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"This guy knows all the gossip, the ins and outs, the lashon hara of the Orthodox world. He’s an [expert] in... all the inner workings of the Orthodox world." (Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff) LATEST POSTS:
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Category Archives: R. Yosef Kanefsky
Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky’s Hero System
A woman stands at the lectern in B’nai David-Judea on a Shabbat morning and gives the drasha. A few men in the room watch each other more than they watch her. One has walked up Pico from a shul where … Continue reading
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The Yosef Kanefsky Voice
Yosef Kanefsky speaks in the register of a pastor who has decided that conscience is the highest halachic value, and he has built a public voice around that decision. He runs B’nai David-Judea in Pico-Robertson, and his writing reaches well … Continue reading
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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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Decoding Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky
ChatGPT says: Through Alliance Theory, Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky is best understood as a boundary softener whose primary function is to keep a modern Orthodox alliance from collapsing under internal moral strain. His role is not to mobilize, harden, or conquer. … Continue reading
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Black, Brown, and Beyond: Exploring Issues of Race and Color within our LA Community
Rav Yosef Kanefsky (the most left-wing Orthodox rabbi on the West Coast) emails his list: Dear friends, Race relations has been a particularly painful theme in our country’s narrative, and continues to be so right up to today. From Ferguson … Continue reading
Posted in Blacks, Bnai David-Judea, R. Yosef Kanefsky
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Statement from the Rabbinical Council of California on Doheny Meats
I am curious who believes the RCC here? Here is their statement: On Sunday March 24th, the RCC received video footage alleging kashrus violations at Doheny Kosher Meats, a store under its supervision. Within hours of receiving the information including … Continue reading
Posted in Kashrut, R. Elazar Muskin, R. Kalman Topp, R. Yosef Kanefsky, RCC
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A Down-To-Earth Rav
Most Orthodox rabbis like to keep their distance. They love their gravitas. “It’s for the honor of the Torah,” they think. I just heard from some people who chose Bnai David-Judea because its rav, Yosef Kanefsky, is unpretentious and approachable. … Continue reading
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Is Religion Just About Sex and Guns?
Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky writes: “When a candidate runs as a devoutly religious person, what kinds of public positions does he or she take? In the political contest playing out in presently, the foreign policy positions of the devoutly religious are … Continue reading
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Observant Jews In Particular Should Not Talk On Their Cell Phones While Driving
Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky writes: “As halachikly observant Jews, we go to great lengths to lower our risk of sinning. We do not climb trees on Shabbat lest we inadvertently violate Shabbat by breaking a branch. Many of us do not … Continue reading
Posted in R. Yosef Kanefsky
Tagged blowing shofar, Dennis Prager, mitzva, observant jews, rabbi yosef, system demands
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The Challenge To Orthodox Judaism From Within
Rabbi Dov Fischer writes: This is the Way of the new challenge to Mesorah emanating from “Morethodoxy,” the International Rabbinic Fellowship (IRF), and the Chovevei Torah seminary (YCT). As new demands from them emerge to ordain women rabbis, to conduct … Continue reading
Posted in Modern Orthodox, R. Yosef Kanefsky
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