Menachem Wecker is news editor of the U.S. bureau of Jewish News Syndicate (JNS).As a freelancer, he writes about arts, chess, culture, education, politics, and religion, among other subjects. His work has appeared in Washington Post Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Houston Chronicle, Atlantic, Playboy, Columbia Journalism Review, artnet, Art Newspaper, and Chess Life, among others.A former U.S. News & World Report education reporter -- who covered culture and religion as a freelancer for Houston Chronicle for nearly five years -- Wecker has interviewed Mel Brooks about herring and has covered everything from origins of museum taxidermies to Zoroastrian dating. His 2017 Playboy feature told of “Infiltrating the CIA’s Secret Art Collection,” and a 2019 Washington Post Magazine feature investigated the degree to which preeminent museums flag effectively which objects aren’t real.His website is http://menachemwecker.com and his newsletter appears at https://mwecker.substack.com/about