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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:
- 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: Conversion
Leanne’s Story – A Black Girl’s Journey To Judaism
I chatted with Leanne via a Youtube hangout this afternoon. WARNING: The sound quality is poor. Leanne grew up in the Church of England in north-west London near Gulders Green. Around age 13, she became fascinated by Jews and started … Continue reading
Posted in Blacks, Conversion
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I Still Call Australia Home
I was working an office job and playing this collection of Australian folk songs over and over until I had tears in my eyes. The Peter Allen song, “I Still Call Australia Home,” killed me, particularly this stanza: Someday we’ll … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Conversion, Personal
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Jews & Racism
An Orthodox Jewish friend says to me: “We’re not racists. We’re bigots. We prefer people who are part of Judaism to those outside of it.” Luke: “But if Jews are a race, which was how Jews were referred to a … Continue reading
Posted in Blacks, Conversion, Judaism, Race
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What’s It Like When A Family Member Converts To Judaism?
Is it any different for those left behind if the black sheep had become Catholic or Buddhist or Muslim? Does it feel like a diss of the family? I meet a lot of people who convert to Judaism, but I … Continue reading
Posted in Conversion, Judaism, Personal
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The complex, secret path to becoming an Orthodox Jew
Jewish Journal: Esther lives in the Pico-Robertson area with her Israeli-born husband and three children. She wears long skirts, speaks fluent Hebrew and has mastered the use of a fedora as a head covering when she goes to synagogue. But … Continue reading
Posted in Conversion, Orthodoxy
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David Suissa: ‘Israeli religious court goes off the deep end’
“Going off the deep end” is one of the things we say when people act differently from what we want. We also say they’re “sick” or “evil” or that they have “betrayed” us. In reality, different people have different interests. … Continue reading
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Who Is a Jew? Maybe Not Woman Converted by Esteemed New York Rabbi
I laugh that the article calls Rabbi Haskel Lookstein “esteemed.” Esteemed by who? Like all major rabbis, he has people who esteem him and people who loathe him. Everything is a matter of perspective. New York Times: JERUSALEM — Critics … Continue reading
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A Conservative Converts To Sufi Islam
Michael van der Galien writes in 2009: Most regular readers of Poligazette will know by now that I’m a Muslim, specially drawn to Sufi Islam (which doesn’t make me very popular among fundamentalists, to put it mildly). Fortunately, any time … Continue reading
Posted in Conversion, Islam
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Yisro, Pablo Escobar, and A Coming Wave of New Converts
Rabbi Yitzhok Adlerstein writes: Colleagues in Dallas (otherwise known as the buckle of the Bible Belt) report a greater number of applicants who left full-blown involvement with other faiths because they came to reject their assumptions and underpinnings. While many … Continue reading
Posted in Conversion, Orthodoxy
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100 Africans Convert To Judaism On Island Of Madagascar
As Israel gets richer, people around the world decide to become Jewish. Forward: More than 100 men and women converted to Judaism in Madagascar this month, a historic first for the large island nation off the southeast coast of Africa. … Continue reading
Posted in Africa, Conversion, Judaism
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