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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
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- Nigel Farage
- Bernard Haykel: A Life Between the Text and the Gun
- Walker Connor (1926-2017)
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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)
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* 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)
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Category Archives: R. Elazar Muskin
The Long Walk to Shul
A boy walks a mile to shul and a mile back, beside his father, in Cleveland, in the years when his father is one of the city’s rabbis and his grandfather, the man he is named for, leads a congregation … Continue reading
Posted in R. Elazar Muskin
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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 Elazar Muskin
ChatGPT says: Through Alliance Theory, Rabbi Elazar Muskin is best understood as a coalition architect whose primary achievement was converting Orthodox Judaism into a durable, high-status public alliance in Los Angeles rather than a defensive subculture. Muskin’s central insight was … Continue reading
Posted in R. Elazar Muskin
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The Purpose Driven Rabbi
If you wanted an example of a great congregational rabbi, you couldn’t do any better than Rabbi Elazar Muskin of Young Israel of Century City (YICC). Forty years into his job, he still exudes purpose, passion and astonishing IQ. He’d … Continue reading
Posted in R. Elazar Muskin
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Rabbi Elazar Muskin 2.0 Skit from the 2016 Banquet
Posted in R. Elazar Muskin, YICC
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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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The Minyan Offers Human Solidarity
Rabbi Elazar Muskin writes: Author Hillel Halkin, reviewing the Koren Sacks Siddur in the spring 2010 Jewish Review of Books, recounts a charming story that he heard from his father: “My father, who prayed with great kavanah [concentration] yet was … Continue reading
Posted in R. Elazar Muskin
Tagged afternoon prayer, human solidarity, jewish tradition, minyan, musaf, rabbi elazar
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The Force Field
He walked past Bnai David Thursday afternoon and saw a trash can with the sign, “Sponsored by Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky.” He stopped and stared. “What the hell?” he thought. “A trash can sponsored by a rabbi? Where’s the kavod of … Continue reading
Posted in Bnai David-Judea, Personal, R. Elazar Muskin, R. Yosef Kanefsky, YICC
Tagged Dennis Prager, orthodox judaism, orthodox rabbi, rabbi yosef, radical egalitarianism, trash cans
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Connecting The Dots In The Rabbi Leib Tropper Story
When you look at Guma Aguiar’s (Israeli billionaire who’s suing Rabbi Leib Tropper) profile, you see that though born Jewish, he was raised Christian, and in Houston he sought out a Christian congregation but met Rabbi Tuvia Singer and became … Continue reading
Posted in Guma Aguiar, Personal, R. Elazar Muskin, R. Leib Tropper, R. YY Rubinstein, Sex, Shannon Orand
Tagged connecting the dots, conversion programs, drunk on power, FailedMessiah, jewish identity, orand, orthodox jews, rabbi, tuvia
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Rabbi Gershon Bess Vs. Rabbi Yehuda Bukspan
In the mid 1980s, Rabbi Gershon Bess began moving on his plan to reinvigorate the RCC and make it the Beit Din in town. He began moving on his plan to overtake Rabbi Yehuda Bukspan for kashrut supremacy (certifying restaurants, … Continue reading
Posted in R. Avraham Teichman, R. Elazar Muskin, R. Gershon Bess, R. Yehuda Bukspan, R. Yosef Kanefsky, Rabbis, RCC
Tagged adin steinsaltz, lincoln square synagogue, rabbi adin steinsaltz, rabbi elazar, rabbi steinsaltz, rabbi yehuda
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