Despite the ubiquity of menorahs at Hanukkah, it turns out candles aren’t the only thing you can light them up with to celebrate. Whether for a wake and bake or late at night, when the candles have dwindled and you’re still looking for a hit, Tokin’ Jew’s menorah-shaped bong may be just the thing. Who said Hanukkah isn’t a high holiday?
After starting as an Instagram meme page, Tokin’ Jew is now an e-commerce site that specializes in Gen Z Judaica, clothing and marijuana. Its founders, Will Cohen and Ben Kraim, offer challah- and dill pickle-shaped pipes, dreidel-shaped weed grinders, kippahs with a built-in joint holder, hats with embroidered sayings like Mensch or Baruch Atah I’m High, matzah-patterned rolling papers and, of course, sweaters that say Gelt Slut. But Cohen has refined the brand and elevated his entrepreneurial spirit through Tokin’ Jew Flower, the marijuana business (jewsloveweed.com). Turns out a Jewish curiosity can be compatible with marijuana’s high-minded buzz. With a plethora of products like infused honey, gelt, kosher gummy edibles and pre-rolled joints, a holy reliance on wordplay and a devoted online following, Tokin’ Jew wants to spread laughter, education and smokes.
I caught up with Cohen to talk about how the business started one Hanukkah night, whether they’ve received any kind of antisemitic pushback and where to find a good Chai. This conversation, while entertaining and wide-ranging, was not conducted while high (at least on my end).
This interview has been lightly condensed and edited for clarity.
Tokin’ Jew is a meme page, a web store and, now, a weed shop. When did you think to pair your internet virality with marijuana?
Will Cohen, co-founder of Tokin’ Jews
That’s how it began, to be honest. I’ve always been very entrepreneurial. One year during college I made an effort to light the menorah each night with a different Jewish friend around campus for Hanukkah. One of the nights, I remember staring at the menorah and sparking a joint shortly thereafter, thinking, “Why can’t I smoke my menorah?” I went to the 3D printing lab on campus and created the first-ever product, which is the J’ Menorah. You put joints instead of candles and smoke it out of the bottom. That’s how Tokin’ Jews was born—out of this very niche, tchotchke product. I think what makes people naturally gravitate towards it is you think of Judaism as stuffy. It’s a religion, it’s thrown upon you when you’re born, you have no say in it. By cutting it with weed, you’re inherently making it cool. It’s made for a really fun way to re-identify with Judaism in a new light. What matters to us is being proud of being Jewish and making people laugh and be happy for that little moment where they see a rabbi ripping a bong.
Have you faced any pushback with pairing Judaism with weed?
For sure. For every one piece of pushback, we get 150 comments of, “I can’t believe you exist. I’m obsessed.” But in my typical anxious Jewish being, the one negative always eats at me. We can’t please everybody. We are who we are and we’ve clearly done something right to connect with a bunch of people. There’s pushback internally within the Jewish world, but a lot externally, too, a lot of antisemitism, but we’re doing our part to rid the world of that.
You have a lot of different flavors for a lot of different highs. What are some of your favorite Jewish-inspired products?
On the gummy side, we have one called “Apple of My High,” which is more energetic, and the flavor “Grapeful Dead,” which is helpful for sleep. On our strains for our newly released pre-rolls, we have three: an indica, used for sleep and relaxation, (“Schticky Icky”), a sativa, used for creativity and energy (“Jewphoria”), and a hybrid (“Oy G Kush”).
“Guava Naguila” gives me a happy, chatty, uplifting effect. I love to use cannabis to relax, have conversations. I don’t really take it to sleep; I like to hang out. On the joint side, I love the variety pack, which I’ve never really seen in the cannabis industry—three indica, three sativa, three hybrids.
What product would you recommend for neurotic Jews like me?
It depends what you’re trying to get out of your high. If you want to chill out after a work day and watch TV, or sip on some of Bubbe’s matzah ball soup, or want to go out. Depending on what you want is what you should shop for. I’d put it back to you: What are you feeling?
I usually enjoy watching television and giggling for hours. But I agree with you: sometimes I like to have conversations that open up in different ways.
That’s really interesting, because it points to this deeply rooted association between cannabis and Judaism. Judaism is the religion of curiosity, and I think naturally, weed opens up your curiosity, opens your third eye, as people like to say. I think outside of pop culture and Seth Rogen and Chelsea Handler and Jews associating with weed, there is a historical cultural connection between the two. I like to believe it’s because it makes you think a little bit differently.
We’re in a strange moment of antisemitism, which can erupt in violent fashion like what happened in Australia recently. How does it feel to be such a publicly facing Jewish company?
It’s had both positive and negative impacts. We lost a lot of opportunities because of the word “Jew” being in our name. Soon after October 7, we were doing a collaboration with another cannabis brand, one we were really excited to work with—talking with them for multiple months—and when we were at the finish line, they said, “You know what, with everything going on in the world, it just feels a little insensitive to collaborate with a brand that has the word ‘Jew’ in their name.” It was just a punch to the gut. We aren’t fighting for or against any political issue. People are associating Jews with Israel 100 percent of the time. We’re just a weed brand.
We’re doubling down on spreading love and positivity as a result. It was by no means intentional, but we’re making people less antisemitic on the internet, too. We have a whole Slack channel full of messages like, “This video made me 1 percent less antisemitic.” Like, okay…we’re doing something! Here’s another: “You are the only Jew I like.” That’s a start!
Obviously, the memes and the merch are silly and you’re looking to make a profit, but what are your other goals? When people come across your company, what do you want them to think?
That’s a good question. The first thing is I want them to smile, I want them to laugh, whether they’re Jewish or not. We have plenty of Instagram followers who are not Jewish. We want to make people share [our posts] with their friends—that’s really important to us. That means they’re enjoying it with someone else, spreading education or laughter or love. When you’re lighting the candles for Hanukkah, you use one candle to light the others. The spirit behind that is one light brings more light. That’s what we’re trying to do. We’ll probably get into a little bit more education as well over the next year, as we work on upping video production. Learning something, changing perception, getting high.
(All images courtesy of Tokin’ Jews)