About CJVCoalition for Jewish ValuesCJV_b6ea5f1c-9e48-11eb-8a0e-00432283ea00CJV is a 501(c)3 non-profit organizationObservant JewsExisting organizations representing the observant Jewish population prioritize our needs as a unique American community, and we respect their roles and their service. Yet this leaves a critical void that the CJV aims to fill.Modern Jewish movements which reject Jewish tradition are ill-qualified to determine or express authentically Jewish positions. The Rabbinic Fellows of the CJV have the necessary knowledge and expertise to correct the record.American Liberal Jewish MovementsAmerican liberal Jewish movements have long abandoned Jewish tradition as their final arbiter of morality, and today declare that “Judaism” requires support for positions at odds with the Bible itself. Left-wing ideologues are quick to falsely accuse conservative politicians and officials of harboring anti-Semitic views, while ignoring the rapid growth of anti-Semitism among so-called “progressives.”Rabbinic FellowsThe six officers who set policy for the CJV are traditional Orthodox Rabbis who have served the Jewish and greater American communities for decades as leaders, scholars and opinion makers. All share positions on moral and ethical issues, national security, immigration, economics, education, public safety and America’s relationship with Israel that many describe as “conservative,” but which many rabbis perceive as simply following the great teachers of Jewish history.CJV OfficersThe Officers of the CJV are collectively responsible for public statements and letters issued by the CJV, and for setting organization policy. Each has decades of post-ordination rabbinic experience in service to the Jewish community, and is a prominent writer and speaker selected for his ability to articulate positions in accordance with Torah values.Rabbi Pesach LernerPresident ~ Rabbi Pesach Lerner is the Executive Vice-President Emeritus of the National Council of Young Israel, where he served for 25 years. He is the chairman of the Eretz HaKodesh slate to the World Zionist Congress, and is co-chairman of the American Friends of the International Young Israel movement, Israel region. Rabbi Lerner holds Rabbinic ordination and advanced degrees in Talmudic Law from the Ner Israel Rabbinical College of Baltimore, MD, and also holds undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate degrees in Business, Education and Not-for-Profit Organizational Systems. Rabbi Lerner speaks throughout the United States and Israel on the Land and State of Israel, the greater Jewish community, and the world of the not-for-profit organization. His articles have been published in numerous Jewish newspapers and magazines.Rabbi Yoel SchonfeldVice-President ~ Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld is the rabbi of the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills in Queens, NY, where he has served since 1991. He was previously rabbi of Congregation Beth Yehuda in Staten Island, and is the Past President of the Vaad Harabbonim of Queens, The Queens Board of Rabbis. A member of the Executive of the Rabbinical Council of America and a member of Agudath Israel of America, he is also the Rabbinic Advisor and columnist for the Queens Jewish Link, the largest circulation Jewish newspaper in Queens, and a Rabbinic Coordinator for the Orthodox Union’s Kashruth division. Rabbi Schonfeld studied in Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh in Israel, and received ordination from Rav Shneur Kotler of Beth Medrash Gavoha Seminary in Lakewood, NJ, in 1980. He pursued graduate work in Holocaust Studies at Touro College in New York.Rabbi Avrohom GordimerChairman of the Rabbinic Circle ~ Rabbi Avrohom Gordimer is a rabbinic coordinator at OU Kosher and is a member of the editorial committee of Jewish Action magazine. Rabbi Gordimer is a staff writer for Cross-Currents.com, and he is a frequent contributor to various other publications. His articles about contemporary issues have appeared in Israel National News, Times of Israel, Yated Neeman, Jewish Link of New Jersey, Matzav, Ami Magazine and American Thinker, and his articles on Jewish law and thought are featured in Mesorah Journal, Daf Ha-Kashrus, Beis Yitzchak and YUTorah. Rabbi Gordimer received his undergraduate, rabbinical and law degrees from Yeshiva University. Rabbi Gordimer is a member of the Rabbinical Council of America and the New York Bar.Rabbi Dov FischerWestern Regional VP ~ Rabbi Dov Fischer, an adjunct professor of law at two prominent Southern California law schools and previously a complex-litigation attorney at two of America’s most prestigious law firms, Jones Day and Akin Gump, serves as rabbi of Young Israel of Orange County, California and in leadership roles in several national rabbinic and other Jewish