- https://PayPal.Me/lukeisback
"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: friday night
I Got A Bracha (Blessing) On Shabbos
On Friday night, an Orthodox acquaintance walked over to me and asked, “Do you want a bracha?” “I’m sorry?” I said. “Do you want a bracha?” “Umm, yes,” I said and bowed my head. He said that he wished me … Continue reading
Posted in Orthodoxy, Personal
Tagged acquaintance, friday night, orthodox judaism, shabbos, tanya
Comments Off on I Got A Bracha (Blessing) On Shabbos
‘Friday Night Was Lovely’
"Friday night was lovely," he says. "Don’t say lovely," she says. "So was Thursday night." "Thursday night was more aggressive," he says. "Friday night was a little more emotional." "Do you think it is OK to do both?" "Of course." … Continue reading
Posted in Dating, Personal, Sex
Tagged affections, friday night, gentle mood, mommy, quot quot, thursday night
Comments Off on ‘Friday Night Was Lovely’
‘Mazal Tov!’
"Mazal tov!" said my friend as he sat beside me at Shalosh Sheudos. Towards the end of the Yedid Nefesh, he put his arm around me and we swayed to the music. "Have you read the words?" he said. "The … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged friday night, mazal tov, quot, translation, yedid nefesh
Comments Off on ‘Mazal Tov!’
She Put Her Hands Over Her Ears
I was reciting kiddish Friday night with great fervor and this woman put her hands over her ears. Oy vey! Maybe I should ask Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein for help with my kiddish singing.
Posted in Personal
Tagged fervor, friday night, oy, rabbi, rubinstein
Comments Off on She Put Her Hands Over Her Ears
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
Comments Off on Shalom Aleichem
JConnectLA Friday Night
Workmen’s Circle. 6:20 p.m. I’m the second person to arrive. It’s my first Shabbat in over eight years without my black undertaker suit. Instead I’m wearing this striped ill-fitting number I got for $20 from the Jewish thrift store on … Continue reading
Posted in JConnect LA, Personal
Tagged Alcohol, bima, boss, daven, davening, floating in outer space, friday night, ground control, heart, jconnect, joyful noise, major tom to ground control, minyan, mizel, peculiar way, planet earth, prayers, Sabbath, second person, sermon, shabbat, shlomo carlebach, starman, stunning dress, thrift store, undertaker, workmen
Comments Off on JConnectLA Friday Night
Three Jews Struck By A Car In Pico/Robertson Friday Night Walking Home From Shabbat Dinner
Scott Shafrin (Hebrew school teacher) and Lizzie Pollack were not seriously injured. Rabbinic intern Elan Babchuck suffered a broken leg, separated shoulder, numerous lacerations and other injuries. He’ll be in the hospital for a few days. If anyone wants his … Continue reading
Posted in Pico/Robertson
Tagged big trouble in little china, books of moses, broken leg, collateral field, college honors program, commonwealth college, elan, english minors, few days, five books of moses, friday night, hebrew school, Jews, lacerations, lizzie, mba student, old man and the sea, pollack, schechter day school, school teacher, shabbat, shabbat dinner, sign gemini, solomon schechter day school, umass amherst, university of judaism, university of massachusetts amherst, university of torino, walking home, ziegler school, zodiac sign
Comments Off on Three Jews Struck By A Car In Pico/Robertson Friday Night Walking Home From Shabbat Dinner