- 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:
- Tanner Greer
- Economist Tyler Cowen
- Richard Reeves: A Life in Institutions
- Jake Adelstein: The Reporter Who Became His Story
- Jim Goad (1961-2026)
- Moira Greyland
- Robert Oscar Lopez: The Inconvenient Witness
- Two Ledgers: Decoding the Gurus and the Price of Talk
- The Pervert’s Progress: Costin Vlad Alamariu and the Making of Bronze Age Pervert
- Curtis Yarvin: A Life Against Democracy
- Mark Helprin: Against the Current
- Mark Brandt: The Man Who Asked Who Else Is Prejudiced
- John T. Jost: The Psychologist of Acquiescence
- Strange Bedfellows in the Academy: Alliance Theory and the Straussian Schism
- Tournier on Desmond Ford
- The Fence and the Blessing: How Jews Have Thought About Gentiles
- Tournier on Luke Ford
- Tournier on The Nostradamus Kid
- An Alliance Theory of Antisemitism
- Tournier on Cinema Paradiso and Desmond Ford
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: Modern Orthodox
Half Of Modern Orthodox Teens Text On Shabbos
The addiction to texting is so severe among Modern Orthodox kids that about half of them text on Shabbos according to this Jewish Week article. This is a really big deal because texting on Shabbos violates the Sabbath and more … Continue reading
Posted in Modern Orthodox
Tagged cardinal law, jewish observance, jewish week, sabbath observance, shabbat experience
Comments Off on Half Of Modern Orthodox Teens Text On Shabbos
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
Comments Off on The Synagogue In America: A Short History by Marc Lee Raphael
The Greening Of American Orthodox Judaism: Yavneh in the 1960s by Benny Kraut
I first heard about this new book in an exciting review by Lawrence Grossman: Orthodoxy is the only form of Judaism that is exuding self-confidence, that holds its own demographically, and whose children, for the most part, are steeped in … Continue reading
Posted in Modern Orthodox, Orthodoxy
Tagged american orthodoxy, cultural isolation, endangered species list, judaic studies department, Lawrence Grossman, queens college in new york
Comments Off on The Greening Of American Orthodox Judaism: Yavneh in the 1960s by Benny Kraut
Problems In Modern Orthodoxy
Gadi Pickholz emails: In Baltimore, the Rambam Academy has closed completely. In Phoenix, the two major modern orthodox schools have merged. In the Silicon Valley, one of the main schools has closed. Even in LA there are serious problems necessitating … Continue reading
Posted in Modern Orthodox
Tagged attrition rate, chief rabbi, enormous void, mainstream market, observant jews, sudden influx
Comments Off on Problems In Modern Orthodoxy
30G Modern Orthodox Girl Sells Out Sabbath In Two Seconds
I fear that Modern Orthodoxy is in trouble. This girl Esther Petrack with the 30G chest was willing to show it off on national TV and then gives up the Sabbath to be a model. I wonder if I could … Continue reading
Posted in Modern Orthodox
Tagged 34d, Benyamin Cohen, enormous breasts, huffington post, jewish girl, magazine writer, orthodox jew, orthodox judaism, queen esther, sabbath observance, seeming inability, taking a turn
Comments Off on 30G Modern Orthodox Girl Sells Out Sabbath In Two Seconds
The Drift Is Over?
Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky writes for the Jewish Journal: The recently released Statement of Principles concerning homosexuals within the Orthodox community has gotten a great deal of notice, both here and in Israel. The document was authored primarily by my dear … Continue reading
Posted in Homosexuality, Modern Orthodox, Orthodoxy, R. Yosef Kanefsky, Rape
Tagged explicit articulation, helfgot, homosexual orientation, orthodox rabbis, paradigm shift, rabbi yosef, vanilla sex
Comments Off on The Drift Is Over?
Will Bnai David-Judea Follow Suit?
Bnai David is the most liberal Orthodox shul on the West Coast. I wonder if it will copy these developments in New York? My yetzer hara says: “Do you remember Lamelle from when she was at Bnai David? She has … Continue reading
Posted in Bnai David-Judea, Modern Orthodox
Tagged hebrew institute of riverdale, kabbalat shabbat, mail letter, orthodox shul, orthodox synagogues, rabbi avi weiss
Comments Off on Will Bnai David-Judea Follow Suit?
Chabad – Judaism With Muscles
I’ve gone a lot to Chabad shuls over the past few months and they’re totally different from the Modern Orthodox shuls I am used to. For one thing, many of the Chabadniks I meet have muscles. Few Modern Orthodox Jews … Continue reading
Posted in Chabad, Modern Orthodox
Tagged chabad judaism, chabadnik, Modern Orthodox, orthodox jews, orthodox shuls, professional code of conduct
Comments Off on Chabad – Judaism With Muscles
Lonely Man Of Faith
I’m every bit as lonely in my faith as the Rav Joseph Ber Soloveitchik but at least I don’t go around developing fancy philosophical systems based on my dysfunction. I’ve done some bad things in my life. I even directed … Continue reading
Posted in Modern Orthodox, Personal, R. J. B. Soloveitchik
Tagged fellow jew, intellectual circles, intellectual masturbation, man of faith, Modern Orthodox, traditional jewish life
Comments Off on Lonely Man Of Faith