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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)
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Category Archives: Mark Oppenheimer
UNDERSTANDING THE MARC GAFNI STORY, PART II
Mark Oppenheimer writes for Tabletmag.com: Gafni’s also has defenders in the New Age world. My article in the Times quoted Gafni supporters Ken Wilber and Sally Kempton defending him on various grounds having to do with his nature, or his … Continue reading
Posted in Marc Gafni, Mark Oppenheimer
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A Spiritual Leader Gains Stature, Trailed by a Troubled Past
Mark Oppenheimer writes for the New York Times: PACIFIC GROVE, Calif. — In his home office overlooking Monterey Bay, Marc Gafni is trying to remake American spirituality. He reads, he writes, and he works to bring a little-known philosophy called … Continue reading
Posted in Marc Gafni, Mark Oppenheimer
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TabletMag Investigates Holocaust Deniers
I rewrote this post in April 2026. Mark Oppenheimer begins his 2009 four-part series: “In his long lifetime, James von Brunn—the 88-year-old who earlier this month allegedly shot and killed United States Holocaust Memorial Museum guard Stephen Johns—managed to embody … Continue reading
Posted in Anti-Semitism, Holocaust, Mark Oppenheimer
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I wish I knew where the writer was coming from
Mark Oppenheimer begins: “I had an odd reaction to reading The New York Times obituary of Willis Carto, the tediously loathsome elder statesman of the American anti-Semitic right. He died last Monday at his home in Virginia, leaving behind a … Continue reading
Posted in Anti-Semitism, Mark Oppenheimer
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Rebbe: The Life and Teachings of Menachem M. Schneerson, the Most Influential Rabbi in Modern History
I am sure this new Joseph Telushkin book is a fun read but I don’t trust its scholarship. “One of the greatest religious biographies ever written. Generations from now, Rebbe will be read by people of every faith.” (Dennis Prager, … Continue reading
Posted in Chabad, Mark Oppenheimer, R. Joseph Telushkin
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Eyal Press Considers Courage in ‘Beautiful Souls’
Mark Oppenheimer writes in the New York Times about a new book: Paul Grüninger was a state police officer in St. Gallen, in northeast Switzerland, who voted conservative and sang in the church choir. He was not a worldly man, … Continue reading
Posted in Israel, Mark Oppenheimer
Tagged immigration restrictions, israeli defense force, jewish refugees, mark oppenheimer, northeast switzerland, serbian soldier, state police officer
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