- https://PayPal.Me/lukeisback
"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:
- Dennis Prager v Cedars-Sinai Lawsuit
- Dennis Prager Through Randall Collins: Interaction Ritual Chains
- What is a ‘Received Idea’?
- Jordan Bardella: The Manufacture of Normality
- Everyone Became Television: Bourdieu’s Warning and the 2026 Iran War
- Marine Le Pen
- The Coalition-Proximity Rule
- Nigel Farage
- Bernard Haykel: A Life Between the Text and the Gun
- Walker Connor (1926-2017)
- Benedict Anderson and the Nation as Imagination
- Anthony D. Smith: The Student Who Kept the Question and Rejected the Answer
- Ernest Gellner
- Eric Kaufmann: The Man Who Made the Majority Visible
- Dominic Cummings: A Biography
- Steve Lopez: The Last City Columnist
- California Historian Kevin Starr
- Stephen Kotkin: A Life in Power
- William T. Vollmann: An American Life in Excess
- Rod Dreher: A Life in Exile
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)
Category Archives: R. Shmuel Herzfeld
Decoding Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld
ChatGPT says: Through Alliance Theory, Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld is best understood as a boundary-reframing challenger whose project is to redefine what counts as legitimate Orthodox authority by shifting the balance from inherited enforcement to moral credibility and pastoral inclusion. He … Continue reading
Posted in R. Shmuel Herzfeld
Comments Off on Decoding Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld
Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld: ‘Donald Trump is wicked. As a rabbi, I had to protest his AIPAC speech.’
From his op/ed in the Washington Post: This Purim, we Jews must not bow down and kneel to a man who inspires hatred. As a rabbi of an Orthodox congregation in Washington, I am a strong supporter of Israel and … Continue reading
Posted in Donald Trump, R. Shmuel Herzfeld
Comments Off on Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld: ‘Donald Trump is wicked. As a rabbi, I had to protest his AIPAC speech.’
Is is proper to celebrate when a wicked person dies?
I love this issue because it separates Torah scholars from pretend Torah scholars. Anyone who says that the Torah prevents us from celebrating the death of a terrorist is a pretend Torah scholar and a fool. Most congregational rabbis have … Continue reading
Posted in Orthodoxy, R. Ari Kahn, R. Shmuel Herzfeld
Tagged angel of death, crossing the sea, navy seals, rabbi ari kahn, rabbi shmuel, wicked person
Comments Off on Is is proper to celebrate when a wicked person dies?
Shmuel Herzfeld – A Gay-Friendly Orthodox Rabbi
James Kirchick writes: Unlike most Orthodox synagogues, some of those congregants at Ohev Sholom are gay and don’t feel pressured into keeping that fact a secret with their rabbi or fellow worshipers. This is of course in large part attributable … Continue reading
Posted in Homosexuality, Personal, R. Shmuel Herzfeld
Tagged fellow worshipers, herzfeld, orthodox rabbi, orthodox synagogues, rabbinical scholar, same sex attraction
Comments Off on Shmuel Herzfeld – A Gay-Friendly Orthodox Rabbi
Remembering Slain Israeli Gays
Is there any hip ethical movement in Modern Orthdooxy that Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld is not a leader of? JTA reports: WASHINGTON (JTA) — An Orthodox rabbi spoke out against anti-gay rhetoric in the Orthodox community at a Washington vigil mourning … Continue reading
Posted in Homosexuality, Israel, Orthodoxy, R. Shmuel Herzfeld, Rabbis
Tagged candlelight vigil, gays and lesbians, internal accounting, orthodox rabbi, rabbi shmuel, two jews
Comments Off on Remembering Slain Israeli Gays
Rabbi Shmuel Hertzfeld & Open Orthodoxy
Joe emails: I think that you should run a piece on Rabbi Shmuel Hertzfeld. His time has come, since he is a quasi-celeb. Without any previous knowledge, you might think Hertzfeld is some kind of activist, a modern day Heschel … Continue reading
Posted in R. Shmuel Herzfeld
Tagged avi weiss, hebrew institute, hertzfeld, rabbi shmuel, rare commodity, yeshivat chovevei torah
Comments Off on Rabbi Shmuel Hertzfeld & Open Orthodoxy