- 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. Ari Kahn
Decoding R. Ari Kahn
ChatGPT says: Through Alliance Theory, Rabbi Ari Kahn is best understood as an internal sovereignty defender through intellectual depth whose role is to keep Orthodox commitment serious, demanding, and non-therapeutic for people who are already inside the alliance but at … Continue reading
Posted in R. Ari Kahn
Comments Off on Decoding R. Ari Kahn
How Flexible Is Jewish Law?
Rabbi Ari Kahn tells Rabbi Jeremy Gimpel: Rabbi Kahn: “I’m not a Cohen. Neither of this would have had leadership positions in the [Temple]. So how would that leave us feeling? Off to the side. Why should the Cohen do … Continue reading
Posted in R. Ari Kahn, Torah
Comments Off on How Flexible Is Jewish Law?
Who Was The Greatest Hasidic Rebbe Ever?
In his talk “Sukkot of Glory”, Modern Orthodox Rabbi Ari Kahn says: “The Kotsker Rebbe said I do not want followers who are big tzaddikim (righteous ones). He was the greatest Hasidic rebbe ever. He shut himself up in a … Continue reading
Posted in R. Ari Kahn
Comments Off on Who Was The Greatest Hasidic Rebbe Ever?
Why Aren’t Most Jews Orthodox II?
I ask an Orthodox rabbi: “Why do you think most Jews are not Orthodox? Is the principal obstacle difficulty or expense or intellectual or moral? And what did you think of the Newsweek top 50 rabbis list?” Rabbi Ari Kahn, … Continue reading
Posted in Orthodoxy, R. Ari Kahn
Comments Off on Why Aren’t Most Jews Orthodox II?
Echoes Of Eden
Here’s a review on Rabbi Ari Kahn’s new book: Every essay addresses a new topic. This genre has been done a thousand times over yet R. Kahn’s contribution is remarkably original. Using midrash, both from standard and kabbalistic texts, he … Continue reading
Posted in R. Ari Kahn
Tagged difficult conversations, dubious legacy, echoes of eden, rabbi ari kahn, theological significance, trophy wife
Comments Off on Echoes Of Eden
Jewish Law And The Internet
Rabbi Ari Kahn writes: As in many other aspects of the “world wide web,” the search for halacha is a mixed bag. While some sites have a plethora of quality classes, lectures and articles on all aspects of Jewish thought … Continue reading
Posted in R. Ari Kahn
Tagged halachic literature, inevitable backlash, law and the internet, many other aspects, quality classes, rabbi ari kahn
Comments Off on Jewish Law And The Internet
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?
Yisroel Pensack: 40 Die in Chanukah Forest Fire in Israel in Country’s ‘Biggest and Deadliest’ Blaze
The New York Times reports: JERUSALEM — A fire raging in a northern Israel forest on Thursday has left at least 40 people dead, caused the evacuation of thousands of people, burned some kibbutz houses to the ground and prompted … Continue reading
Posted in Aish HaTorah, Circumcision, Greece, Israel, Judaism, New York Times, R. Ari Kahn, Sabbath, Torah, Yisroel Pensack
Tagged chanukah, fatal, forest fire, Givat Ze'ev, hebrew calendar, holy land, Jerusalem, Kislev, Nadav and Abihu, Rafi Alkaly, rosh chodesh, sons of Aaron, Syrian-Greek empire, Tevet
Comments Off on Yisroel Pensack: 40 Die in Chanukah Forest Fire in Israel in Country’s ‘Biggest and Deadliest’ Blaze
Should We Change Jewish Law?
A convert to Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo writes: I teach Jewish Philosophy. I am confronted daily with countless young Jews who search for an authentic Jewish religious way of life, but are unable to find spiritual satisfaction … Continue reading
Posted in R. Ari Kahn, R. Nathan Lopes Cardozo
Tagged nathan lopes cardozo, orthodox judaism, orthodox rabbi, rabbi ari kahn, rabbi kahn, rabbi nathan, religious jews, spiritual satisfaction
Comments Off on Should We Change Jewish Law?