It’s largely composed of the black-hatted offspring of such Modern Orthodox shuls as Beth Jacob and Young Israel of Century City.
Adas Torah is starting a kollel (where married men will study Torah full-time). Not sure how much of a stipend these scholars will receive, but I suspect it’ll be around $50,000 a year.
Adas Torah is the most talked about new shul in Pico-Robertson in many years.
Over at the Sephardi shul Mogen David on Foothill, the rabbi is leaving to start a Zionist K-6th grade school at Mogen David on Pico Blvd.
I hear the founder of Ameriquest will be forced by financial setbacks to drastically curtail his donations to Shalhevet.
Lou writes:
Your facts about the Adas-Torah-affiliated Kollel are basically correct. But the story behind the story is far more intriguing.
This Kollel will be housed at Beth Jacob — one of the shuls whose black-hatted offspring, as you report, now attend AT. How does one explain this sharing of facilities with a "competitor"?
You must first understand that this new Kollel, like Adas Torah, is a spin-off of a third, established, organization, the Los Angeles Kollel. One of the Kollel’s leading rabbis, Rabbi Baruch Gradon, wishes to make inroads into the Pico-Robertson community. Rabbi Gradon’s erudition, offered in a soft British brogue, is very appealing to the well-educated Pico-Robertson crowd.
Also, Rabbi Weil of Beth Jacob is a huge admirer of Rabbi Gradon. Nothwithstanding the Kollel’s Lakewood affiliation, Rabbi Weil appreciates the intellectual gifts of the leaders of this venerable ultra-Orthodox institution. In fact, this coming Shabbat, Beth Jacob will host the Executive Director of the Lakewood Yeshiva, Rabbi Aron Kotler, who shares the same name as his grandfather, who founded this flagship institution of the Yeshiva world.
All very interesting, but there is also an element of BJ-YICC rivalry going on here. Adas Torah is perceived as a break-away from YICC, not as a break-away from BJ (which YICC was, a generation ago). The BJ offspring who attend AT left BJ long ago, when Rabbis Lamm and Weiss were at the helm. Now they are leaving YICC. Comes along Rabbi Weil, steers BJ to the right, accepts (and possibly encourages) a Lakewood-affiliated outpost in Pico-Robertson, and tells these young families who left YICC for something more serious: We support the goals of Adas Torah. And you can always consider Beth Jacob your second home.
Pretty clever.
I hear the kollel crowd hold themselves apart at Beth Jacob and have their own 7 a.m. minyan.
