There’s talking of selling their new plot of land and partially constructed building to a Sephardic shul.
The place has fallen apart since Rabbi Sholom Tendler left.
YINBH are a bunch of rich people (40 member families) who are all used to getting their own way and they find it hard to compromise with each other.
They can’t find a new rabbi. They’re not sure what they want. Do they want a quiet teacher type such as Nahum Braverman or do they want a commanding pulpit rabbi with the remote personality and big ego that usually comes along with the rhetoric?
I also published (content later withdrawn from my blog) excerpts from an email alleging Ventimiglia to be a horrible person.
Today Marc J. (a production manager) emails me:
My attorneys will be in touch with you regarding the untrue statement(s) you have published that are written in a very vindictive, malicious way. Don’t tell me you wrote it. I know Marcy’s style of writing. But you have emailed and disclosed to me that you have written it yourself.
Unbenounced to you and the others, I was fighting the charges in trial that I was framed & setup on during your run of the published blog words about me. I am finished with the case and charges now with no convictions whatsoever. Now I will begin my civil suits on a few matters that have displayed intent of damaging ones career and personal goals.
I’m all for the 1st amendment and respect any & all journalism. The “tone & false facts” account for approximately 90% of what you wrote. Someone told that story to Marcy because they didn’t know if they could trust her or not for support. Go back and re-read your publishing of me. There are 3 sentences that are valid. It’s one big laugh & joke to you and/or the other(s) affiliated with your posting of me. We’ll see how much of a joke it is in the next few months when papers are filed. I have all the printouts from the original posting and then the changes that were made and re-uploaded. One would research and verify bold and potential damaging statements if & when written about an individual or company. I learned that in first year of college.
Try and enjoy your weekend. I’ll look forward to tuning in to your chat room(s) dialogue.
The owner, Julien Bohbot, makes you feel like you are stepping into his home. He has the European class of the master restauranteur. This isn’t just a business for him, it’s a passion.
The chef, Jean Claude Lashkar, is also first-class.
Located at 1952 Robertson Blvd in zipcode 90035, it is presided over by Rabbi Dov Newman. 310-836-6770.
It gets about hundred people on Shabbos morning.
For Shuvuot, it had a massive ice cream bar and about 300 attendees.
On Simchat Torah, it has an open bar and hundreds of happy Jews.
It has the best children’s facilities of any shul in the neighborhood because the place used to be a kindergarten.
The Chabad Israel Center at 1520 South Robertson Blvd is the messianic Chabad in the ‘hood. They do the moshiach dance between Mincha and Maariv on Friday nights. Phone: 310-271-6193 Fax: 310-271-0494. Rabbi Amitai Yemini. It is known as the Israeli Chabad.
Does anyone want to do the Moshiach dance with me? I don’t know the moves nor the lyrics but I want to get with the program.
Everything is normal except my triglycerides are a tad high (should be below 150 and they are 157), my HDL is a tad low (should be 40 or greater and is 35), and I have pre-diabetes. My fasting blood sugar result should have been below 100, and it was 104.
My tests for HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia were negative.
Steven Weil of Beth Jacob is a CEO with semicha (rabbinic ordination).
Elazar Muskin is the quintessential shul rabbi. He devotes himself to his community. He sets aside Fridays to call widows and shut-ins, etc to wish them a Gut Shabbos. He visits the sick. He brings soup. He’s there for his congregants in their crises and in their simchas (joys).
Rabbi Muskin is a smart accomplished man, but what stands out about him is his heart. He’s passionate. He loves people. He gave me the most beautiful gift I’ve received in my life — a pair of tefillin (when I was too poor to buy my own).
Rabbi Weil is all brain. He’s power hungry. He has an MBA. He doesn’t like to be bothered with pastoral care. He’s Mr. Cerebral. "He doesn’t feed the soul of his congregants," says one Beth Jacob member. Rabbi Weil doesn’t speak to their hearts. Perhaps that is why the main minyan at Beth Jacob is dying. All the other minyans at Beth Jacob, the ones Rabbi Weil has nothing to do with, are booming.
Rabbi Weil is a master fundraiser. During his tenure, Beth Jacob secured the lot next door and renovated the downstairs. He’s got the shul running like a business. It’s in good financial shape. But the budget has boomed during his tenure. Beth Jacob is adding a fourth rabbi. If his successor is not a master fundraiser, Beth Jacob could be in financial trouble in as little as two years.
