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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
My Conversion To Judaism Story
This guy in shul was told my story, and so he asked me for chizuk, for strengthening. He was Orthodox from birth but he struggled with some typical guy stuff. He knew I had chosen Torah. He wanted to know … Continue reading
Posted in Judaism, Personal
Tagged conversion to judaism, davening, orthodox jew, orthodox jews, reform jews, shuls
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Three Twelve-Step Meetings And I’m A Changed Man
I’m stunned by how a few sex addiction meetings have affected me. I don’t walk around with the predatory fantasies that normally afflict me. Please know that these are fantasies only! I don’t act them out. I’m a good Orthodox … Continue reading
Posted in Addiction, Personal, Sex
Tagged bad man, davening, fantasy life, sex addiction, step meetings, torah study
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My Thing
Is writing a pleasure? Sometimes, just like davening, but “pleasure” is not the primary word I’d use to describe my process. Rather, I’d say that writing is my thing. The Mafia have their thing. “Cosa Nostra” means “Our Thing.” I … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged coping mechanism, dark satanic mills, davening, holy lamb of god, lamb of god, rudolf schenker
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Using Church Music In Shul
In his third lecture on Rabbi Yisrael Moshe Hazan (19th Century rabbi in Rome) for Torah in Motion, Rabbi Marc B. Shapiro says: Rabbi Hazan recommends using church music in the davening. We should use our words but their tune. … Continue reading
Posted in Christianity, Marc B. Shapiro, R. Ovadia Yosef
Tagged church music, davening, Marc B. Shapiro, music aka, rabbi yisrael, tolerant view, torah in motion
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The Moshav Band Plays The Happy Minyan Saturday Night
I heard the crowd got so excited that they started throwing their sheitels on stage. A friend says: “A group of women started dancing together and the men rushed out with a makeshift mechitza to put around them. I was … Continue reading
Posted in Happy Minyan, Moshav Band
Tagged davening, mechitza, minyan, Moshav Band, sheitels
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How Not To Relate To Black Jews
I’m acquainted with about a dozen black Jews in Pico-Robertson. I think the first one I met was at Bnai David in 1994 at a Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz talk and I went up to him and said, “You don’t meet … Continue reading
Posted in Jews
Tagged adin steinsaltz, black jews, davening, proper manners, rabbi adin steinsaltz, yiddishkeit
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Jewish Las Vegas
I expect a Jewish newspaper to return to Las Vegas around Passover. It will be called The Las Vegas Jewish Ink. It has no website yet. “The Las Vegas Jewish Reporter” was closed by the local Federation last year. Jewish … Continue reading
Posted in Jewish Federation, Las Vegas
Tagged casino operator, davening, feudal society, finleys, jewish day school, Jewish Federation, sabbath morning, shabbat morning, sheldon adelson
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Sexting
I’m live on my cam providing a safe, nurturing and supportive environment for Torah Jews to discuss the great moral issues of the day: Beth: Luke, let’s discuss some of the topics you’ve mentioned recently. How do you feel about … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged davening, moral issues, nice body, perving, photo joe, topless photo
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Is It A Mitzvah To Pray With A Minyan?
Joe Schmo comments: Rabbi Enkin, "the majority of North American sacharit-davening Jews do not daven in a minyan. " "I cant beleive that anyone would declare all these people sinners." The fact that "everyone is doing it" means it has … Continue reading
Posted in Judaism
Tagged american jews, cant beleive, davening, joe schmo, minyan
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A Miracle Of Grace
I emailed my Christian mother Sunday: "I finished my Orthodox conversion today [with the Los Angeles Beit Din]…more than 16yrs after finishing my conversion with a Reform rabbi…" She responded: "It’s a miracle of grace." Joe emails: "Welcome to the … Continue reading
Posted in Orthodoxy, Personal
Tagged Beth Jacob, century city mall, christian mother, conversion to judaism, davening, miracle of grace, orthodox conversion, reform rabbi, sephardic temple
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