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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:
- Robert Putnam: The Man Who Counted What America Lost
- W. Bradford Wilcox: The Sociologist Who Tells America to Get Married
- Peter Moskos: The Cop Who Talks to People
- Julius Krein
- Ryan Burge: The Numbers Man in the Empty Church
- Emily Oster: The Economist in the Delivery Room
- The Most Ridiculous Story Ever Told
- Tanner Greer
- Economist Tyler Cowen
- Richard Reeves: A Life in Institutions
- Jake Adelstein: The Reporter Who Became His Story
- Jim Goad (1961-2026)
- Moira Greyland
- Robert Oscar Lopez: The Inconvenient Witness
- Two Ledgers: Decoding the Gurus and the Price of Talk
- The Pervert’s Progress: Costin Vlad Alamariu and the Making of Bronze Age Pervert
- Curtis Yarvin: A Life Against Democracy
- Mark Helprin: Against the Current
- Mark Brandt: The Man Who Asked Who Else Is Prejudiced
- John T. Jost: The Psychologist of Acquiescence
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: orthodox judaism
Orthodox Jews Shocked By The Sex In ‘Sex and the City’
I’ve heard complaints from Orthodox Jews that the sex in this new movie is gratuituous. How can you have gratuituous sex in an R-rated movie called "Sex and the City" that is based on a sex-centered HBO show? What were … Continue reading
Posted in Orthodoxy, Sex
Tagged hbo show, orthodox jew, orthodox jews, orthodox judaism, r rated movie, r rated movies
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Better To Be A Flea On A Lion Than The Leader Of Mice
From my live cam chat: guest27: Hey Luke, I saw your video on why you converted to Judaism and chose Orthodoxy. I converted to non-Orthodox Judaism myself but I am seriously considering an Orthodox conversion because it also seems like … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged black hat, blues brothers, dark sun, Dennis Prager, hahaha, hebrew, hordes, jew, jewish life, Jews, lion, live cam chat, mice, norwegian, orthodox conversion, orthodox judaism, orthodox rabbi, Orthodoxy, sun glasses, trough, university of amsterdam, yml
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Former Gambino family mobster Louis Ferrante tells Gelf about his transformation from hijacker to Orthodox Jew
Michael Gluckstadt writes: The ties between Jewish and Italian gangsters are legendary. From Bugsy Siegel and Lucky Luciano to Michael Corleone and Hyman Roth to Tony Soprano and Hesh Rabkin, there is a longstanding tradition of respect—or at least interaction—between … Continue reading
Posted in Orthodoxy
Tagged armed robbery, bugsy siegel, christian pop, credit card fraud, ferrante, gambino crime family, gambino family, gluckstadt, hyman roth, italian gangsters, longstanding tradition, lucky luciano, mdash, michael corleone, orthodox jew, orthodox judaism, rabkin, tony soprano, wiseguy, yiddish slang
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What If It’s Not Them?
What if my problems in Orthodox Judaism are not their fault? What if it’s not Orthodox Judaism nor its rabbis nor its practitioners that have caused me so much trouble, but only myself? What if I gave the Orthodox community … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged creep, exile, foibles, holiness, individual rights, jewish community, margins, orthodox community, orthodox judaism, Rabbis, Relationships, shul, sunny jim, Torah, tradition, Truth, wise father
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Orthodox Judaism’s Conversion Controversy
To quote Toby Katz, commenting on Cross-Currents: The RCA is upset because so many RCA rabbis have done conversions that they never should have done — converting women who had no intention of ever keeping mitzvos, just so they could … Continue reading
Posted in Conversion
Tagged contrary, conversion controversy, conversion to judaism, conversions, converts, converts to judaism, cross currents, fallout, friendship, halachic, i don t care, intention, jewish men, jewish women, Jews, judgments, katz, million things, nuts, orthodox judaism, personal tragedies, press release, quotes, Rabbis, RCA, religious life, shortcomings, streams, taking sides, Truth
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Judaism’s Conversion Controversy
A lot of people ask me for my opinion — as a convert to Judaism — on this controversy. I don’t have one. I accept reality. I’m not trying to change it (in this instance). Some Orthodox shuls count me … Continue reading
Posted in Conversion
Tagged Conservative Judaism, conversions, converts, dins, jew, jewish history, jewish law, jewish values, loyal reader, meds, minyan, orthodox conversion, orthodox judaism, orthodox rabbis, outrage, RCC, religious extremists, revocation, rsquo, torah laws
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Book Review: The Producers: Profiles in Frustration
Here’s a recent blog post: SEATTLE, Washington – In case you’ve wondered what it is that a television or movie producer does – you can read The Producers and still not be quite sure what they do. Author Luke Ford … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged chronic fatigue syndrome, don phillips, ford claims, grad school, jewish town, lee strasberg, luke ford, man from elysian fields, mankiewicz, netflix queue, orthodox judaism, porn gossip, quot, scuttlebutt, seattle washington, shul, sidney lumet, sordid lives, sydney lumet, trees lounge
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Shalom Aleichem
On a Friday night walking home from shul, I’m stopped by a stranger in a car. He wants to know where Preuss is. I don’t know. I ask my friend. She doesn’t know. A rabbi comes out of his home … Continue reading
Posted in Orthodoxy, Personal, Pico/Robertson
Tagged favorite phrase, friday night, intimate communion, Jews, new moon, one saturday, orthodox judaism, rabbi, saturday night, scorecard, shul, stranger, walking home
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