On Shabbat, March 17-18, Rabbi Elazar Muskin, senior rabbi of Young Israel of Century City (Los Angeles), will be the scholar-in-residence at Congregation Beth Aaron. On Shabbat morning, Rabbi Muskin will deliver the drasha at the conclusion of davening at the Main Minyan. He will speak at 5:40 p.m. on “When Unity Reigned: Yom Ha’atzmaut 1954,” and again following the 6:40 p.m. Mincha, when his topic will be “Strictly Confidential? History vs. Halacha.” Congregation Beth Aaron is located at 950 Queen Anne Road in Teaneck.

Rabbi Elazar Muskin serves as senior rabbi of Young Israel of Century City in Los Angeles. Under his leadership, the congregation has become one of the fastest growing Orthodox synagogues on the West Coast, having grown from fewer than 50 member families when he arrived in 1986 to 500 member families today. Rabbi Muskin is considered a leading innovator in creative adult education programming and marketing. His efforts led to YICC being awarded the prestigious national citation from the Orthodox Union for its annual adult education program calendar. A key focus of Rabbi Muskin’s career has been pro-Israel activism. He helped create AIPAC’s synagogue outreach initiative. He is intimately involved in interfaith relations with the Los Angeles area Christian clergy to promote Israel’s vital importance and actively recruits pastors to accompany him to AIPAC’s Policy Conference in Washington, D.C. Prior to assuming his position at YICC, he served as rabbi for five years at the Mt. Sinai Jewish Center in Manhattan. Before entering the rabbinate, Rabbi Muskin served as executive director of T’chiya Volunteers, an organization dedicated to serving development towns in Israel. He is presently first vice-president of the Rabbinical Council of America and was president of the Rabbinical Council of California from 1992 to 1997.