Category Archives: Rabbis

Newsweek’s List Of Top 50 Rabbis

Rabbi Joshua Strulowitz responds to my email inquiry: “I struggle with this list, some of it I can’t relate to. I don’t really have a feel for how much power and influence Krinsky has. Every Chabad seems to be an … Continue reading

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Newsweek’s List Of America’s Top 50 Rabbis

Historian Marc B. Shapiro responded to my inquiry: “I am not sure what they mean by “important”. Is important the same as influential? They have many of the big ones, but are also missing some. How about the Satmar Rebbes, … Continue reading

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How To Write Histories Of Great Rabbinic Sages

In a lecture on rabbinic biographies for Torah in Motion, history professor Marc B. Shapiro says: It was two of my publications that brought this issue front and center in the Orthodox world… I wrote a doctorate on Rabbi Yechiel … Continue reading

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Rabbis Looking To Get On In Life

In his second lecture on R. Meir Simcha of Dvinsk for Torah in Motion, history professor Marc B. Shapiro says: In 1906, Rav Meir Simcha was asked by the leaders of Jerusalem to assist Rav Shmuel Salant as rav of … Continue reading

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Rabbis Thirsting For Honor

I grew up a Seventh-Day Adventist. I was a preacher’s kid. I knew dozens of clergy. Almost all of them said they felt a divine call to become a pastor. By contrast, I don’t know any rabbis who felt a … Continue reading

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Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival Rejects Important New Documentary About Rabbinic Sexual Abuse

How can L.A. festival chief Hilary Helstein continue after this? She’s a disgrace. How can she reject this new film recently written up in the Washington Post? Hilary Helstein Is Hilary right when she says this is a community that … Continue reading

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Should We Look To Rabbis For Temporal And Political Guidance?

Jonathan Baker writes: This is a set of summaries of a series of six lectures on the teachings of Harav Yosef Dov Halevi Soloveitchik zt”l by Rabbi Aaron Rothkoff-Rakeffet at Lincoln Square Synagogue from 7 June to 12 July 1993. … Continue reading

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Yosef Shalom Elyashiv – The Greatest Sage Has No Relationship With His Children

In his third lecture for Torah in Motion on the R. Eliezer Berkovitz, professor Marc B. Shapiro says in 2010: “One of you wants to know if I have read the new biography of Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv. “This is … Continue reading

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There Are Parts Of The Talmud We Don’t Want Non-Jews To See

In his second lecture for Torah in Motion on the Chatam Sofer, professor Marc B. Shapiro says: “The Chatam Sofer gave his approval for the Talmud to be translated into German. What were the objections of the other rabbis? They … Continue reading

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The Hijacked Rosh Yeshiva

In a lecture on rabbinic biographies for Torah in Motion, Orthodox rabbi and history professor Marc B. Shapiro says: “I think the [Nathan] Kamanetsky book was too voyeuristic in those areas. There are times when it is going to be … Continue reading

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