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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:
- Two Ledgers: Decoding the Gurus and the Price of Talk
- The Pervert’s Progress: Costin Vlad Alamariu and the Making of Bronze Age Pervert
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- Mark Brandt: The Man Who Asked Who Else Is Prejudiced
- John T. Jost: The Psychologist of Acquiescence
- Strange Bedfellows in the Academy: Alliance Theory and the Straussian Schism
- Tournier on Desmond Ford
- The Fence and the Blessing: How Jews Have Thought About Gentiles
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- An Alliance Theory of Antisemitism
- Tournier on Cinema Paradiso and Desmond Ford
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- The Borrowed Robe: How Antisemitism Dresses in Each Age’s Virtue
- A Place For You
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- Dennis Prager Through Randall Collins: Interaction Ritual Chains
- What is a ‘Received Idea’?
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* 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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* What would it look like if the Financial Times put its reader first? (6-1-26)
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* What It Would Mean for The New York Times to Put the Reader First? (6-1-26)
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Category Archives: Yeshiva
Ten Convenient Beliefs For The Leaders Of Ohr Somayach
Stephen Turner (b. 1951) calls them convenient beliefs: the ones a man holds because they pay, not because they are true. Such beliefs run the Ohr Somayach Jerusalem campus right now. They run the global center directors’ calls, the development … Continue reading
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How Do Members Of Israel’s Leading Yeshivot View Each Other?
Per Alliance Theory: Aish HaTorah Ohr Somayach How they see themselves Gateways. Emergency responders. Without us, thousands would be lost. How the elite yeshivot see them Necessary but second tier. Good at persuasion, weak at producing top learners. Belief inflation … Continue reading
Decoding Porat Yosef – Jerusalem
Per Alliance Theory: Porat Yosef Yeshiva is the prestige restoration project of Sephardi Torah elites after centuries of status loss inside the Ashkenazi dominated yeshiva world. Start with the alliance problem. Pre-modern Sephardi Judaism produced legal giants, philosophers, communal leaders. … Continue reading
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Decoding Maale Adumim Yeshiva
Per Alliance Theory: Yeshivat Birkat Moshe is the technocratic wing of Religious Zionism. It produces governing competence rather than myth, charisma, or prestige. Start with the alliance problem it solves. Religious Zionism needs people who can actually run things. Courts, … Continue reading
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Decoding Har Etzion – Alon Shvut
Per Alliance Theory: Yeshivat Har Etzion is the moderation engine of Religious Zionism. It produces synthesis rather than certainty. Start with the alliance problem it solves. Religious Zionism can tilt messianic and maximalist, as at Mercaz HaRav, or it can … Continue reading
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Decoding Mercaz HaRav – Jerusalem
Per Alliance Theory: Mercaz HaRav is the ideological command center of Religious Zionism. Not a school in the narrow sense. A factory for meaning, legitimacy, and mission. Start with the alliance problem it solves. Religious Zionism had to reconcile three … Continue reading
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Decoding Belz Yeshivot – Jerusalem
Per Alliance Theory: Belz Yeshivot function as the mass reproduction engine of a Hasidic empire whose core product is loyalty rather than intellectual distinction. Understanding what Belz actually optimizes for clarifies why it behaves as it does, why other Haredi … Continue reading
Posted in Alliance Theory, Haredi, Hasidim, Yeshiva
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Decoding Mir Yeshiva – Jerusalem
Per Alliance Theory: Mir Yeshiva Jerusalem is best decoded as the scale engine of the Litvish world. If Ponevezh is a throne room and Hebron is a nobility school, Mir is the metropolis. Start with size. Mir is the largest … Continue reading
Posted in Alliance Theory, Haredi, Yeshiva
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Decoding Hebron Yeshiva – Jerusalem
Per Alliance Theory: Hebron Yeshiva in Jerusalem, usually called Yeshivat Hevron or Knesses Yisrael, is best decoded as the Slabodka brand transplanted into Eretz Yisrael and then turned into a long running prestige engine for the Litvish Haredi alliance. Origin … Continue reading
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Decoding Ponevezh Yeshiva – Bnei Brak
Per Alliance Theory: Ponevezh Yeshiva is a prestige fortress built to monopolize elite Torah status in the postwar Haredi alliance system. Start with its founding logic. Ponevezh was not created to serve a community. It was created to recreate a … Continue reading