organizations. He has been Chief Articles Editor of UCLA Law Review, clerked for the Hon. Danny J. Boggs in the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and served on the Executive Committee of the Rabbinical Council of America. A previous Vice President of the Zionist Organization of America, his writings regularly appear in American Thinker, Frontpage Magazine, Israel National News, and the Los Angeles Jewish Journal, and have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, National Review, the Jerusalem Post, and the Los Angeles Times.Rabbi Ze'ev SmasonMidwestern Regional VP ~ Rabbi Ze’ev Smason is the rabbi of Nusach Hari B’nai Zion Congregation in St. Louis, Missouri where he has served since 1998. Rabbi Smason studied in Yeshivat Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem for eight years, and received rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Noach Weinberg and Rabbi Avrohom Kupshitz. He received a BA in Political Science from UCLA, and was associate director of Aish HaTorah Center of Jewish Studies of St. Louis for eight years. A twenty-year member of the Rabbinical Council of America and two-term member of the RCA Executive Committee, Rabbi Smason is active in many pro-Zionist organizations, causes and advocacy.Rabbi Moshe B. ParnesSouthern Regional VP ~ Rabbi Moshe B. Parnes received Rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Moshe Halberstam, Chief Justice of the Jerusalem Rabbinic Court, and others. He studied in Bais Medrash Gavoha of Eretz Yisroel, and under luminaries such as Rabbi Abba Berman zt”l, Dean of Iyun HaTalmud. Besides being a founding member of the Atlanta Rabbinical Court (Beis Din), Rabbi Parnes has led congregations and schools for advanced studies (Kollelim) in Atlanta, GA and Dayton, OH, and is today the Dean/Rosh Kollel of the Hollywood Community Kollel of Hollywood, FL.Rabbi Steven PruzanskyIsrael Regional VP ~ For more than a quarter century, Rabbi Steven Pruzansky served as spiritual leader of Congregation Bnai Yeshurun, located in Teaneck, New Jersey — one of the most vibrant centers of Orthodox Jewish life today. Rabbi Pruzansky studied in yeshivot in Israel and the United States, and was ordained at Yeshiva Bnei Torah of Far Rockaway, New York. Rabbi Pruzansky earned a BA in history from Columbia University, and received a Juris Doctor degree from the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law in 1981. He practiced law for 13 years until assuming the pulpit at Congregation Bnai Yeshurun. He is a member of the New York and Federal Bars, and is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court. He has served as President of both the Vaad Harabonim (Rabbinical Board) of Queens and the Rabbinical Council of Bergen County, New Jersey, and is the author of four books. Rabbi and Mrs. Pruzansky made Aliyah in July, 2020 following his retirement from the pulpit, and they reside in Modi’in, Israel.Rabbi Jonathan GuttentagInternational Liaison ~ Rabbi Jonathan Guttentag of Manchester, United Kingdom, is the former Rabbi of the Whitefield Hebrew Congregation, which he led for over three decades. He established the Whitefield Community Kollel in 1990, an academy of advanced Torah learning, rabbinical training, community education and outreach. Since 2001 he has served as a member of the Standing Committee (the governing board) of the Conference of European Rabbis, and also as a member of the Greater Manchester Faith and Communities Leaders Group. From 2007 through 2018, he established and led the National Association of Orthodox Jewish Schools, NAJOS. Communal activism runs in his family; his great-grandfather Dr Nathan Birnbaum, a former secular Zionist leader, later became a leader and spokesman of Agudath Israel, while his late uncle Yaakov Birnbaum was the founder of the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry.Rabbi Yaakov MenkenManaging Director ~ Rabbi Yaakov Menken is the founding Director of Project Genesis, the architect of Torah.org, TorahMedia.com and other leading Internet resources for Jewish outreach and education. Rabbi Menken earned a BSE in Computer Science from Princeton University before pursuing rabbinic studies at Yeshivas Ohr Somayach of Monsey, NY, BMG Israel (“Lakewood East”), and the Mirrer Yeshiva in Jerusalem. He is co-founder and editor of Cross-Currents, an online journal of Orthodox Jewish thought and opinion, and the author of the “Everything Torah Book,” an introduction to basic Judaism and Torah thought. His works have appeared in outlets from the NY Observer and American Thinker to the Algemeiner, Ami Magazine, Hamodia, the Jerusalem Post, the Jewish World Review and Times of Israel.CJV Regional AmbassadorsThe Regional Ambassadors of the Coalition for Jewish Values are traditionally-educated rabbinic leaders, well-known and widely respected