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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)
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Tag Archives: american judaism
The Darkening World Of American Judaism
The Washington Post reports: Like so many Jewish women, Anne Suissa pursued her education and career with gusto, earning degrees from Cornell and MIT and going on to manage 27 people at the U.S. Department of Transportation. Suissa always knew … Continue reading
Posted in Jews
Tagged american judaism, fertility treatments, jewish ancestry, low fertility rates, reform synagogue, susan abramson
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Why America Has No Chief Rabbi
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach writes: In my eleven years living in England I often observed, as did many others, that Anglo-Jewry lacked the vibrancy and innovation characteristic of American Judaism. The absence of an electrifying sense of Jewishness and communal dynamism … Continue reading
Posted in Shmuley Boteach
Tagged american counterpart, american jewry, american judaism, anglo jewry, chief rabbi, rabbi shmuley boteach
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Contemporary American Judaism: Transformation and Renewal by Reform Rabbi Dana Evan Kaplan
We talk by phone Tuesday, June 2. (Previous interviews with Rabbi Kaplan here.) Luke: "You have a note in the beginning that some of your language in this book is a bit sharp." Dana: "I’m trying to make certain points. … Continue reading
Posted in Author Interviews, Judaism, Rabbis
Tagged american judaism, dana evan kaplan, rabbi kaplan, reform rabbi, transformation
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Are Reform/Conservative Judaism A Separate Religion?
Orthodox Rabbi Reuven Spolter writes: In a "Modest Proposal" styled op-ed piece in the Jerusalem Post, Rabbi David Forman finally throws down the gauntlet. After years of trying to gain recognition from the government as legitimate streams of Judaism and … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Judaism, Israel, Orthodoxy, Reform Judaism
Tagged american judaism, Conservative Judaism, conservative movements, liturgical traditions, orthodox rabbi, Reform Judaism
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Converts Have Nothing In Common
I was talking to somebody today about converts to Judaism. He asked me to assess their role in American Judaism and whether they were becoming more accepted on the Jewish street. "Converts to Judaism have nothing in common beyond the … Continue reading
Posted in Conversion
Tagged american judaism, chink, converts to judaism, different religions, orthodox judaism
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My Crucifixion & Resurrection
Tearing down the temple. Throwing out the money changers. Flipping off the beit din! Justification by faith! Sanctification! The Heavenly Sanctuary! Judging the saints! Look at my erection! I can’t be more specific. I know you want the goss, but … Continue reading
Posted in Passover, Personal
Tagged aaron wildavsky, american judaism, beard, canaan, chat room, cheap grace, close friends, davening, Emma, emotions, hartman, holy days, hovel, job, loser, minyan, mommy, money, origins of judaism, Passover, perverts, rabbi arthur, religious community, rise of islam, sephardi, shmura matza, shul, shuls, tradition, weirdos
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