Rabbi Weil was great at reaching out to secular Jews (such as Benny Alagem, owner of the Beverly Hilton) and getting them to come to shul on occasion and donate vast sums of money.
Rabbi Weil and Rabbi Muskin can’t stand each other. Rabbi Muskin won’t sit on the same platform as Rabbi Weil.
Rabbi Weil views Young Israel of Century City as a breakaway from Beth Jacob (which it is) and therefore feels no compunction about trying to poach its leading congregants such as Mark Goldenberg, etc.
Beth Jacob is looking for a new rabbi and a new cantor. Contrary to what I previously thought, Daniel Korobkin is not a shoo-in to be the next rabbi. The position is wide open.
Cantor Avshalom Katz has been flying in once a month from Israel but the arrangement is not working for Beth Jacob. Everybody likes Katz but once a month is not enough.
The past few years has seen a resurgence in militant atheism — think Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris. As a backlash against the religious revival of the past 25 years, these authors and speakers have been arguing against religion. It was bound to happen eventually, but now Judaism has been specifically targeted. Someone named R.D. Gold — not an atheist but someone ardently and angrily opposed to Orthodox Judaism — has written a book that argues against Orthodox Judaism’s core beliefs.
Reading Bondage of the Mind: How Old Testament Fundamentalism Shackles the Mind and Enslaves the Spirit was, to me, a relief. I expected a much stronger book that systematically evaluated every Jewish belief and poked every hole possible. Instead I found an angry book that has a few good arguments interspersed with many generalizations and rhetorical tricks. That makes my job — reviewing the book’s arguments from the perspective of an Orthodox Jew — much more comfortable than it could have been.
Click here to read moreWhat I intend to do is to review the book chapter-by-chapter, describing the main arguments, as well as some minor, and explain what I agree and disagree with and why. This will take a series of posts so please be patient.
I am sure that some religious people will ask why I am bringing more attention to the book. Had I remained silent, many readers would be unaware of it. Now that I discuss it, some people might decide to buy the book and read it. That is a very valid issue, although the book has already been publicized on another Orthodox blog (Cross Currents). Additionally, I am reviewing this book because I believe that it is the beginning (or middle) of a growing trend of anti-Orthodox arguments that we ignore at our own peril. After consultation with a rabbinic advisor, I have decided to publish this detailed review.
For many years we Orthodox have had the luxury of presenting any argument we want without challenge, and as long as someone was convinced (or we convinced ourselves) no one objected. We are finally being challenged and I think that it will only make us stronger.
My main comments about the book’s goals and methods can be found in the sections of Preface and Introduction. Discussion of specific arguments will be in the bulk of the chapters and discussion of the religious experience and heterodox branches of Judaism will be in the final chapter.
PREFACE
The author begins with a classic dichotomy — revelation vs. reason, Jerusalem vs. Athens. According to Gold, philosophers believe that truth is reached through "scholarly inquiry, evidence, and reason, that truth emerges from the human mind" while religious thinkers believe that "truth about the world can be found only in God’s word and God’s will" (p. xi-xii).
As anyone familiar with religious philosophy — medieval in particular but modern as well — will tell you, this is a false dichotomy. Someone interested in finding truth will use all of the available tools, including both reason and revelation.
R. Isaac Bernstein zt"l, based on the Ohr HaChaim, investigates how Aharon was properly rewarded by given the responsibility to light the Menorah:
R. Berel Wein suggests that the message of the Kohanim lighting the Menorah is we should strive to improve ourselves before we even think of rebuking someone else: link
R. Yissocher Frand reminds us that even actions that may seem presently inconsequential may have a very important effect on future events: link
R. Zev Reichman reminds us that even a mitzvah performed without inspiration is still worth performing: link
R. Dovid Gottlieb looks at the unique nature of Pesach Sheni: link
The Trumpet and the Ram’s Horn
R. Shlomo Riskin, based upon the understanding of Rav Soloveitchik zt"l, argues that the trumpet and the ram’s horn, which represent the covenants of fate and destiny, will eventually be merged as we meet our Divinely imposed destiny as a people: link
The Divine Cloud and the Heavenly Fire
R. Ephraim Buchwald underscores the importance of living in a strong Jewish community as enabling one to grow in his or her Avodas HaShem and to raise a Jewishly committed family: link
The Inversion of Jewish History and Destiny
Rav Soloveitchik zt"l, as transcribed by R. Yitzchak Etshalom, sets forth how the inverted letter “Nun” represents the long and often tragic march of Jewish history: link (PDF).
