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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:
- 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: Synagogue
Finding A Shul In The San Fernando Valley
Sara* emails: Mr. Ford, Since your website is so comprehensive and otherwise helpful in navigating Jewish LA, I thought I would take a chance and ask you if you know of anything interesting going on at any shul in the … Continue reading
Posted in San Fernando Valley, Synagogue
Tagged Chabad, minyan, shaarei tzedek, shul, shuls
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The Synagogue In America: A Short History by Marc Lee Raphael
This is a superb new book. I just picked it up at the library and I can’t put it down. It has lots of stories about Los Angeles in general and Pico-Robertson in particular. On page 95, professor Raphael writes: … Continue reading
Posted in Blacks, Conservative Judaism, Modern Orthodox, Orthodoxy, Pico/Robertson, Reform Judaism, Synagogue
Tagged ashkenazic jews, marc lee raphael, milk of human kindness, reform rabbis, sephardic congregations, sephardic jews
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Dangerous Man Haunts Synagogues, Jewish Community Centers
The Jewish Journal says: “The police report says that the man “is known to frequent synagogues and Jewish Community Centers in search of charity from patrons.” Many of the people who come to shul seeking charity act like wackos. They … Continue reading
Posted in Synagogue
Tagged gas blast, jewish community centers, law enforcement agencies, law enforcement officials, law enforcement sources, santa monica police
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Aish HaTorah Los Angeles
My Los Angeles synagogue guide in time for Rosh Hashanah:
Posted in Aish HaTorah, Synagogue
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New Valley Village Shul
Joe emails: This is the new (well, it is more than a year old) quasi black hat shul in the valley for those valley-ites who wish they could be in La Brea but cannot afford the cost of a house … Continue reading
Posted in Synagogue
Tagged black hat, cognitive dissonance, fart jokes, ordination of women, orthodox shul, prayer group, same sex relationships, stark contrast, village shul
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Toras HaShem Is Now Young Israel Of Valley Village
Jeff emails: Did you hear that Rabbi Zvi Block is negotiating selling his shul Toras HaShem for 1.2mil $ to Yeshivas Ner Aryeh? Joe emails: “It would be an incredible power play by the right wing in the valley. Toras … Continue reading
Posted in Synagogue
Tagged aryeh, black hats, hashem, orthodox shuls, toras, yeshivas
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Neal Dublinsky ZT”L
I’m eating lunch at 12:20 p.m. today in front of my desktop computer and surfing around Facebook when I chance upon this announcement on a friend’s page: “BARUCH DAYAN HA EMES: Our Beloved Friend NEIL DUBLINSKY (“Neil Dee” on Facebook) … Continue reading
Posted in Synagogue
Tagged Beth Jacob, beverly hills ca, brilliant lawyer, Facebook, fancy suits, friend neil, judith shulevitz, nervous habit, olympic blvd, rabbi moshe
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‘We’ve Got To Get You A Wife’
Until a Jewish community tries to get you a wife, you’re not really a part of it. You may attend its functions but you’re not part of the community. At various stops in my Jewish journey, I’ve become part of … Continue reading
Posted in Synagogue
Tagged jewish community, jewish journey, Jews, Matchmaking, tallit
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The Young Shul
Email: “Hello, I really like your blog, especially your review of synagogues. I too am a convert to Judaism… I was wondering if you would recommend a few synagogues (preferably Conservative or Reform) with a good community and younger membership … Continue reading
Posted in Los Angeles, Synagogue
Tagged blog, conservative shul, Jews, Judaism, synagogues
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The Richer The Shul, The Colder
My theory is that rich people feel less of a need to reach out to strangers and to make them feel welcome. Instead, they are used to people clambering for their attention. Perhaps a big part of the reason that … Continue reading
Posted in Synagogue
Tagged churches, proportion, religious beliefs, shul, synagogues
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