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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:
- Author Philip Gourevitch
- Joseph Telushkin: The Accountant’s Son Who Taught America Judaism
- Still the Best Hope: Why the World Needs American Values to Triumph (2012)
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- Life as a Haredi Jew
- Moral Philosopher Derek Parfit
- The Life of George Gilder
- Richard Posner’s Legal Pragmatism
- The MLA: A History
- The Great Delusions in History Theory
- Allan Bloom: The Teacher Who Wanted Your Soul
- The Great Delusions in Literary Theory
- William K. Wimsatt Jr.: The Judge of Evidence
- Larissa MacFarquhar: The Woman Who Slows Judgment Down
- Stanley Fish: A Biography
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- Harvey Cox: The Theologian Who Bet on the City
- Love is Love
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- * 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)
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* 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)
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Category Archives: Jews
Is Work A Jewish Value?
I remember Conservative rabbi Harold Kushner, in a public dialogue with Dennis Prager, said that Jews had the so-called Protestant work ethic thousands of years before there were Protestants. Is work a Jewish value? I’m looking at the Artscroll Stone … Continue reading
Posted in Jews
Tagged conservative rabbi, Dennis Prager, protestant work ethic, rabbi harold kushner, stone chumash, torah view
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Elizabeth Gilbert’s Warped Understanding Of The Bible
Elizabeth Gilbert wrote the bestseller Eat, Pray, Love. In her new book Committed, she writes on page 55: …the Old Testament is such a family-centric, stranger abhorring, genealogical extravaganza… the driving narrative always concerns the progress and tribulations of the … Continue reading
Posted in Jews
Tagged familism, family loyalties, fear of strangers, narrative drive, sacred obligation, world jesus
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May Is Jewish History Month
I haven’t met a Jew yet who gave a damn about May being Jewish History month. When you are secure in your identity, you don’t need these government proclamations to shore up your sense of self. On the other hand, … Continue reading
Posted in Jews, Race
Tagged black history month, caesar chavez day, government handouts, government proclamations, japanese american community
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Voice Of The Powerless Blames The Jewish Lobby
Lila Shahani was profiled in the Los Angeles Times earlier this month: A woman who started a blog after a deadly typhoon is an unlikely voice of the powerless. Reporting from Seoul — Call her the accidental blogger, because Lila … Continue reading
Posted in Anti-Semitism, Israel, Jews
Tagged ethnic roots, facebook friends, fidel v ramos, internet voices, lila shahani, president fidel v ramos
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Righteousness By Faith – A Road To Nowhere
I remember growing up that Seventh-Day Adventism was regarded as a demanding religion. It wanted one-tenth of your money (tithe) and one-seventh of your time (the Sabbath). Then this righteousness by faith movement swept through Adventism in the 1970s and … Continue reading
Posted in Adventist, Christianity, Dennis Prager, Jews, Personal
Tagged church of jesus christ, Dennis Prager, faith movement, how to be a good person, invisible church, jewish theologian, loma linda university, righteousness by faith, seventh day adventism
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Why Aren’t Jews Debating Believers In Jesus?
Eric Zorn blogs: The obituary — Moishe Rosen dies at 78; founder of Jews for Jesus prompts me to ask readers about something that’s long mystified and impressed me: “Given that the divinity of Jesus is the core belief of … Continue reading
Posted in Christianity, Jews, Judaism
Tagged aryeh kaplan, counterpoint books, David Klinghoffer, gil student, jews for jesus, moishe rosen
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Make Heather Pink’s Dreams Come True
Click here for her Amazon.com wish list. I met Heather Pink and her boyfriend Andrew Parker in Tampa Bay between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur of 2005. We were at the “Tampa Show”, an informal gathering of Shakespeare scholars. I … Continue reading
Posted in Jews, Personal, Pornography
Tagged Brandeis University, noel ashman, real estate investor, reform synagogue, rosh hashanah and yom kippur, shakespeare scholars
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God Is Not One
When speaking to Jews and Christians, Dennis Prager often says that if you served Jews and Christians equally unripe cantaloupe, Jews would complain more because Jews don’t think suffering is good while Christians view suffering as Christlike. Christianity encourages a … Continue reading
Posted in Christianity, Dennis Prager, Jews, Religion
Tagged book god, culture of complaint, Dennis Prager, differences matter, stephen prothero, torah portion
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Is ‘Trauma’ Goyisha Thinking?
As I review the entire corpus of Judaic literature in my head, I can’t find much about trauma. I wonder if trauma is goyisha thinking (outside of Torah and hence has no validity)? I remember moving to the United States … Continue reading
Posted in Abuse, Jews, Marc B. Shapiro, Personal
Tagged average gpa, mongers, moving to the united states, orthodox community, pyschologists, religious issue, sexual abuse, Torah, validity
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