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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: beit midrash
The Strange Charedi Judaism Of Aish HaTorah
In his second lecture on Rav Elazar Shach, Dr. Marc B. Shapiro says: "His antipathy to kiruv (outreach) has nothing to do with his feelings for Chabad. What does it mean to do kiruv? It means to leave the yeshiva. … Continue reading
Posted in Aish HaTorah, Haredi, Marc B. Shapiro
Tagged Aish HaTorah, beit midrash, elazar, Marc B. Shapiro, ohr somayach, state of israel
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Do Rabbis Avi Weiss, Saul Berman Deserve To Be Called ‘Amalek’?
Yehuda posts to Hirhurim: Gil, it’s lovely you’re so tolerant. I’m glad you know what they mean. Despite your tolerance, I think anyone calling you, Rabbis Weiss or Berman, or any other Torah opinions "Amalek" deserves a public rebuke, and … Continue reading
Posted in Modern Orthodox, Orthodox Union, Orthodoxy, YCT, Yeshiva University
Tagged beit midrash, lawrence kaplan, public apology, rabbi david, rabbi dovid, torah scholars
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Jerusalem’s Rabbi Mickey Rosen Has Died
He presided over the liberal Yakar synagogue. He was the primary teacher for Reb Mimi Feigelson of American Jewish University. Blog: I was deeply upset to hear a few minutes ago that Rabbi Meir (Mickey) Rosen passed away last night. … Continue reading
Posted in Rabbis
Tagged beit midrash, funeral details, gentle person, jewish university, rabbi meir, talmid
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Where Does Luke Ford Daven?
At shalosh sheudos (third meal) today, a new friend said to me, "All my friends ask me, ‘Is it true Luke Ford davens at the Happy Minyan?’" I’m still singing. Lila li. Li lalalalilili, bum, bum, bum. That place rocks. … Continue reading
Posted in Happy Minyan, Personal
Tagged avondale college, beit midrash, bum bum bum, luke ford, place rocks, religion department
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Agriprocessors Fallout?
Yisroel writes: "I think the deli owner and operators are young Lubavitchers from NY." According to SFNewYorkDeli.com: "Welcome to the S.F. New York Deli. Here is our unique style blend of the real New York Deli experience and San Francisco. … Continue reading
Posted in Agriprocessors, Kashrut, San Francisco
Tagged beit midrash, deli experience, favorite city, kosher deli, new york deli, york staff
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Pico Blvd’s Beit Midrash Owner Jailed
UPDATE: Chaim Mekel is out of jail. He has to do community service every day but can sleep at home. He was sent to jail because of a child support custody case. I got this email Wednesday morning: This is … Continue reading
Posted in Pico/Robertson
Tagged beit midrash, child support, custody case, e mail, email, gentile, hundreds of years, jew, kosher food, levin, mekel, old case, pico blvd, rashbi, rosh chodesh, siddur, sleep, talmid chacham, tymo, urgent request
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