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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)
* The City of Private Rooms (5-25-26)
Category Archives: YICC
Synagogue Website Reviews
Joe emails: I have a deviant fascination (is there any other kind?) with monitoring synagogue websites. Some are quite useful. More important than the content is the theme of the site and what it tells you about the shul. WWW.YICC.ORG … Continue reading
Posted in YICC
Tagged big leaguer, lithuanian jews, old joke, orthodox shuls, synagogue website, synagogue websites
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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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Conformity In Orthodox Judaism
Should I stay or should I go? If I go, there will be trouble. If I stay, I will be troubled. Damn phone’s not ringing. I don’t care. So you want me to repress my feelings? Just shove them right … Continue reading
Posted in Personal, Rabbis, YICC
Tagged dishonorable discharge, jewish sabbath, orthodox community, orthodox judaism, orthodox shul, rabbinical council of california, true jew
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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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I’m Tired Of The Fluffy Treatment The Jewish Journal Gives ‘Progressive’ Orthodox Judaism
The rabbis must be happy when they can have one of their own write these stories. That way they won’t be asked any tough questions. This is what I call unethical journalism — having someone you control report on you. … Continue reading
Posted in Beth Jacob, Bnai David-Judea, Daniel Korobkin, Ethics, Jewish Journal, Jewish Journalism, Modern Orthodox, Pico/Robertson, YICC
Tagged judea congregation, nai david, postville iowa, rabbi elazar, rabbi yosef, state and federal labor laws
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‘Can Anyone Grow Up To Be (Shul) President?’
I get off my sickbed Shabbos afternoon and go to this lecture. Last year, a Young Israel shul hired a graduate of the most left-wing Orthodox yeshiva (Chovevei Torah) — as its assistant rabbi. A few months later in response, … Continue reading
Posted in Modern Orthodox, YCT, YICC, Young Israel
Tagged assistant rabbi, century city, chovevei torah, converts, dr jay, halacha, Israel, israel movement, left wing, ncyi, orthodox synagogue, presidencies, presidents, private citizen, productive members, rabbi moshe feinstein, Rabbis, rosh yeshiva, screening policy, synagogue president, talmudic, weiner, woman president, Yeshiva University, young israel of toco hills, young israel synagogue
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What Do I Need To Do To Get Back Into Young Israel of Century City/Beth Jacob?
I’m sick and when I’m sick I tend to write more honestly than normal. Less bravado and more heart. Not a day goes by without my longing to return to the shuls I used to haunt. Particularly I want to … Continue reading
Posted in Beth Jacob, Personal, YICC
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