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Category Archives: R. Yitzchak Etshalom
Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom and the Two Terrors
The room sits behind the sanctuary, past the coat rack and the table with the cold coffee. Folding chairs. A whiteboard on wheels. Fluorescent tubes, one of them flickering. On a Tuesday night in Pico-Robertson, eleven people come to study … Continue reading
Posted in R. Yitzchak Etshalom
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Platform, Pulpit, Archive: Three Models of MO Rabbinic Self-Presentation in Los Angeles
While surfing Rabbi Pini Dunner’s website, I learned: Mavericks, Mystics and False Messiahs NOW AVAILABLE! “A thoroughly engaging introduction to some of the most colorful episodes in Jewish history. A wonderfully enjoyable read.” – Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks “Rabbi Pini … Continue reading
Posted in Alliance Theory, Beth Jacob, Bnai David-Judea, Los Angeles, Modern Orthodox, R. Elazar Muskin, R. Jonathan Sacks, R. Kalman Topp, R. Meir Soloveichik, R. Pini Dunner, R. Yitzchak Etshalom, R. Yosef Kanefsky
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What Then Shall We Do: The Work Etshalom Left
Rabbi Yitzhak Etshalom occupies a position in Modern Orthodox intellectual life that the system simultaneously requires and cannot afford to promote. He teaches the evidence at full strength. He refuses premature resolution. He produces students who cannot unsee what he … Continue reading
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Defensive Sophistication: The Coalition Architecture of Rabbi Yitzhak Etshalom’s Tanakh Classroom
My previous essay in this series examined Rabbi Yitzhak Etshalom as a figure who breaks the Sinai silence through pedagogy rather than polemic, teaching the evidence at full strength while refusing to close the question. That essay asked what his … Continue reading
Posted in Los Angeles, R. Yitzchak Etshalom
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The Cartographer of the Red Line: Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom and the Pedagogy of Unresolved Tension
My previous essay in this series argued that the silence around Sinai in Modern Orthodox discourse functions as taboo enforcement rather than epistemic modesty. Rabbis have not worked through the historical-critical challenges and arrived at a sophisticated position. The language … Continue reading
Posted in Los Angeles, R. Yitzchak Etshalom
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Decoding Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom
Per Alliance Theory: Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom is a high skill internal dissenter who chose pedagogy over power. His alliance position is unusual. He is deeply literate in academic Bible, rabbinics, and medieval commentary, yet he refuses the usual Modern Orthodox … Continue reading
Posted in Alliance Theory, R. Yitzchak Etshalom
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I Almost Kill Rabbi Etshalom
Tuesday. 4:10 p.m. I’m driving north down Livonia and swinging left on to Pico Blvd. The light is green. I’m 20 yards behind an SUV that has turned left on Pico and headed west. I’m traveling at about 10 mph. I’ve had … Continue reading
Posted in Pico/Robertson, R. Yitzchak Etshalom
Tagged danica patrick, lance armstrong, muskin, principles of the jewish faith, reform rabbi, torah study
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