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"Luke Ford reports all of the 'juicy' quotes, and has been doing it for years." (Marc B. Shapiro)
"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:
- Jean Raspail: The Consul of Lost Causes
- Michel Houellebecq: A Life
- Anthony Lane: A Life
- Author Philip Gourevitch
- Joseph Telushkin: The Accountant’s Son Who Taught America Judaism
- Still the Best Hope: Why the World Needs American Values to Triumph (2012)
- WP: As Christians are attacked in Israel, government shows little concern
- Life as a Haredi Jew
- Moral Philosopher Derek Parfit
- The Life of George Gilder
- Richard Posner’s Legal Pragmatism
- The MLA: A History
- The Great Delusions in History Theory
- Allan Bloom: The Teacher Who Wanted Your Soul
- The Great Delusions in Literary Theory
- William K. Wimsatt Jr.: The Judge of Evidence
- Larissa MacFarquhar: The Woman Who Slows Judgment Down
- Stanley Fish: A Biography
- Hortense Spillers: The Grammar Lesson
- Paul Gilroy: A Biography
BEST POSTS:
- * The Enlightenment Wasn’t Enlightened (6-23-26)
* Mr. Burge Draws The Line (6-23-26)
* 'Improving on Democracy' (6-17-26)
* People Leak To People Who Are Fun (6-11-26)
* 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)
* The Cost of Refusing the Misunderstanding Myth (6-2-26)
* Show Me How It Travels (6-2-26)
* The Norm Explainers (6-2-26)
* Centering Marginalized Voices (6-1-26)
* What would it look like if the Washington Post put its reader first? (6-1-26)
* What would it look like if the Financial Times put its reader first? (6-1-26)
* What It Would Mean for the Los Angeles Times to Put the Reader First? (6-1-26)
* What It Would Mean for The New York Times to Put the Reader First? (6-1-26)
* Why Wembanyama Lives on the Perimeter (5-31-26)
* The Emotional Palettes Of San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco & Sacramento (5-27-26)
* The Administrative Capital: Sacramento Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* San Diego - The Quiet Republic (5-27-26)
* The Quiet Bar: San Diego Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* SF v LA Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* Why Talent Travels Poorly Between San Francisco and Los Angeles (5-27-26)
* San Francisco and Los Angeles as Rival Models of Urban Access (5-27-26)
* Social Cliques in New York, 2026 (5-25-26)
* Social Cliques in San Francisco, 2026 (5-25-26)
* The Rival Courts of Washington (5-25-26)
* The City of Private Rooms (5-25-26)
Author Archives: Luke Ford
Decoding Rabbi Shlomo Goren
Per Alliance Theory: Shlomo Goren was not just a rabbi. He was an alliance entrepreneur who fused Torah authority with state power at the founding moment of Israeli sovereignty. Goren functioned as a high-stakes bridge between the sacred and the … Continue reading
Posted in R. Shlomo Goren
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Decoding Tamar Ross
Per Alliance Theory: Tamar Ross occupies a very specific alliance niche. She is not trying to overthrow Orthodoxy, nor is she defending it in its classic rabbinic form. She functions as an internal repair technician for a stressed coalition, especially … Continue reading
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Decoding James Kugel
Per Alliance Theory: Bible scholar James Kugel’s core move was to master two alliances that normally distrust each other. He was raised Orthodox and trained deeply in traditional modes of reading Tanakh and Midrash. He knows the inside language. He … Continue reading
Posted in James Kugel, R. J. B. Soloveitchik, R. Jonathan Sacks
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Decoding Orthodoxy’s Response To Historicism
Historicism says ideas, texts, and norms are products of time and place. Orthodox Judaism has produced several durable responses. These are the main ones that actually govern institutions and people. 1. Revelation above history Torah is divine and binding regardless … Continue reading
Posted in Historicism, History, Orthodoxy
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LAT: LAFD tried to protect Bass from ‘reputational harm’ stemming from after-action report
The Los Angeles Times reports: Shortly before releasing an after-action report on the Palisades fire, the Los Angeles Fire Department issued a confidential memo detailing plans to protect Mayor Karen Bass and others from “reputational harm” in connection with the … Continue reading
Posted in Los Angeles
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Decoding The Convert
Alliance Theory says people signal loyalty to attract and retain allies. Religion is one of the oldest and most powerful alliance systems. Orthodox Judaism is a high-cost, high-demand alliance. A convert who completes an Orthodox conversion has run a gauntlet … Continue reading
Posted in Conversion, Orthodoxy
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Decoding The Loss Of Faith
Alliance Theory treats belief less as a private metaphysical conclusion and more as an alliance signal. In Orthodoxy, faith in God is not just an inner conviction. It is the glue that binds a dense, high-cost coalition with rules, rituals, … Continue reading
Posted in Orthodoxy
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Decoding Rabbi Meir Soloveichik
Per Alliance Theory: Rabbi Meir Soloveichik does not operate primarily inside the yeshiva power structure. He operates at the intersection of Orthodoxy, American conservatism, and elite policy culture. That changes the game. He is not trying to reform halachic authority … Continue reading
Posted in America, Christianity, R. Meir Soloveichik
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Decoding American Attitudes To Wealth
Written with AI: Wealth talk is alliance talk. People are not arguing about money. They are arguing about who counts as a good ally and who is a threat. Pro-billionaire admiration. This treats wealth as a hard-to-fake signal of competence … Continue reading
Posted in Alliance Theory
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Decoding First Things
First Things through Alliance Theory looks less like a journal of ideas and more like an alliance-coordination hub for a specific elite moral coalition. First Things is not trying to discover truth in a neutral sense. It is trying to … Continue reading
Posted in America
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