We hope these Canna-Jewish reflections help provide context for the extraordinary contributions of Jews to cannabis culture, research and advocacy (and help explain Why Jews Love Weed).
The ancient use of kaneh bosem (Eng. cannabis) in indigenous Jewish practice provides context for the modern Jewish history of cannabis research and advocacy. The Jewish relation to nature and pleasure provide further context for the Biblical and Talmudic counsel about kaneh bosem; this also illustrates how the Jewish tradition radically departs from both the Greco-Roman and Christian traditions of thought. The Jewish relation to cannabis is one cultural marker that Jews are not White.
Dr. Raphael Mechoulam was a child survivor of the Holocaust who discovered cannabinoids as a means to recover in a nation of survivors that guarantees the survival of the Jewish people. The racialization of Jews as “racial imposters” by the Nazi regime and the collective European effort to achieve a “Final Solution” to the “problem” of Jewish life—seen as an existential threat to the White race—through mass killings and gas chambers is why we are not “White” nor “colonialists.” Rather, as remarked by Franz Fanon, we were the special target of colonialist violence once it exploded within the boundaries of Europe.
Ashkenazi Jews of European descent are known to ourselves as a remnant of white supremacist genocide. Many of us suffer from a compromised endocannabinoid system, generational trauma and bad epigenetic luck. This provides context for why so many Jews smoke weed (popular across denominations).
Many Ashkenazi Jews are light-skinned and can “pass” as white (often badly, a lá Larry David). As a designation, “white” refers to someone who has never been a member of a group that has been racialized as “lesser than” white. This is why a lot of us get hyped to the sound of “White Jew,” and feel anxiety about which box to check to designate our racial identity (and often create our own ✡️). This also provides context for why so many of us consume cannabis to cope with being mis-seen as either “Just white” or “not white enough.” (Detailed in the book White / Jew, forthcoming from Indiana University Press)
The question of Jewish racial identity disrupts the racial binary of black/white and remains confusing because Ashkenazi Jews were never assigned a racial identity to mark our racialization. Ironically, the designation “White Jew” reinforces the Nazi sensibility of Jews as racial imposters, “hiding something” about who we are. (White / Jew, 2025). It’s also racist to view all Jews as White or Ashkenazi, as if Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews don’t exist. This is exhausting to explain all the time, which is also why we enjoy plant-based medications to chill out and take comfort in Jewish culture and community. #off-white
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