in their home communities. They enhance rabbinic support for our efforts, promote CJV activities locally, and demonstrate widespread national support for the agenda and activities of the CJV. We are grateful for their involvement.Rabbi Chaim GoldbergerMinneapolis, MN ~ Rabbi Chaim Goldberger studied for the rabbinate at Ner Israel of Baltimore under Rabbi Yaakov Weinberg zt”l, and at the Talmudic University of Florida under Rabbi Yochanan Zweig, where he received ordination. He has served in the rabbinate for over a quarter century, leading congregations in Lowell, Massachusetts and Minneapolis, Minnesota.Rabbi Pinchos LipschutzLakewood, NJ ~ Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz is the publisher and editor of Yated Neeman, an international English language weekly. He is also the Rav of Congregation Beis Bracha in Lakewood, NJ. Born in Monsey, NY, he studied in the yeshivos of Philadelphia, Stamford, Lakewood and Brisk and maintains a close relationship with the roshei yeshiva, Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky, Rav Avrohom Yehoshua Soloveitchik and Rav Malkiel Kotler, from whom he has rabbinic ordination. He serves on the board of Shuvu, Lev L’Achim, Torah Umesorah and several other institutions. He is author of Peninei Chein, Ikvei Brocha, Editor’s View and hundreds of essays examining contemporary issues from the Torah perspective.Rabbi Yaakov RichDallas, TX ~ Rabbi Yaakov Rich is the current and founding Rabbi of Congregation Toras Chaim in Dallas, Texas. A native of Canada, Rabbi Rich earned a BA in economics from York University, and studied in Yeshivas Ohr Somayach in Monsey and Ner Israel Rabbinical College in Baltimore, receiving ordination from Rabbi Avrohom Pam, zt” l, Rosh Yeshiva of Torah V’Daas. Over the past 16 years, he has taught, lectured and written on a wide range of Torah topics reaching learners of all ages.Rabbi Hayim SchwartzQueens, NY ~ Rabbi Hayim Schwartz, originally from the Bronx, NY, studied at the Rabbinical Seminary of America (Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim) in Queens, and received rabbinical ordination from Mesivta Tifereth Jerusalem Seminary and Rabbi Dovid Feinstein. While still a student, Rabbi Schwartz served as Director of Programming for the Jewish Education Program (JEP) of Queens, helping to give Jewish public school youth a positive introduction to Judaism. He serves today as Executive Vice President of Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim, where he was Executive Director from 1995-2008. Rabbi Schwartz is a sought-after lecturer and gives many Torah classes in the community of Kew Gardens Hills, where he resides with his wife and family.Rabbi Jonathan Aryeh SeidemannBaltimore, MD ~ Rabbi Jonathan Aryeh Seidemann is the Rabbi at Congregation Kehilath B’nai Torah in Baltimore, MD, where he studied for many years in the Ner Israel Rabbinical College, receiving rabbinical ordination from Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman zt”l, the late Rosh Yeshiva (Dean). In addition to serving as Morah D’Asra of Kehilath B’nai Torah, Rav Seidemann has served on the faculty of many Jewish educational institutions in Baltimore. He serves on the boards of the Baltimore Jewish Council of the Associated Jewish Charities and Hatzalah of Baltimore, the Rabbinic Advisory boards of the Baltimore Shidduch Center and Jewish Caring Network, and is a member of the Vaad HaRabbonim Rabbinical Council of Greater Baltimore and of the Council of Synagogue Rabbonim of Agudath Israel of America.Authentic Jewish values are accurately represented_b6ea6002-9e48-11eb-8a0e-00432283ea00To advocate for classical Jewish ideas and standards in matters of American public policy_b6ea60de-9e48-11eb-8a0e-00432283ea00Jewish ValuesThe CJV begins from the premise that something can be called an authentic Jewish value only if it is rooted in Biblical and Rabbinic teachings through millennia of Jewish history. Neither spurious references to “Tikkun Olam” nor the use of Biblical verses plucked out of context transform personal views into Jewish tenets.Press Releases & Policy StatementsIssue Press Releases and Policy Statements on current affairs_b6ea61ba-9e48-11eb-8a0e-00432283ea001_b6ea6282-9e48-11eb-8a0e-00432283ea00Op-EdsOffer Op-Eds by members of the CJV Rabbinic Board, Fellows, and Contributors_b6ea6354-9e48-11eb-8a0e-00432283ea002_b6ea6426-9e48-11eb-8a0e-00432283ea00AdvocacyEngage in direct advocacy with government officials and media representatives_b6ea6534-9e48-11eb-8a0e-00432283ea003Government OfficialsMedia Representatives_b6ea6660-9e48-11eb-8a0e-00432283ea00Conferences & EventsConduct public conferences and related events_b6ea67c8-9e48-11eb-8a0e-00432283ea004_b6ea68d6-9e48-11eb-8a0e-00432283ea002021-04-15https://coalitionforjewishvalues.org/about-us/OwenAmburOwen.Ambur@verizon.net