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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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* Steve Wynn and the Press: Power, Litigation, and the Contest Over Las Vegas (6-3-26)
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Category Archives: R. Kook
Marc B. Shapiro’s YT Series On Rav Kook: ‘Renewing the Old, Sanctifying the New’
9-9-25 The YT video catches Shapiro doing in real time what the book does on the page. Rav Kook is a founder figure who needs to break with the standard rabbinic coalition technology of humility theater. The technology requires that … Continue reading
Posted in Marc B. Shapiro, R. Kook
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Rabbis Are Rarely Gurus
Rabbis are rarely gurus. They usually have little in common with the gurus discussed on the podcast Decoding the Gurus. The rabbinic role developed to do almost the opposite of what a guru does. Rabbis are interpreters, not originators. Their … Continue reading
Posted in Guru, Hasidim, Marc Gafni, R. Daniel Landes, R. Kook, R. Shlomo Carlebach, R. Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Rabbis
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Why Do Intellectuals Love Rav Kook?
Intellectuals love Rav Kook because he provides a high-status “unification” signal that reconciles secular rebellion with religious tradition. In the framework of Alliance Theory, Rav Kook performed a massive “prestige heist” by claiming that the secular, anti-religious Zionists were actually … Continue reading
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Renewing the Old, Sanctifying the New: The Unique Vision of Rav Kook by Marc B. Shapiro (2025)
In Marc B. Shapiro’s recent study of Rav Kook, the “newly published” and more radical ideas of the Chief Rabbi provide a clear look at how a master strategist uses theology to expand a coalition. David Pinsof’s Alliance Theory suggests … Continue reading
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Decoding Rav Kook
Abraham Isaac Kook, the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of British Mandatory Palestine, provides a compelling subject for Alliance Theory because his life was defined by the strategic navigation of three mutually exclusive coalitions: the secular Zionists, the traditionalist Orthodox, and … Continue reading
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God, Torah & The Commandments
Historian Marc B. Shapiro writes: R. Kook argued that there is good reason to observe mitzvot even if one does not have a traditional view of the Torah’s authorship. On the one hand, there is nothing surprising in this. After … Continue reading
Posted in Marc B. Shapiro, R. Kook, Torah
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