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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
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- 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
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- Bernard Haykel: A Life Between the Text and the Gun
- Walker Connor (1926-2017)
- Benedict Anderson and the Nation as Imagination
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- Dominic Cummings: A Biography
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- * The Enlightenment Wasn’t Enlightened (6-23-26)
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* '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)
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* 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)
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* 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)
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Tag Archives: orthodox shuls
She Purrs
She called Friday at 8:08 pm. He couldn’t pick up the phone because it was the Sabbath, but it was their pre-arranged signal for him to come out to get her. He wouldn’t get to listen to her message until … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged deceptions, gloss, hovel, orthodox shuls, shabbos, yoga mat
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Clueless Jews Campaign To End Hunger In Los Angeles
I’d love to see some evidence that anyone is dying in Los Angeles of malnutrition. I walk around Pico-Robertson and see all my favorite Orthodox shuls promoting GiveLifeMeaning.org, a campaign to solve a problem that does not exist. I’ve seen … Continue reading
Posted in Jews, Los Angeles
Tagged duke helfand, learning hebrew, marriage equality, neighborhood food, orthodox shuls, torah jew, trash cans, yummy desserts
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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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The Happy Minyan Comes Of Age
For the past couple of years, the Happy Minyan has an independent existence at the Karate Academy on Pico Blvd (near Rexford). Prior to this, it resided at Orthodox shuls (Beth Jacob, Mogen David) that tried to incorporate the group … Continue reading
Posted in Happy Minyan, Personal
Tagged Beth Jacob, David Sacks, harvard lampoon, karate academy, orthodox shuls, religious journey
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How Do LA’s Orthodox Rabbis Determine Their Moral Priorities?
All three Modern Orthodox shuls in Pico-Robertson — Bnai David-Judea, Beth Jacob and Young Israel of Century City — email their members to regularly rally outside the home of Meir Kin’s parents to protest his refusal to give a Jewish … Continue reading
Posted in Meir Kin, Pico/Robertson, Rabbis, RCC
Tagged Beth Jacob, divorce case, jewish divorce, moral priorities, orthodox shuls, YICC, Young Israel
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‘Did Jesus Go To Mincha?’
That was the subject header for a mass email sent out Thursday afternoon by Bnai David-Judea rabbi Yosef Kanefsky: While historians will continue to debate that question (or not), there’s one thing we can know for sure. By taking the … Continue reading
Posted in Bnai David-Judea
Tagged gentle atmosphere, mincha, orthodox shuls, rabbi yosef, religious holiday, shul
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Orthodox In-Fighting
Joe emails: The infighting among Orthodox shuls in L.A. is really an embarrassment. Young Israel of North Beverly Hills is a total train wreck and a textbook example of what happens when ego is mixed with money and control issues. … Continue reading
Posted in Orthodoxy
Tagged medical marijuana, orthodox jew, orthodox jews, orthodox shuls, textbook example, Young Israel
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Jewish Prop 8 Leader Has Niece Out Of The Closet
She married a girl. They both come from Orthodox backgrounds and it’s quite the talk on the East Coast. They are each accepted by their families and by their Orthodox communities. There’s a lot of talk about Orthodoxy moving to … Continue reading
Posted in Homosexuality
Tagged east coast, niece, orthodox backgrounds, orthodox shuls, rabbi steve, shabbat table, steve greenberg, talkshow host
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Is My Blog Certified Kosher By The Orthodox Rabbis Of Los Angeles?
I heard Orthodox rabbi Yitz Greenberg say that while Israel should be more moral than other nations, if it insisted on being 100% more moral, it would be dead. It should instead strive for something achievable and survivable, such as … Continue reading
Posted in Orthodoxy, Personal, Pico/Robertson
Tagged jewish standards, lashon hara, orthodox jew, orthodox rabbi, orthodox rabbis, orthodox shuls
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