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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 Luke Ford
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- 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)
- 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
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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)
* 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: Charity
FIDF Leaders Panic As Leaked Memo Exposes Deception, Waste
The two main characters in this scandal met at the Beverly Hills Orthodox synagogue Beth Jacob — Morey Levovitz and Rabbi Steven Weil. My sources say these two haven’t changed. They were ruthless in LA, they were ruthless with Beth … Continue reading
Posted in Charity, FIDF, R. Steven Weil
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JP: Diaspora generosity is heroic, but too many of the institutions that collect our money have lost the plot, padding paychecks, upgrading seats, and hoarding cash.
Zvika Klein writes in The Jerusalem Post: Four years ago, sitting at my Makor Rishon desk with a stack of Form 990s, I stumbled on a line that made me almost fall off of my chair: The CEO of the … Continue reading
Posted in Charity
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Knick fans Stewart Rahr and Jona Rechnitz make a big score for charities
New York Daily News May 10, 2013: With the game winding down and the Knicks losing, Rechnitz asked for a consolation prize — $100,000 from Rahr if the Knicks lost, to give to charity. Stewart [Rahr] “looked at me and … Continue reading
Posted in Charity, Jews, Los Angeles, New York, Orthodoxy, Shlomo Rechnitz, Simon Wiesenthal, Yeshiva
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A Fraudulent Jewish Charity
Forward: Donors to a charity on Manhattan’s Lower East Side are claiming that they have been misled by a Jewish calendar mailed annually to thousands of homes. The calendar, illustrated with images of old bearded rabbis and filled with pleas … Continue reading
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LAT: Sterling foundation ads tout good works, but verifying them isn’t easy
As a convert to Orthodox Judaism from WASPism, I’ve noticed that Jews tend to feel pretty good about themselves. While the Protestants I grew up with were often uncomfortable with compliments, most Jews I know love compliments. They love being … Continue reading
Posted in Charity, Donald Sterling, Jews
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Yisroel Pensack: San Francisco ‘Chabad House’ Averts Foreclosure
A San Francisco Chabad center and synagogue that was recently the focus of a fund appeal letter seeking to raise $55,000 by June 9 is now “out of the foreclosure” process, according to Rabbi Ahron Hecht, the center’s director. “I am now working … Continue reading
Posted in Chabad, Charity, San Francisco, Yisroel Pensack
Tagged foreclosure, property tax, Rabbi Ahron Hecht, Richmond Torah Center
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Stealing The Charity Box
JW emails: “Hey you know this guy? This happened Monday from Fairfax Fishery.” I recognize that guy. He is one of the regulars on Pico Bl.
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Don’t Give To Beggars
Posted in Charity
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Free Loan Society Provides Nice Living For Its Director Mark Meltzer
According to this 990 2008 filing by the Jewish Free Loan Association, Executive Director Mark Meltzer brought in $250,000 that year. Five employees brought in over $60,000 each.
Posted in Charity
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