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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:
- Dennis Prager v Cedars-Sinai Lawsuit
- Dennis Prager Through Randall Collins: Interaction Ritual Chains
- What is a ‘Received Idea’?
- Jordan Bardella: The Manufacture of Normality
- Everyone Became Television: Bourdieu’s Warning and the 2026 Iran War
- Marine Le Pen
- The Coalition-Proximity Rule
- Nigel Farage
- Bernard Haykel: A Life Between the Text and the Gun
- Walker Connor (1926-2017)
- Benedict Anderson and the Nation as Imagination
- Anthony D. Smith: The Student Who Kept the Question and Rejected the Answer
- Ernest Gellner
- Eric Kaufmann: The Man Who Made the Majority Visible
- Dominic Cummings: A Biography
- Steve Lopez: The Last City Columnist
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- Stephen Kotkin: A Life in Power
- William T. Vollmann: An American Life in Excess
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- * The Enlightenment Wasn’t Enlightened (6-23-26)
* Mr. Burge Draws The Line (6-23-26)
* 'Improving on Democracy' (6-17-26)
* People Leak To People Who Are Fun (6-11-26)
* Why Does Australia Produce So Many Great Journalists? (6-11-26)
* Steve Wynn and the Press: Power, Litigation, and the Contest Over Las Vegas (6-3-26)
* Sheldon Adelson and the Journalists (6-3-26)
* The Vigilant Animal: Thinkers Who Reject the Myth of Human Gullibility (6-2-26)
* The Cost of Refusing the Misunderstanding Myth (6-2-26)
* Show Me How It Travels (6-2-26)
* The Norm Explainers (6-2-26)
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* What would it look like if the Washington Post put its reader first? (6-1-26)
* What would it look like if the Financial Times put its reader first? (6-1-26)
* What It Would Mean for the Los Angeles Times to Put the Reader First? (6-1-26)
* What It Would Mean for The New York Times to Put the Reader First? (6-1-26)
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* The Emotional Palettes Of San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco & Sacramento (5-27-26)
* The Administrative Capital: Sacramento Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* San Diego - The Quiet Republic (5-27-26)
* The Quiet Bar: San Diego Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* SF v LA Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* Why Talent Travels Poorly Between San Francisco and Los Angeles (5-27-26)
* San Francisco and Los Angeles as Rival Models of Urban Access (5-27-26)
* Social Cliques in New York, 2026 (5-25-26)
* Social Cliques in San Francisco, 2026 (5-25-26)
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Category Archives: R. Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff
Decoding Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff
ChatGPT says: Through Alliance Theory, Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff is best understood as a memory-enforced legitimacy guardian whose life’s work has been to make Orthodox authority feel earned, continuous, and morally weighty rather than abstract or bureaucratic. He is not a … Continue reading
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Too Smart For The Irish
Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff says: “I was in public school for one year. I was a wild kid. The teacher told my mother, “Your son is too bright for the Irish kids, the Italian kids. Send him to a [Jewish] day … Continue reading
Posted in Irish, Italy, Jews, R. Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff
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A Lecture On The Seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe
Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff says: “Having spent a lot of time around Gedolei Yisrael (great rabbis), the more intelligence you have, the more critical you are. You have to learn a lot of mussar to remove that negative outlook to be … Continue reading
Posted in Chabad, R. Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff
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Have Faith In God And Stay In Kollel
Rabbi Rakeffet says: “We should all pray that our aunts and uncles drop dead and leave us an inheritance so we can stay in kollel.” * “No hashgacha [kosher supervision] can be 24/7. We are much better off when we … Continue reading
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Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff Shocked There Isn’t Automatic Internet Censorship
Does Judaism side more with censorship or free speech? It’s not clear, but there’s certainly a strong censorious side with the rabbinate. Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff rejoices in gifts from his students. In this March 1, 2015 talk, he says: “One … Continue reading
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Why Did Stalin Become Anti-Semitic?
In this lecture, Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff says: “We come to the synagogue [in Moscow in 1980] and there is a famous picture of Golda Meir when she was the Israeli ambassador to Russia after the founding of the state [of … Continue reading
Posted in Jews, R. Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff, Russia
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The Gaon (Genius)
Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff asks if any Shabbos goyim became Nazis. Chaim Amalek: Do any Christian preachers countenance being called “the genius” as part of their title? The job of shabbos goy can be a pretty sweet gig, with tips. Better … Continue reading
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A Boy From The Bronx
I surfed to YUTorah.org and put in “Rakeffet” and the first result was for a 2009 talk Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff gave titled, “A Boy From The Bronx.” “Rabbi Rakeffet discusses the many different spiritual influences he had in his youth.” … Continue reading
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Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff Says YICC Wanted To Record His Shabbat Talks
In this 2014 talk, Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff says (about 37 minutes in): “I had this shaila (rabbinic question) at Young Israel of Century City. They wanted to record me [on Shabbat]. This way they can hear it again. They have … Continue reading
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The Hasidim Conquered America
From a Jewish Press interview with Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff: Today we all wear uniforms. What is the concept of wearing a uniform? What is chassidus all about? It’s beautiful. You have a social order, you build a wall around yourself … Continue reading
Posted in Hasidim, R. Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff
Tagged black hats, chassidic rebbe, rabbi aaron, rosh yeshiva, roshei yeshiva, torah jew
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