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Meet the rabbi who is helping bring legal cannabis to New York
(New York Jewish Week) — As New York gears up for a new landscape of legal marijuana, one rabbi will bring his experience retailing weed to help others “squeeze more out of life.”
Rabbi James Kahn is part of a company, “Keep It A 100,” that is one of the first to be licensed to open a cannabis dispensary in the state. When he wasn’t teaching Jewish college students or running chaplaincy services for a Jewish social service agency, he helped run a family-run marijuana business in Washington, D.C. and is the executive director of Liberty Cannabis Cares, the social impact arm of Holistic Industries, a prominent dispensary business in Maryland.
“Suffering is not a mitzvah,” Kahn, who was ordained at Boston’s Hebrew College and has served as the senior Jewish educator at the University of Maryland Hillel, told the New York Jewish Week. “Giving people permission to use cannabis to enjoy and to take time for self care, for healing, for connecting with people, it’s just another tool that Hashem has given us to live better lives.”
Keep It A 100 is one of the 36 winners of the state’s Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) program, which offered the licenses to sell weed to people and nonprofits who had previously been convicted of marijuana-related crimes. New York’s first dispensary, opening Thursday at 750 Broadway in Manhattan’s Astor Place neighborhood, is being run by Housing Works, the HIV/AIDS service organization.
“When done right, cannabis can be a force for good — for individuals and the communities they live in,” Kahn said. “That is my mission.”
Kahn has partnered with Marquis Hayes, a Bronx native and former drug dealer who got out of prison in 2007 and has since become a highly regarded professional chef. He will source the product for Keep It A 100, while Kahn will provide capital and expertise. Their first “retail experience” will be on Long Island.
Rabbi James Kahn, shown with a menorah-shaped bong, saw the benefits of cannabis when his grandfather sought relief from multiple sclerosis. (Courtesy)
“It’s focused on giving licenses to people who have been injured by the war on drugs, who have really worked to not let that injury define them, but have come out of that place and form businesses that were profitable,” Kahn said of the CAURD program. “I wanted to take what I know about how to run a successful and impactful cannabis retail store and share that knowledge with a partner who really deserves this opportunity. I want to make sure he is as successful as possible.”
Kahn does not have a set date for when the dispensary will open, but said that “it will be in a few months.”
Kahn also worked at the Washington, D.C.-area Jewish Social Service Agency. At Liberty Cannabis Care, he works “to make cannabis a force for good in every state we operate in, and in every neighborhood we’re lucky to be a part of,” according to its mission statement.
Other partners in Keep It A 100 include psychotherapist Kim Stetz and experienced Maryland cannabis business owner Christina Betancourt Johnson.
Kahn’s connection to cannabis goes back to his grandfather: When Kahn was a teenager, his mother’s father suffered from “severe” multiple sclerosis and asked Kahn to help him find marijuana.
“He was hesitant to try cannabis because of the stigma that surrounded it,” Kahn said. “He was not a fan of hippies or cannabis. An aide offered him cannabis and it worked. The first bong I ever saw was my grandfather’s.”
Kahn’s father, Rabbi Jeffrey Kahn, was a rabbi during the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, where many people were “benefitting from cannabis around that time.”
“[My father] was thinking about it back then,” Kahn said. “There were a lot of folks who were concerned about the stigma and shame that was attached to cannabis. Was cannabis kosher? Not just from the technical standpoint — it is just a plant — but from a moral standpoint.”
In 2011, the family opened the capital’s first medical cannabis dispensary, the Takoma Wellness Center.
Kahn said that he sees his dispensaries as a gathering place for “folks of every kind and background who love cannabis.”
“It’s a place to be seen and to be valued and to get to talk about their favorite plan,” Kahn said. “Marquis is a world-renowned chef and knows how to create this unique experience.”
He added that the dispensary will also offer a delivery service, which will “probably open prior to the retail store.”
He added that while cannabis has not been “at the forefront of the modern Jewish age, the cannabis industry is full of Jews.” A current exhibit at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, “Am Yisrael High: The Story of Jews and Cannabis,” also explores the extensive Jewish presence in the weed industry, legal and not.
“Judaism is relevant because it helps us squeeze more out of life,” Kahn said. “It’s helped me use cannabis in a way that I would call sacred.”
