- 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:
- After the Kings: Ben Fordham and the Remaking of 2GB Breakfast
- The Entertainer’s Exemption: John Laws and the Price of Trust
- What the Record Shows: David Marr and the Uses of Evidence
- Peopling the Emptiness: The Life of Patrick White
- Crossing Lines: Nick McKenzie and the Limits of Method
- Australian Investigative Journalist Chris Masters: The Man Who Saw In
- The Unwinder: George Packer and the Study of American Decline
- Thomas Edsall: The Reporter Who Treated Politics as a System
- Ross Douthat and the Persistence of Belief
- Joseph Kahn and the Stewardship of The New York Times
- The Institutionalist: Dean Baquet and the Remaking of American Journalism
- The Publisher Always Wins – A Jill Abramson Biography
- Howard Zinn – The Historian Who Took Sides
- Linton Besser: A Reporter and the Paper Trail
- Gerald Stone and the Making of Australian Current Affairs
- Paul Barry: A Chronicler of Australian Power
- The Dean of Revolutionary Scholarship: Gordon S. Wood, 1933-2026
- The Last Generalist: Bob Ellis and Australian Public Life
- WEHT to Investigative Journalism?
- The Genius Myth: The Dangerous Allure of Rebels, Monsters and Rule-Breakers
BEST POSTS:
* American Epistemics (1-19-26)
* The Most Socially Toxic Inconvenient Truths (1-18-26)
* The Luke Ford Genre (1-18-26)
* The Filkins Pivot: Legacy Prestige and the Fracturing of the Chattering Class (1-16-26)
* Decoding The Trump Doctrine (1-4-26)
* If Tatiana Schlossberg were “Tatiana Smith” (12-30-25)
* ‘I’m So Trained’: How The Credential Society Burned Down the Palisades (12-28-25)
* Status Closure and The Lost Generation (12-25-25)
* The Bondi Massacre (12-15-25)
* Sydney Jews Learn That Their Aussie Social Contract Has Become A Suicide Pact (12-15-25)
* Terror in Sydney: Analyzing the “Chanukah by the Sea” Massacre (12-14-25)
* Decoding Nick Fuentes (11-2-25)
* The Landscape of Emotional Sobriety (10-29-30)
* The Rise & Fall Of Air Supply (10-19-25)
* No Kings, No Results: How Elite Pride Replaced Real Progress (10-19-25)
* You Are An Important Soldier In A Great War (9-7-25)
* The Revolt Of The Masses (8-31-25)
* The Covenant of Ashwood (8-24-25)
* If you can’t trust central bankers, then who can you trust? (8-23-25)
* Why Is The Elite Media Singing From The Same Hymnal About The Trump-Putin Summit? (8-17-25)
* Why Do Smart News Operations Sound So Uniformly Dumb So Often? (8-16-25)
* Nobody Is Coming (8-10-25)
* When Elites Restrict Our Speech, It’s Because They Love Truth, Freedom & Democracy (8-3-25)
Category Archives: Yisroel Pensack
Yisroel Pensack: Berkeley Orthodox Mohel Chanan Feld Dies of Oral Cancer at 53
I received this email this afternoon from the Berkeley Beit Midrash Ohr HaChaim, which was co-founded by Chanan Feld and his wife and another couple: Chanan Velvel Simcha ben Eliahu, Rabbi Feld, our precious teacher and beloved friend, left the … Continue reading
Yisroel Pensack: Succot Message From Berkeley Mohel
Berkeley-based Orthodox rabbi and mohel Chanan Feld, who is unable to work or speak due to complications of oral cancer, has issued a message for the Succot holiday that starts tonight. Succot is often called the Harvest holiday. But what … Continue reading
Yisroel Pensack: The New York Times Reports On Senator’s Aid To An Aide
The New York Times is currently running this headline on its home page: "Senator’s Aid After Affair Raises Ethics Flag". The sentence on the home page under that headline says, "Experts say Senator John Ensign may have violated ethics laws … Continue reading
Yisroel Pensack: San Francisco Orthodox Shul Plans $4.5 Million Building Renovation and Partial Redesign
Congregation Chevra Thilim, which describes itself as "San Francisco’s oldest Orthodox congregation," has launched a $4.5 million fundraising drive to renovate, partially redesign and upgrade its large sanctuary and social hall. The project also includes plans for new classrooms as … Continue reading
Yisroel Pensack: Imagine The Difference — If They Had All Just First Taken The Time To Read This Book
I wonder if this book and these three articles will now become required reading for animal lab technicians and researchers at Yale University and graduate students at Columbia University.
Yisroel Pensack: The New York Times Shows Uncanny Timing With Sunday Travel Story On Mountain Climbing In The Himalayas
"It was 4 a.m. in mid-November, and I was stretching in a lodge in Thorong Phedi, Nepal, at 14,500 feet, trying to pump warmth back into my body and get rid of a throbbing headache brought on by dehydration and … Continue reading
Yisroel Pensack: Northern California Mohel Who Cannot Speak Issues Yom Kippur Message
Rabbi Chanan Feld, longtime San Francisco Bay Area mohel and a Torah teacher based at Beit Midrash Ohr HaChaim in Berkeley, has been seriously ill with oral cancer. According to an email I just received from the Beit Midrash, "Though he … Continue reading
Yisroel Pensack: “Industrial Strength” Global Fundraising By Chabad For The New Year 5770
At first, I thought the return address said "CHABAD OF CRIME A" in Brooklyn, so I was wondering: What is the difference between "Crime A" and "Crime B", and what crimes do they stand for? Then when I opened the … Continue reading
Yisroel Pensack: Berkeley Mohel Battling Oral Cancer Wrote Rosh Hashanah Poem
This poem by the seriously ill mohel and Torah teacher Rabbi Chanan Feld was read to his Beit Midrash Ohr HaChaim congregation in Berkeley by his wife Jody on Rosh Hashanah: Rosh HaShanah words from Rabbi Chanan Feld [HaRav Chanan … Continue reading
Yisroel Pensack: Leonard Cohen Should Have Been In Shul For Rosh Hashanah
The next time you want to persuade your friends or your kids to go to shul on Rosh Hashanah, you can tell them what happened to singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen on Friday. According to a Reuters report in The New York … Continue reading