- 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: James Kugel
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
Comments Off on Decoding James Kugel
Is James Kugel Orthodox?
James Kugel is a famous Bible scholar who takes unorthodox approaches to understanding the origins of the Torah. Dr. Marc B. Shapiro says in a 2007 lecture for Torah in Motion on Rabbi David Zvi Hoffman: “The idea that the … Continue reading
Posted in Bible, James Kugel, Marc B. Shapiro
Tagged bible scholar, James kugel, louis finkelstein, Marc B. Shapiro, shomer, torah in motion, umberto cassuto, unorthodox approaches
Comments Off on Is James Kugel Orthodox?
Providing Moral Leadership To A Kid At A Chareidi Yeshiva
yeshivaboy: hey luke, i have a quick question, did you find out about the documentary hypothesis before or after your conversion YourMoralLeader: as a child YourMoralLeader: my dad has a phd in bible yeshivaboy: and you converted anyway YourMoralLeader: yep … Continue reading
Posted in Haredi, James Kugel, Marc B. Shapiro, Modern Orthodox, Orthodoxy, Personal, Rabbis
Tagged Dennis Prager, documentary hypothesis, James kugel, marc shapiro, orthodox judaism, torah in motion
Comments Off on Providing Moral Leadership To A Kid At A Chareidi Yeshiva
Is Bible Scholar James Kugel A Heretic?
Daniel writes on Hirhurim: Some comments seemed to indicate that Professor Kugel is Shomer Mitzvos. However, if he does not believe in Torah min HaShamayim, then I do not see how he can fully believe (if at all) that the … Continue reading
Posted in James Kugel
Tagged bachur, bible scholar, frum skeptics, intellectual system, sefer hayashar, yisro
Comments Off on Is Bible Scholar James Kugel A Heretic?
Reconsidering Bible Scholar James Kugel
From Hirhurim: R. Dr. Moshe Bernstein, a Professor of Bible at Yeshiva College, writes a very eloquent (and surprisingly forceful) opinion piece on the Kugel incident (link) in the current issue of The Commentator (link): Why Lines Need to be … Continue reading
Posted in James Kugel
Tagged bible scholar, Hirhurim, James kugel, professional colleague, yeshiva college, Yeshiva University
Comments Off on Reconsidering Bible Scholar James Kugel
James Kugel – Heretic?
Dr. Kugel, Bible scholar, was the target of a well-received (in Orthodox circles) pamphlets warning Orthodox parents about the dangers of sending their kids to secular universities. Anyone who thinks that Modernity and Orthodoxy are compatible is not Modernity and … Continue reading
Posted in James Kugel
Tagged bible scholar, critical scholarship, James kugel, orthodox circles, orthodox judaism, orthodox rabbis
Comments Off on James Kugel – Heretic?