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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)
Tag Archives: davening
Sex In Jerusalem
"Nobody ***** in Jerusalem," says my friend Josh*. "They bring redemption. "You’ve heard of Jerusalem Complex? People go to the Wall and they think they’re the Messiah? They go to Israel and they think they’re some Biblical character. Everything has … Continue reading
Posted in Israel, Jerusalem, Orthodoxy
Tagged biblical character, conservative rabbis, davening, lesbian until graduation, shabbat dinners, shattered vessels
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Yoga Mincha
I remember I was at a Friday night dinner and we all went around the table introducing ourselves. This chiropractor introduced himself as "Dr….". Physicians and PhDs at the table did not introduce themselves as "Dr…" I’d never heard anyone … Continue reading
Posted in Prayer, Yoga
Tagged davening, jewish retreat center, new element, psalms 150, shabbat morning service, traditional liturgy
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Can You Order A Miracle?
On the front of RabbiAriKahn.com, the rabbi debunks voodoo Judaism whereby if you do certain rituals at a certain place and recite certain things, you can get a shiduch (marriage) or a job etc. Anything that does not make sense … Continue reading
Posted in Judaism
Tagged challah, davening, Dennis Prager, kotel, magical potion, shidduch, sweet year
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Why Aren’t Yeshiva Bocherim (Students) Working With The Homeless And Davening With Black People?
"That’s not what yeshiva students do," says historian Dr. Marc Shapiro in his second lecture on Rav Zvi Yehuda Kook for Torah in Motion. "Rav Elazar Schach was opposed to kiruv (outreach). That was the standard charedi position. The Brisker … Continue reading
Posted in Haredi, Marc B. Shapiro, Modern Orthodox, Orthodoxy
Tagged davening, kiruv, marc shapiro, torah in motion, torah study, yeshiva students, yeshiva world
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Child Labor At Shul
Joe writes: "Every Orthodox shul hires teenage boys from local day schools like YULA to work childcare on Shabbat morning. Don’t they have to daven as well? What message are local rabbis sending to teenage boys that it is better … Continue reading
Posted in Pico/Robertson, YULA
Tagged davening, hechsher, neck massage, orthodox shul, script consultation, shabbat morning
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A Bad Smell
Disconsolate, listless, pathetic davening. For this I converted? I feel like we’re all davening under water. My lips and throat and arms feel heavy. I can barely move. I can’t be bothered to greet anybody and nobody can be bothered … Continue reading
Posted in Personal, Prayer
Tagged bad smell, bloke, davening, poor sense, sense of smell
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What Kind Of Moral Qualifications Do You Need To Lead Prayers At An Orthodox Shul?
Is it ok to have someone lead davening who desecrates the Sabbath? What about someone out of the closet and leading a gay life? Does the davener just need to have long pants (in America) and know the prayers? What … Continue reading
Posted in Orthodoxy
Tagged davening, felon, gay life, long pants, orthodox shul
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JConnectLA Friday Night
Workmen’s Circle. 6:20 p.m. I’m the second person to arrive. It’s my first Shabbat in over eight years without my black undertaker suit. Instead I’m wearing this striped ill-fitting number I got for $20 from the Jewish thrift store on … Continue reading
Posted in JConnect LA, Personal
Tagged Alcohol, bima, boss, daven, davening, floating in outer space, friday night, ground control, heart, jconnect, joyful noise, major tom to ground control, minyan, mizel, peculiar way, planet earth, prayers, Sabbath, second person, sermon, shabbat, shlomo carlebach, starman, stunning dress, thrift store, undertaker, workmen
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