Kahn said he is fascinated by the history of cannabis within Judaism, mentioning an archaeological dig site in Tel Arad in Israel, where traces of cannabis were found in the ancient remnants of a Jewish temple.
“This would have created a dense smoke that is responsible for creating a high from cannabis,” Kahn said.
He added that he has had “interesting experiences reading sacred texts while consuming cannabis.”
“All cannabis is medicine,” Kahn said. “The word ‘recreational’ is often seen as less than. We Jews have long known the value of rest, of stopping. That’s at the heart of Shabbat. In order to have holiness, we need to give ourselves the space to experience it.”
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The post Meet the rabbi who is helping bring legal cannabis to New York appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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US Lawmakers Want Response After Sudan ‘Horrors’ by Paramilitaries
Senator Jim Risch, a Republican from Idaho and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, speaks during a hearing in Washington, US, April 26, 2022. Photo: Al Drago/Pool via REUTERS
Republican and Democratic US senators called for a strong response from President Donald Trump’s administration after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces seized new territory in Sudan, reportedly attacking civilians.
Republican Senator Jim Risch of Idaho, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for the US to officially designate the RSF as a foreign terrorist organization.
“The horrors in Darfur’s El-Fasher were no accident — they were the RSF’s plan all along. The RSF has waged terror and committed unspeakable atrocities, genocide among them, against the Sudanese people,” he said in a statement on X on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the committee’s top Democrat, said she most likely would back such a response from Washington. Asked whether she would back an FTO designation, Shaheen told reporters, “Probably,” but added she would like to take a longer look at the issue.
Shaheen criticized the United Arab Emirates, which is accused by the Sudanese army of providing military support to the RSF. The UAE denies it. “The UAE has been an irresponsible player who has contributed to one of the worst humanitarian crises that we have on the planet right now,” she said.
In an emailed statement, the UAE Strategic Communications Department said the UAE has consistently supported efforts to achieve a ceasefire, protect civilians and ensure accountability for violations and rejected claims it provided any form of support to either warring party.
“The latest UN Panel of Experts report makes clear that there is no substantiated evidence that the UAE has provided any support to RSF, or has any involvement in the conflict,” the statement said.
The war in Sudan erupted in April 2023 from a power struggle between the army and the RSF, unleashing waves of ethnic violence, creating the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and plunging several areas into famine. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and about 13 million displaced.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its plans for designating the RSF.
In January, the administration of Trump’s Democratic predecessor, then-President Joe Biden said it determined that members of the RSF and allied militias committed genocide in Sudan and imposed sanctions on the group’s leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.
The RSF denied harming civilians.
Al-Fashir, the Sudanese army’s last significant holdout in the western region of Darfur, fell to the RSF on Sunday after an 18-month siege that consolidated its control of the area. Aid groups and activists have warned of the potential for ethnically motivated revenge attacks as the RSF overwhelmed the army and allied fighters, many from the Zaghawa ethnic group.
Sudanese paramilitary forces beat and shot men fleeing from a long-besieged city in Darfur after capturing it, according to an account from escapee Ikram Abdelhameed, corroborated by statements from aid officials, satellite images, and unverified social media videos.
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Afghanistan and Pakistan Restart Peace Talks in Istanbul, Sources Say
An Afghan Taliban fighter sit next to an anti-aircraft gun near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in Spin Boldak, Kandahar Province, following exchanges of fire between Pakistani and Afghan forces in Afghanistan, Oct. 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stringer
Afghanistan and Pakistan have resumed peace talks in Istanbul, four sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday, a day after Islamabad said the discussions had ended in failure.
Three of the sources said the nations had recommenced talks at the request of mediators Turkey and Qatar, to ensure they do not resume border clashes that have killed dozens this month.
One of the sources, a Pakistani security official, said Islamabad would press its central demand at the talks that Afghanistan take action against Islamist militants using its territory as a safe haven and to plan attacks on Pakistani soil.
“Most of the issues between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been resolved successfully and peacefully. A few demands from Pakistan need some extra time as they are difficult to be agreed upon,” said a source close to the Afghan Taliban delegation.
Islamabad accuses the Taliban of harboring the Pakistani Taliban, a separate militant group hostile to Pakistan, and allowing them to attack Pakistani troops from Afghan territory. Kabul denies this, saying it has no control over the group.
The sources declined to be named as they are not authorized to comment publicly on the issue.
