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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:
- Tournier on Desmond Ford
- The Borrowed Robe: How Antisemitism Dresses in Each Age’s Virtue
- The Fence and the Blessing: How Jews Have Thought About Gentiles
- A Place For You
- Tournier on Luke Ford
- Tournier on The Nostradamus Kid
- An Alliance Theory of Antisemitism
- Tournier on Cinema Paradiso and Desmond Ford
- The Self-Hating Jew
- The Alliance Theory in the Academy
- 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)
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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)
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Category Archives: Bnai David-Judea
Homosexuality And Orthodox Judaism
From my coverage of this past weekend’s LimmudLA: Sunday. Feb. 14, 2010. 4 p.m. Judaism and Homosexuality: An Orthodox Conversation Many assume that Orthodox leaders are uniformly unwelcoming of gays and lesbians, but Orthodox communities are far from monolithic. Join … Continue reading
Posted in Bnai David-Judea, Homosexuality, Limmud, R. Yosef Kanefsky
Tagged judaism and homosexuality, nyu press, orthodox rabbi, rabbi yosef, transgender jews, trembling before god
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What Is Your Shul’s Vision?
What is Shalhevet’s vision? It is the one Orthodox high school school in Los Angeles where boys and girls receive the identical education. Its mixture of Lawrence Kohlberg and Orthodox Judaism is highly un-Orthodox. I’ve never met a Shalhevet student … Continue reading
Posted in Beth Jacob, Bnai David-Judea, YICC
Tagged Beth Jacob, lawrence kohlberg, orthodox judaism, orthodox shul, simon wiesenthal center, YICC
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Pico-Robertson In The 1960s
It was populated with faux yeshivas to get Orthodox Jews out of the Vietnam draft. By 1980, there were only two Orthodox synagogues in the community — Young Israel of South Beverly Hills and Beth Jacob. There wasn’t a kosher … Continue reading
Posted in Beth Jacob, Bnai David-Judea, Hancock Park, Haredi, Harkham Hillel, Pico/Robertson, R. Kalman Topp, YICC
Tagged Abner Weiss, Beth Jacob, orthodox shul, orthodox synagogues, rabbi maurice lamm, vietnam draft, YICC, Young Israel
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Size Matters!
Outside Orthodox shul Bnai David-Judea, I spotted this big billboard: "SIZE MATTERS! Largest jackpots in LA. Larry Flynt’s Hustler Casino Los Angeles."
Posted in Bnai David-Judea
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Eternal Judaism
Joe emails: I seriously find major fault with Bnai David. The use of time and money to feed the local homeless population, which are mostly psychotics (any sane homeless person lives by the beach in Venice Santa Monica) is a … Continue reading
Posted in Bnai David-Judea, Germany, Haredi, Homeless, Modern Orthodox, Orthodoxy, Pico/Robertson
Tagged darth vader, free train rides, local private schools, rabbi samson raphael hirsch, samson raphael hirsch, worst case scenario
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Modern Orthodoxy Vs Right-Wing Orthodoxy
Joe emails: You can tell the difference between Modern Orthodoxy and more Right Wing Old School Orthodoxy by looking at synagogue websites. Bnai David Judea is this high powered modern orthodox synagogue – it has women on the board, it … Continue reading
Posted in Bnai David-Judea, Haredi, Modern Orthodox, Orthodoxy, Pico/Robertson
Tagged bell curves, black hats, orthodox synagogue, synagogue websites, tons of kids, torah study
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In 20 Years, The Haredim Will Dominate Pico-Robertson
Los Angeles has little culture of Torah learning (except among the Haredim aka the traditional Orthodox). There are only two first-rate Modern Orthodox Torah scholars in Los Angeles — rabbis Yehuda Bukspan and David Rue. L.A.’s Modern Orthodox shuls don’t … Continue reading
Posted in Abner Weiss, Anshe Emes, Beth Jacob, Bnai David-Judea, Modern Orthodox, Nachum Sauer, Orthodox Union, Orthodoxy, R. David Rue, R. Kalman Topp, R. Yehuda Bukspan, YICC
Tagged Beth Jacob, marriage prospects, orthodox shuls, rabbi search, torah scholar, torah scholars, touro college
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If Rav Schachter Says March, They March
I was fascinated by the Meir Kin case. Not the messy details of the divorce, but the side issue of three Modern Orthodox shuls in Pico-Robertson repeatedly sending their members to picket outside the home of Meir Kin’s parents. I … Continue reading
Posted in Beth Jacob, Bnai David-Judea, Dennis Prager, Meir Kin, Personal, YICC
Tagged Beth Jacob, filthy pervert, messy divorce, orthodox shuls, rabbinical council of california, samson raphael hirsch
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Is Bnai David-Judea Isolated?
It’s on the most modern (left-wing a la R. Avi Weiss) wing of Orthodox Judaism. It led the way with women’s prayer groups and showing the documentary Trembling Before God. It had a woman (Reb Mimi Feigelson) lead kiddish for … Continue reading
Posted in Bnai David-Judea
Tagged growth curve, head rabbi, orthodox judaism, orthodox synagogue, rabbi yosef, trembling before god
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Did Meir Kin Refuse To Give His Wife A Divorce?
Mort emails: "Ok, I read your protest about Kin not wanting to give a Get. I’m confused now. Is he the problem, or is she the one causing problems?" From Beth Jacob: To the Los Angeles Jewish Community, ORA: The … Continue reading
Posted in Beth Jacob, Bnai David-Judea, Divorce, Meir Kin, Pico/Robertson, RCC, YICC
Tagged Beth Jacob, community rally, fellow congregants, protest rally, rabbi moshe, rabbinical council of california, taanit esther
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