Tokin’ Jew founders on using comedy and cannabis to build connection and fight antisemitism

What started as a meme page has since grown into a full-fledged cannabis brand connected to Judaism.

Tokin’ Jew was created by Brooklyn residents Will Cohen and Ben Kraim in 2020, with the duo using the Tokin’ Jew name for a meme account on Instagram. What he didn’t expect was how the page would grow into a full cannabis community.

“There was no kind of intention behind creating this kind of cannabis brand or this intersection of cannabis and Judaism. It was a way of connecting to my Judaism in a little bit of a different way,” said Cohen. “Judaism gets thrown upon you when you’re young, as does all religion, and people want to find their own identity within the religion as they grow up and different life experiences mold them. What we’ve tapped into with Tokin’ Jew is being able to really find your way in the religion through a different lens, which is through comedy and through culture, and then, obviously, with cannabis as well.”

“I think a lot of this comes from a happy accident in the beginning and turned into, ‘Whoa, there’s actually something here.’ A lot of it came from the audience,” said Kraim.

The brand started with one product that Cohen created: the J Menorah, which holds nine joints.

“By no means do I recommend smoking all 9 joints at once, but it’s just a funny way to connect back to my Judaism,” said Cohen. “We rolled out the Instagram and started releasing this product and funny content.”

Tokin’ Jew has since grown into a full-scale cannabis brand, with products leaning into Jewish culture. Among their products, you can find a Menorah Bong, pipes shaped like pickles and dreidels, a joint scroller, and themed grinders. You can also find a selection of edibles called Tokin’ Chews.

As the Jewish community gears up for the high holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Tokin’ Jew has launched new products to celebrate, including their “High Honey,” a THC-infused honey and a new Challah pipe. The crew is also gearing up for an infused Shabbat dinner ahead of Rosh Hashanah and more new products on the horizon.

“We also have some collaborations coming up on the product side as well, with our edibles, we’re gonna be partnering up with a couple of chefs and food icons to do some cool collabs,” said Cohen.

The High Honey from Tokin’ Jew.

Finding common ground with ritualistic practices

Both Cohen and Kraim agree that the connection between cannabis and Judaism is deeper than expected, with both cultures being bridged through rituals. Much like Judaism, Cohen and Kraim noted that cannabis has rituals that they can poke fun at with their products.

“This is kind of all religions, but cannabis is so ritualistic. There’s so many rituals as part of it, right? You pass to the left, you can’t have a white lighter, you do it at a certain time, you love your certain bong,” said Kraim. “I think Judaism, at least the way I grew up, was very reform, very traditional, that’s what was passed down. It wasn’t deep historical texts that were so important to me. It was having family dinner or your cousins go on a walk before family dinner and smoke a joint. It’s these traditions get passed down, so there’s just a deep association between those things.”

Many of Tokin’ Jew’s products poke fun at Jewish foods, something that they acknowledge has deep meaning for Jewish culture as well.

“Food is so deeply a part of Jewish culture, and it ain’t nothing that makes food better than a little cannabis. I think there’s this element too, from a mental health perspective of just generational trauma and cannabis is just known to kind of ease anxiety and just chill people out. I think that Jews definitely use it as a tool for that,” said Kraim.

Tokin’ Jew promotional images.Photos courtesy of Tokin’ Jew

Fighting antisemitism with comedy

From the beginning, comedy was at the forefront of Tokin’ Jew.

“Jews have furiously used comedy to just deal with whatever. I think that cannabis and comedy and just laughter go hand in hand, it brings people together,” said Kraim.

For Cohen and Kraim, the comedy is important for building a community and combating antisemitism.

“It’s interesting that the pushback comes. It can come from internal to the Jewish religion, or it can come from ultra orthodox people who see a shofar pipe and they’re like, ‘I can’t believe I see this on my screen’ to then people outside,” said Cohen. “There’s always people who hide behind a keyboard and spread hate and that’s what happens in our DMs, that’s what happens in our comment section.”

While speaking to amNewYork, Cohen noted that cannabis is already connected to Judaism and comedy, particularly through comedians like Seth Rogen and Chelsea Handler. Through Tokin’ Jew, Cohen and Kraim are trying to help shift the perspective by bringing some levity to Judaism.

“We’re trying to spread this message of being proud to be Jewish through a little bit of a different lens. When you’re scrolling on Instagram and you see a rabbi, and your stereotypes of a rabbi are thinking all the bad things about Jews that the media has maybe taught you, and then you see them rip a bong,” said Cohen. “Now your perspective on Jews has just slightly shifted. We’re humanizing Jews by cutting it with weed.”

“We just want people to smile and just have a good time because life is hard. But in the world of Jew hate, we’ve gotten a lot of comments where it’s just like, ‘Whoa, this has got me curious, I have questions about Judaism,’ and you could just see them opening up a little bit,” said Kraim.

The community that Tokin’ Jew has built has also brought out people within the Jewish community who were looking to reconnect with their culture.

“We’ve gotten thousands of messages from Jews all over the world who [say], ‘I disconnected from my Judaism as soon as I moved out of my parents’ house where I was never connected to Judaism’ and ‘Current events have made me want to connect more with other Jews, and I didn’t really know where I belonged or fit in, and then I came across Tokin’ Jew, and it basically just innately screamed Jews who are chill and light and like me,’” said Kraim. That ultra orthodox rabbi who was mad at us about the shofar pipe would probably hear that and [say], ‘It’s a little unconventional, but you are achieving things that we would like to achieve, which is to bring Jews together.’”

For more information, visit tokinjew.com .