The Afghan Taliban and Pakistan‘s military and foreign office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In Kabul, Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, speaking at a meeting at the Interior Ministry in a video posted online, urged Pakistan to address its own internal security problems instead of creating tensions in Afghanistan, warning that doing so would “cost them dearly.”
He said Afghanistan sought peaceful engagement with all countries but would defend itself if attacked. Haqqani said the Taliban had demonstrated strength both in conflict and in dialogue, adding that Afghanistan wanted relations based on mutual respect.
TALKS AIMED TO PREVENT REPEAT OF VIOLENCE
Dozens of people were killed this month along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan in the worst such violence since the Taliban took power in Kabul in 2021.
The October clashes began after Pakistani airstrikes earlier in the month on Kabul, the Afghan capital, among other locations, targeting the head of the Pakistani Taliban.
The Afghan Taliban administration responded with attacks on Pakistani military posts along the length of the 2,600-km (1,600-mile) frontier, which remains closed.
Both nations agreed to a ceasefire brokered in Doha on Oct. 19, but could not find common ground in a second round of talks mediated by Turkey and Qatar in Istanbul, Afghan and Pakistani sources briefed on the issue told Reuters on Tuesday.
Clashes between the Pakistani military and the Pakistani Taliban have continued throughout the ceasefire period, with multiple deaths reported on both sides on Sunday and Wednesday.
Pakistan said on Thursday it had killed a deputy leader of the group in an operation near the Afghan border, a victory for Islamabad in the years-long insurgency it has been fighting.
Qari Amjad, who Pakistan described as a “high-value target” and who was designated as a terrorist by the United States, was killed in a clash after trying to cross into Pakistan from Afghanistan. The militant group confirmed his death.
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Ben & Jerry’s Co-Founder Claims Parent Company Blocked Creation of Watermelon Ice Cream ‘For Palestine’
Tubs of ice cream are seen as a laborer works at a Ben & Jerry’s factory in Be’er Tuvia, Israel, July 20, 2021. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The anti-Israel activist and Jewish co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s revealed this week that the ice cream brand’s parent company, Unilever, blocked it from launching a watermelon flavor to express solidarity with Palestinians.
Ben Cohen said Wednesday in a post on X that Unilever and the Magnum Ice Cream Company, which operates under the British conglomerate, “stopped Ben & Jerry’s from creating a flavor for Palestine — so I’m doing it myself.” He aims to independently launch the new watermelon flavor either as an ice cream or sorbet. Watermelons have become a symbol of Palestinian solidarity because they match the colors of the Palestinian flag – red, green, black, and white.
“I’ve got a watermelon, an empty pint, and I need your help,” Cohen wrote in the post on X, before calling on supporters to help him create the flavor by submitting ideas for its name, suggesting ingredients, or designing the pint packaging. In an accompanying video, Cohen accused Israel of “occupation” in Gaza and explained that his new flavor “calls for permanent peace in Palestine and calls for repairing all the damage that was done there.”
“The scale of suffering of the Palestinian people over the last two years has been unimaginable,” he said. “The [Israel-Hamas] ceasefire is a welcome relief, but there is much more work to do to rebuild. Palestinians are still living under occupation; still recovering from years of suffering … A while back, Ben & Jerry’s tried to make a flavor to call for peace in Palestine; to stand for justice and dignity for everyone. But they weren’t allowed to. They were stopped by Unilever/Magnum.”
Unilever has owned Ben & Jerry’s since 2000. Magnum, the largest ice cream company in the world, is currently in the process of a demerger from Unilever. A spokesperson for Magnum addressed Cohen’s claims in statement given to FOX Business.
“The independent members of the Ben & Jerry’s board of directors made a proposal in this direction this summer,” the spokesperson said. “The independent members of Ben & Jerry’s Board are not, and have never been, responsible for the Ben & Jerry’s commercial strategy and execution. Recommendations are considered by Ben & Jerry’s leadership, and Ben & Jerry’s management has determined now is not the right time to invest in developing this product.”
In May, Cohen was removed from a US Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing, during testimony by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., after Cohen interrupted the hearing by protesting against the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Earlier this year, Ben & Jerry’s claimed that Unilever violated their merger agreement by firing CEO David Stever over his social activism, which included anti-Israel social media posts.
Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield announced in September he was leaving the company after 47 years because he felt that Unilever had “silenced” the ice cream company from speaking out on social issues.