Rabbi Kalman Topp is giving a bunch of classes at Beth Jacob and he prepares original content for each one (just like the rabbis at Bnai David and the rabbi at YICC much of the time). Rabbi Topp is fluent in Hebrew and it is clear that he immerses himself in the sacred texts of [...]

Jeff says: "Luke, here is the next scandal to hit the Orthodox world. Even though this is a New York-based deal, Leonard Grunstein’s daughter, Ruchie Fried, lives in Los Angeles and is on the board of Beth Jacob. She was one of Steven Weil’s people. Her in-laws are part of the Orthodox Shaarey Zedek community [...]

"There’s just a feeling of relief," says a source.
Rabbi Steven Weil is a driven man. He’ll deliver a kick in the tuchus at the Orthodox Union and kick things into a higher gear. He’ll bring an intense CEO-managerial style to his new job.
At Beth Jacob, Rabbi Weil tackled problems head on. He got rid of [...]

Rabbi Steven Weil ran Beth Jacob for nine years. The shul members who hired him thought he’d stick around longer than that.
Rabbi Weil’s fundraising abilities helped the shul turn its finances around. He also brought in new members, many of them young couples.
This summer, Rabbi Weil took over as the CEO of the Orthodox Union. [...]

Kalman Topp is the new chief rabbi at the Orthodox synagogue Beth Jacob in Beverly Hills. With 750 member families, it’s quite a difficult shul to run. There are a lot of difficult people there. Steven Weil, the previous rabbi, ran it well. He ran it his way. He made alliances and he got things [...]

A guy I know davened for a year at Beth Jacob, seven days a week. He did not receive one invite for a Shabbat meal.
This helped him lose weight and he’s forever grateful.
Rabbi Steven Weil knew his name but never initiated a conversation. Like God, Torah and Judaism, Rabbi Weil has a skeptical view of [...]

Rebecca Spence writes for the Forward:
Los Angeles — On the day known as Ta’anit Esther — when observant Jews fast before Purim — more than 150 members of Los Angeles’s close-knit Orthodox community gathered for a protest rally outside the family home of a man they claim has refused to grant his wife a Jewish [...]

Rabbi Steven Weil built up the shul physically (Beth Jacob added the lot next door, the downstairs has been redone, a young persons minyan was added Shabbos morning with its own rabbi) and financially. The shul is on a stronger footing mechanically, but he wasn’t a pastoral rabbi. Rabbi Topp is a pastoral rabbi. He [...]

Did you hear that Rabbi Weil convened a special OU meeting/retreat last weekend in Los Angeles with six of the top rabbis in the country? What went on there?
A source says: "It was a rabbinic training event for nearly – and newly – ordained rabbis. Jonathan Rosenblatt, the rabbi from Riverdale was the guest presenter [...]

YID emails: I have always wondered why you have such animus towards Rabbi Steven Weil and anyone who has anything to do with him. I have attended Beth Jacob since the time Rabbi Dolgin was there and have seen many rabbis pass through it’s doors. Some were certainly better than others, but generally, they all [...]