R. Zev Leff suggests that the inverted nuns teach us that one must strive to be consistent in one’s approach to Torah and Mitzvos: link
Moshe’s Despair
R. Jonathan Sacks investigates the sources of Knesset Yisrael’s discontent and Moshe Rabbeinu’s reaction: link
A Crisis of Leadership
R Moshe Lichtenstein delineates how the events in the second half of the Parsha were a prelude to the Episode of the Spies: link
From PragerRadio.com: " During this graduation season, Dennis asks if we are formed during high school? The hope is that we can change for the better, but is it true? Callers come down on both sides of the issue."
My sense is that about 80% of people are formed by age 17. Their happiness level, their social status, their personality and interests are pretty much set.
I did a radio interview on the 8th of March, it was a lot of fun. We talked about wedding photography, our company, and the hand crafted approach we take with our wedding photography. When you listen to it the first people you will hear speaking is the host Jack Warren and his guest Stephen Burns. I come on after Stephen. He is worth giving a listen to as well. He does wonderful art work in Photoshop, authors books, and puts on some amazing photographic competitions in southern California. Here is the link. Shutterbug Magazine Radio Interview
Kate did a radio show today, she was marvelous and Fabulous to quote Billy Crystal. She was on the same radio program that I had been on a few weeks prior. We will have a link to the interview up as soon as its available. The host, Jack Warren, talked to her about what charities we work with, how we work with them, and how other photographers can do the same. I can’t say enough about what a good job she did, and how proud of her I am.
I call Kate Thursday morning, June 12, 2008.
Kate: "I do the strategic planning. The business behind the business."
"If you’re going to have a jack-ass boss, I’d rather be my own jack-ass boss. I like having the autonomy to do what I like. I like creating a company that exists for other purposes than generating money."
Luke: "You were on track to get a Ph.D. in Chemistry [from the Unversity of Alabama]. So what happened?"
Kate: "I was waiting for some data from my professor. I’d written 133 pages on my dissertation. I couldn’t write more until I had that data. Clinton got into the Brooks Institute for Photography. We had to move out here. A year after I was here, I finally got my data. I never got around to finishing it. I ended up getting my MBA from California Lutheran University where I’d worked for a couple of years."
Kate: "I get to work with my best friend. Sometimes we let the business in the way. Sometimes we put it first when we shouldn’t. Sometimes he wants to throttle me and I want to throttle him."
Luke: "Does this lead to physical violence?"
Kate: "No, no, no.
"Sometimes we’ll forget to take a break from the business. We don’t operate on an 8-5 schedule. We need to learn better how to take a break from it."
Luke: "What would you advise other couples who were thinking of working together?"
Kate: "Make sure you have a sense of humor. Make sure that you are best friends. I think that a lot of couples would know whether they are able to work together or not, deep down."
Luke: "The more time a couple can spend together, the better?"
Kate: "Yes. Clinton and I were friends for a long time before we were romantically involved."
I chat with Clinton.
Luke: "Are there certain people, even though they are attractive, they don’t photograph well? Why?"
Clinton: "Not everybody is comfortable in front of the camera. It’s what’s inside. It’s all about making people comfortable and bringing out who they are."
"I take photographs but I am not comfortable in front of the camera."
Luke: "Why?"
Clinton: "You’re exposed."
"On the wedding day, there’s enough stuff distracting the bride and groom that you can get around a lot of that. But family portraits… I assist a photographer in Los Angeles who shoots famous people and it takes them a while to warm up. People like Madonna have photographers they prefer to use because there’s probably a comfort level there. They bring out the best in them."
Luke: "What makes for a successful photography session?"
Clinton: "Making a connection with the people being photographed. Putting them at ease. Getting to know them. Getting a sense of how they see themselves. Some people are comfortable looking vulnerable and some aren’t. I talk to the people I’m photographing the entire time, asking questions, learning about them."
Luke: "What are the characteristics of somebody who photographs well?"
Clinton: "Confidence."
Luke: "What are the joys and sorrows of working with your spouse?"
Clinton: "Sometimes you spend too much time together."
"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)
Interview