- 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:
- Robert Putnam: The Man Who Counted What America Lost
- W. Bradford Wilcox: The Sociologist Who Tells America to Get Married
- Peter Moskos: The Cop Who Talks to People
- Julius Krein
- Ryan Burge: The Numbers Man in the Empty Church
- Emily Oster: The Economist in the Delivery Room
- The Most Ridiculous Story Ever Told
- 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
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
Los Angeles Has Its Own Barry Freundel
The Modern Orthodox rabbi arrested in Washington DC yesterday on charges of voyeurism has a long history of accusations reported to rabbinic organizations about his improper behavior with women, similar to Rabbi Abner Weiss in Westwood. Rabbi Weiss is still … Continue reading
Posted in Abuse, Conversion, Rabbis, RCA, RCC
Comments Off on Los Angeles Has Its Own Barry Freundel
The Terrible Beauty Of The Evil Man
The first time I was given a link to this memoir by Finis Leavell Beauchamp about his conversion to Orthodox Judaism from evangelical Christianity, and I saw the cover and the title, I wanted to keep the book at arm’s … Continue reading
Posted in Conversion
Comments Off on The Terrible Beauty Of The Evil Man
Converting To Judaism To Raise Your Social Status
“Orthodox Jew” is a prestigious status and the convert gets to claim it upon passing through the process (which is usually less work than getting an AA degree). I notice among many converts (including myself) and would-be converts to Judaism … Continue reading
Posted in Conversion
Comments Off on Converting To Judaism To Raise Your Social Status
Advice For A Black Transgender Convert To Judaism
Gavriel emails: Good Afternoon Luke, I was looking at your youtube video regarding Judaism and conversion and I wanted to ask you a few questions. What is the best way for someone to go about converting? I am a FTM … Continue reading
Posted in Conversion
Comments Off on Advice For A Black Transgender Convert To Judaism
Gone Tribal
There’s nothing so beautiful that it cannot be perverted and debased and ultimately used for evil. Love is great, but sometimes love leads to murder. Marriage is great, but sometimes marriage leads to murder. Religion is great, but sometimes religion … Continue reading
Posted in Conversion, Jews, Personal
Comments Off on Gone Tribal
How Do You Convert To Judaism If You Are Painfully Shy?
When you convert to Judaism, you not only are converting to a religion and to a way of life, you are converting to a specific people with strong genetic ties to each other. The single most important challenge in converting … Continue reading
Posted in Conversion, Judaism
Comments Off on How Do You Convert To Judaism If You Are Painfully Shy?
Suspicion Of Converts
I was reading some commentary on the Torah portion of Pinchas and the commentators such as Rashi say that Pinchas was assailed by his peers for descending from a convert (Yitro) and therefore his actions came out of self-seeking impure … Continue reading
Posted in Conversion, Marc B. Shapiro
Comments Off on Suspicion Of Converts
Converting To Judaism
From a series of my FB posts: The ethnic tribal national peoplehood component of Judaism took me the longest time to get (as compared to the Torah and God components, which seemed self-evident). I remember walking into temple for the … Continue reading
Posted in Conversion, Personal
Comments Off on Converting To Judaism
Orthodox Jewish Law Courts In LA Forbid Potential Converts From Jewish Social Events
A few months ago, almost all of LA’s Orthodox Batei Din (Jewish law courts) for conversion agreed with the Rabbinical Council of California‘s (RCC) decision to forbid those in the process of converting to Judaism from going to Jewish social … Continue reading
Posted in Conversion, R. David Rue, RCC
Comments Off on Orthodox Jewish Law Courts In LA Forbid Potential Converts From Jewish Social Events