The New York prep school gangster who became a West Bank rabbi

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Published: 29 December 2020

Last updated: 4 March 2024

JASON NAPA: When the centre crumbles, Rabbi Yehuda HaKohen brings hope to refugees from the liberal consensus, whether they’re Right or Left

WHILE REPORTING THIS STORY, my partner repeatedly noted her worry that I was on the verge of joining a cult.

In her defence, the ingredients were there. First, there’s me: a neurotic and impulsive, bisexual, 35-year-old Jew who feels lost in a world that no longer makes any sense and is searching for something eternal and powerful that can provide support and direction.

Then there’s the person I’m writing about: an erudite, intelligent, and charismatic mystic who croons a compelling tune about the interweavings of the soul and the body politic and, in doing so, has built up a loosely organised “movement” of followers—most of them even younger than me—who praise his idiosyncratic ideas to high heaven.

FULL STORY The bizarre rise of the Manhattan prep school gangster turned enigmatic West Bank rabbi (Daily Beast)

Photo: Rabbi Yehuda HaKohen (Jason Napa)