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Category Archives: Beth Jacob
When The Rabbi’s Wife Is Not A Rebbetzin
I remember feeling taken aback about 13 years ago when the wife of a Modern Orthodox pulpit rabbi told me in no uncertain terms that she was not a rebbetzin. These days most Orthodox communities are seeking a “Rabbinic couple” … Continue reading
Posted in Beth Jacob, R. Kalman Topp, Rabbis
Tagged Beth Jacob, orthodox communities, rabbi, rebbetzin, uncertain terms
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What Is Your Shul’s Vision?
What is Shalhevet’s vision? It is the one Orthodox high school school in Los Angeles where boys and girls receive the identical education. Its mixture of Lawrence Kohlberg and Orthodox Judaism is highly un-Orthodox. I’ve never met a Shalhevet student … Continue reading
Posted in Beth Jacob, Bnai David-Judea, YICC
Tagged Beth Jacob, lawrence kohlberg, orthodox judaism, orthodox shul, simon wiesenthal center, YICC
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Rabbi Kalmann Topp’s Quaint Vision For Beth Jacob — Torah!
The vision thing. It seems like Rabbi Topp at Beth Jacob has it. He teaches two serious Torah classes during the week and a serious parsha shiur on Shabbos morning. He seems to have a vision for Beth Jacob — … Continue reading
Posted in Beth Jacob, R. Kalman Topp
Tagged Beth Jacob, kalmann, orthodox shul, shiur, torah classes
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Pico-Robertson Update
Real estate values of the average Pico-Robertson home are down about 25% from the peak in 2006. Prime Beverlywood property is holding up well. Rents are under pressure. Vacancies are up even though the population hasn’t declined. Rents are down … Continue reading
Posted in Beth Jacob, Orthodox Union, Pico/Robertson, RCC
Tagged airdrome, Beth Jacob, century city, jewish day schools, kol nidre service, Mogen David, population, real estate values, rents, shul, talmud torah, unemployment, vacancies, weiner, Young Israel
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Pico-Robertson In The 1960s
It was populated with faux yeshivas to get Orthodox Jews out of the Vietnam draft. By 1980, there were only two Orthodox synagogues in the community — Young Israel of South Beverly Hills and Beth Jacob. There wasn’t a kosher … Continue reading
Posted in Beth Jacob, Bnai David-Judea, Hancock Park, Haredi, Harkham Hillel, Pico/Robertson, R. Kalman Topp, YICC
Tagged Abner Weiss, Beth Jacob, orthodox shul, orthodox synagogues, rabbi maurice lamm, vietnam draft, YICC, Young Israel
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An Original Mind At Beth Jacob
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 … Continue reading
Posted in Beth Jacob, R. Gershon Bess, R. Steven Weil, RCC
Tagged ari kahn, Beth Jacob, david hartman, Dennis Prager, marc gafni, orthodox rabbi
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How’s The Kollel Working Out At Beth Jacob?
On the surface, it looks like a mismatch. A source told me in September of 2007: This Kollel will be housed at Beth Jacob — one of the shuls whose black-hatted offspring, as you report, now attend AT. How does … Continue reading
Posted in Beth Jacob, Haredi
Tagged Beth Jacob, Kollel, orthodox institution, rabbi gradon, yeshiva world, YICC
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In 20 Years, The Haredim Will Dominate Pico-Robertson
Los Angeles has little culture of Torah learning (except among the Haredim aka the traditional Orthodox). There are only two first-rate Modern Orthodox Torah scholars in Los Angeles — rabbis Yehuda Bukspan and David Rue. L.A.’s Modern Orthodox shuls don’t … Continue reading
Posted in Abner Weiss, Anshe Emes, Beth Jacob, Bnai David-Judea, Modern Orthodox, Nachum Sauer, Orthodox Union, Orthodoxy, R. David Rue, R. Kalman Topp, R. Yehuda Bukspan, YICC
Tagged Beth Jacob, marriage prospects, orthodox shuls, rabbi search, torah scholar, torah scholars, touro college
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If Rav Schachter Says March, They March
I was fascinated by the Meir Kin case. Not the messy details of the divorce, but the side issue of three Modern Orthodox shuls in Pico-Robertson repeatedly sending their members to picket outside the home of Meir Kin’s parents. I … Continue reading
Posted in Beth Jacob, Bnai David-Judea, Dennis Prager, Meir Kin, Personal, YICC
Tagged Beth Jacob, filthy pervert, messy divorce, orthodox shuls, rabbinical council of california, samson raphael hirsch
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Divorce Protest In Los Angeles
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 … Continue reading
Posted in Beth Jacob, Divorce, Modern Orthodox, Orthodoxy, R. Steven Weil, R. Yosef Kanefsky
Tagged chained women, jewish divorce, orthodox community, protest rally, rebecca spence, thorny subject
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