the Tikvah Scholars Program. He was also one of the signatories of the Phoenix Declaration, which calls for parental choice in American education and to teach students about “America’s founding principles and roots in the broader Western and Judeo-Christian traditions.” It was produced by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
Alyza Lewin, president of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, a pro-Israel legal group active in campus lawsuits, and a co-founder and partner in Lewin & Lewin, a law firm. In 2014, Lewin argued before the Supreme Court for the recognition of Israel as a place of birth on U.S. passports, which the Trump administration approved in 2020.
Rabbi Eitan Webb, founder and director of the Chabad at Princeton and the Jewish chaplain at Princeton University since 2007. In 2017, Webb stepped in to host a speech by a right-wing Israeli lawmaker after Princeton Hillel cancelled her appearance due to allegations that she had made racist statements.
Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, executive vice president of Agudath Israel of America, a haredi Orthodox umbrella group. In April, Zweibel went to Washington to lobby members of the Senate and the House to support a tax credit bill to help parents pay to send their children to private schools. A version of that bill is included in Congress’ proposed budget legislation.

“At a time when many segments of American society have been moving away from religious practice and identity, it is especially important that we stand vigilant in protecting our first freedom – religious liberty,” Zweibel said in a statement.

Trump made appointments the same day that the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom announced the departure of a prominent Jewish member, before the commission is set to turn over in May of 2026. Susie Gelman is a longtime Jewish philanthropist and pro-Israel activist who until recently chaired the board of the Israel Policy Forum, a centrist advocacy group lobbying for a two-state solution. In 2016, Gelman expressed concern over the incoming Trump administration’s stances on Israel.

“The work of the Commission greatly benefitted from her invaluable contributions and insight from her years of experience working with religious communities, in particular the Jewish community,” the commission’s chair, Stephen Schneck, said in a statement.

There remain two Jews among the seven remaining commissioners, who are charged with monitoring religious freedom abroad. They are Soloveichik and Ariela Dubler, an attorney and the head of school at the Abraham Joshua Heschel School in New York City.

Grace Gilson wrote this article for the JTA global Jewish news source.