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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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* Why Wembanyama Lives on the Perimeter (5-31-26)
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* The Administrative Capital: Sacramento Legal Culture (5-27-26)
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Category Archives: Haredi
Using Sex To Sell Torah
I was doing some research on Rabbi Simcha Weinberg and found some interesting comments about his late uncle Noah Weinberg, the founder of Aish HaTorah. I did not realize there was so much venom towards him. I researched these attacks … Continue reading
Posted in Aish HaTorah, Haredi, R. Noah Weinberg, R. Simcha Weinberg
Tagged Aish HaTorah, discovery seminar, haaretz, kiruv, norman lamm, professional satisfaction, ramhal, shaliach, soloveitchik, torah code
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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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How The Haredim Took Control In Israel
The Haredim have been yelling about the illegitimacy of Modern Orthodox conversions for many years. Only now do they have the political power to delegitimize such conversions. When the Mizrachi aka religious Zionists aka the Modern Orthodox in Israel opposed … Continue reading
Posted in Haredi, Israel, Modern Orthodox
Tagged chief rabbis, ehud olmert, meir lau, prime minister ariel sharon, prime minister ehud olmert, shlomo amar
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Eternal Judaism
Joe emails: I seriously find major fault with Bnai David. The use of time and money to feed the local homeless population, which are mostly psychotics (any sane homeless person lives by the beach in Venice Santa Monica) is a … Continue reading
Posted in Bnai David-Judea, Germany, Haredi, Homeless, Modern Orthodox, Orthodoxy, Pico/Robertson
Tagged darth vader, free train rides, local private schools, rabbi samson raphael hirsch, samson raphael hirsch, worst case scenario
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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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Modern Orthodoxy Vs Right-Wing Orthodoxy
Joe emails: You can tell the difference between Modern Orthodoxy and more Right Wing Old School Orthodoxy by looking at synagogue websites. Bnai David Judea is this high powered modern orthodox synagogue – it has women on the board, it … Continue reading
Posted in Bnai David-Judea, Haredi, Modern Orthodox, Orthodoxy, Pico/Robertson
Tagged bell curves, black hats, orthodox synagogue, synagogue websites, tons of kids, torah study
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The Top Five Mizrachi Rabbis In Israel
What is Mizrachi? It is religious Zionism. Rav Mordecai Eliyahu would have to be number one. Then Haim Drukman, Yaakov Ariel, Aharon Lichtenstein, She’ar Yashuv Cohen (the Rav of Haifa and the son of the Nazir of Jerusalem David Cohen), … Continue reading
Posted in Haredi, Israel, Modern Orthodox
Tagged aharon lichtenstein, eliyahu, high school students, israel god, jerusalem post, marriage registration, matthew wagner, mizrachi, Modern Orthodox, mordecai, nazir, rabbinic ordination, Rabbis, yeshivot
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The Story Of The Hasidic Actors Guild
Yisrael Lifschutz writes: HAG: The Story of the Hassidic Actors Guild is a serio-comic (HAG logo "Pay Us For Payos") hybrid of fact and fiction focusing on the life of Ysrael "Izzi" Lifschutz who has served as an actor and/or … Continue reading
Posted in Haredi, Hasidim, Hollywood
Tagged basketball hall of fame, jcc of manhattan, jcc on the palisades, jewish film festival, kaplan jcc, sports hall of fame
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Birthright’s Ties To Haredi Judaism
The Forward reports: Many of the young people who pass through the Jewish Enrichment Center in Lower Manhattan view it with great affection. It is often the first time they have come in contact with a Judaism that is engaging … Continue reading
Posted in Haredi
Tagged alei teshuvah, forward reports, jewish enrichment center, ohr somayach, outreach arm, taglit birthright israel
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The Strange Charedi Judaism Of Aish HaTorah
In his second lecture on Rav Elazar Shach, Dr. Marc B. Shapiro says: "His antipathy to kiruv (outreach) has nothing to do with his feelings for Chabad. What does it mean to do kiruv? It means to leave the yeshiva. … Continue reading
Posted in Aish HaTorah, Haredi, Marc B. Shapiro
Tagged Aish HaTorah, beit midrash, elazar, Marc B. Shapiro, ohr somayach, state of israel
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