Jew Who Tokes

Adriana Kertzer founded JewWhoTokes in 2016 as an Instagram account that celebrates members of the tribe who enjoy cannabis and psychedelics. JWT began as a collection of profiles on Jewish thought leaders, creatives, and individuals who partake and/or work in the psychedelic and cannabis industries. After the October 7 attacks, Adriana joined forces with different collaborators to create community for Jews who were confronting antisemitism in these industries or needed a place to come together. Together with Jordan Isenstadt, JWT began hosting weekly pre-shabbat calls that are equal parts learning and kvetching, a Bagel Bash at MJBiz, and a Hannukah Bash in New York. JewWhoTokes is a celebration of the ecosystem born from the intersection of Judaism and alternative medicines, altered states and spiritual growth.

Adriana has built a reputation as an outspoken and joyful advocate for the role “plant medicine” can play in contemporary Judaism, sometimes calling herself the Chabad of Weed or a cheerleader of psychedelic kiruv. 

Adriana received her B.A. from Brown University with dual concentration in Judaic Studies (with a focus on feminist theory and Latin American Jewish migration) and International Relations (with a focus on US-Brazil social, economic and political relations). She has a J.D. from Georgetown Law Center (where she was co-president of the Jewish Law Students Association), and an M.A. from Parsons The New School for Design. 

JewWhoTokes was featured in the exhibit Am Yisrael High: The Story of Jews and Cannabis at YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. Adriana spoke on the opening night panel moderated by curator Eddy Portnoy, alongside Madison Margolin, Ed Rosenthal, and Rabbi/Dr. Yosef Glassman (May 5, 2022). 

“Mentioned in the Bible and discussed in numerous traditional texts, cannabis has long been a part of Jewish life. For millennia, Jews have been buying, selling, and using cannabis for religious and medicinal purposes and as an intoxicant.” – YIVO website 

Adriana was born into a secular Zionist Ashkenazi family in Brazil with no synagogue affiliation. In fact, during her early childhood, her parents were a part of the cult PRÓ-VIDA, a “philosophical movement” and “program of mental training” founded by Dr. Celso Charuri in 1977 that purported to awaken members’ mental, psychic and spiritual capacities. As a child growing up in São Paulo, she attended daycare at Clube Hebraica (the Jewish club in São Paulo), then enrolled in a secular American school. For eight summers she attended a Christian etiquette girls camp in Hunt, TX. Adriana was not sent to Hebrew school and was only Bat Mitzvahed at age 19, while an undergraduate student at Brown University. An anti-semitic experience in Italy during her gap year between high school and college sparked a desire to learn more about her Jewish heritage. At Brown University she became a Judaic Studies major focused on feminist theory and Latin American Jewish migration, then at Georgetown Law Center she explored WWII art restitution cases and served as co-president of the Jewish Law Students Association. She has observed shabbat since 2001, married a mensch she met at a Jewish singles event hosted by AIPAC, and no longer eats bacon but can’t let go of seafood. Adriana is fascinated by contemporary Jewish culture, particularly as it relates to cannabis and psychedelics.