Conservative commentator Candace Owens accused Rabbi Shlomo Riskin of secretly offering Bitcoin donations to American pastors who preach against her and fellow broadcaster Tucker Carlson—an allegation the rabbi’s Ohr Torah Stone network rejected on Thursday as “false, baseless and defamatory.”
In a Facebook post, Owens published screenshots of what she said was an e-mail from the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation (CJCUC), an outreach arm founded by Riskin, telling a clergyperson it was “troubled by certain statements made by public voices like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens” and urging the pastor to speak about “division under the cover of opinion.”
The message offered “a donation of $2,500 in Bitcoin to your congregation” if a recording of the sermon were shared, “no strings attached—just an expression of thanks and solidarity.”
Owens wrote that the e-mail proved there was an “organized effort” by Israeli figures to finance criticism of her from US pulpits. She provided no metadata or full headers to verify the sender’s identity.
Rabbi denies Candace Owens claim
After the claim went viral, Rabbi Kenneth Brander, president of Ohr Torah Stone, an umbrella organization founded by Riskin, issued a statement saying that “neither Rabbi Riskin nor Ohr Torah Stone has ever offered, promised or suggested any form of compensation—monetary or otherwise—to clergy of any faith for making political or public statements of any kind.” Brander called on Owens to retract her remarks and apologize.
“Ohr Torah Stone is an apolitical educational and outreach network committed to Torah values, Jewish unity and respectful interfaith dialogue,” the statement added, warning that “baseless conspiracy theories” harm civil discourse and religious cooperation.
Riskin, 84, the emeritus chief rabbi of Efrat, is internationally known for pioneering Orthodox engagement with evangelical Christians. Founded in 1983, Ohr Torah Stone oversees yeshivot, women’s seminaries and the CJCUC, which regularly hosts Bible-study tours for Christian groups in Israel.