- 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: gil student
Posts Along The Way
I read this book by Rabbi Gil Student over Shabbos. I don’t know much, but the book to me has a yeshivish feel, a Litvish feel, a right-wing Modern Orthodox sensibility. It feels like it was written by a baal … Continue reading
Posted in Hirhurim
Tagged baal teshuva, chasam sofer, gil student, prayer groups, wpgs, yeshivish
Comments Off on Posts Along The Way
Yisroel Pensack: None Dare Call It Conservadox
Practically around the corner from where I live is a big old synagogue called Congregation Chevra Thilim that describes itself as “San Francisco’s oldest Orthodox congregation.” Chevra Thilim is currently undergoing a $1.6-million, months-long renovation, upgrade and expansion of its social hall building, which is … Continue reading
Posted in Chabad, Conservative Judaism, Conservatives, Dovid Eliezrie, Judaism, Modern Orthodox, Orthodoxy, San Francisco, Synagogue, Torah, Yisroel Pensack
Tagged "politically incorrect" blessings, $1.6 million, building on shabbos, burials, chabad lubavitch, congregation beth sholom, Congregation Chevra Thilim, Conservadox, David Kimel, gil student, kohanim, meis mitzvah, R. David Eliezrie, R. Shimon Margolin, R. Shlomo Zarchi, R. Yosef Langer, social hall, yetzer hara
Comments Off on Yisroel Pensack: None Dare Call It Conservadox
Educating Converts To Orthodox Judaism
Rabbi Gil Student writes: They have to understand that a community that strives for closeness and closed-ness, a tight-knit society that builds a wall to the secular world (of varying heights, depending on each community), will present obstacles to joining. … Continue reading
Posted in Conversion, Orthodoxy
Tagged alei teshuvah, foreign accents, gil student, jewish geography, orthodox judaism, rude questions
Comments Off on Educating Converts To Orthodox Judaism
Will Judaism Destroy The Jewish State?
Orthodox rabbi Gil Student writes in the Jewish Press: Over the past weeks, many rabbis in Israel have publicized halachic rulings forbidding Jews to rent or sell homes to non-Jews. Doing so, they argue, violates Torah prohibitions and causes the … Continue reading
Posted in Israel
Tagged american jews, authorities rule, gil student, israeli citizenship, messianic world, orthodox rabbi
Comments Off on Will Judaism Destroy The Jewish State?
You May Not Pray In Front Of Nakedness
I remember once I met an Orthodox guy who was a nudist. He loved to lie out naked in the sun. He was caught a few times and got into trouble with his religious community. It was all so weird … Continue reading
Posted in Orthodoxy
Tagged gil student, nyc subway, orach, orthodox judaism, public nudism, short skirts
Comments Off on You May Not Pray In Front Of Nakedness
Why Aren’t Jews Debating Believers In Jesus?
Eric Zorn blogs: The obituary — Moishe Rosen dies at 78; founder of Jews for Jesus prompts me to ask readers about something that’s long mystified and impressed me: “Given that the divinity of Jesus is the core belief of … Continue reading
Posted in Christianity, Jews, Judaism
Tagged aryeh kaplan, counterpoint books, David Klinghoffer, gil student, jews for jesus, moishe rosen
Comments Off on Why Aren’t Jews Debating Believers In Jesus?
The End Of Jewish Blogging?
Orthodox Rabbi Gil Student blogs: Blog posts are opinion pieces. In the old days, before blogs became more mainstream, you could express your opinions freely. If I thought a rabbi wrote an article demonstrating ignorance and dishonesty with sources, I … Continue reading
Posted in Blogging, Personal, Rabbis
Tagged e mail, gil student, opinion pieces, orthodox rabbi, shul, thick skins
Comments Off on The End Of Jewish Blogging?
If Orthodoxy Has Moved Right, Why Are Jewish Women Wearing Pants In Teaneck?
Rabbi Gil Student says that the ordination of a woman by Rabbi Avi Weiss has shaken Modern Orthodoxy like no issue he’s ever seen. He writes: “Good to know that “one source in Rabbi Weiss
Posted in Blogging, Hirhurim, Modern Orthodox, Orthodoxy
Tagged gil student, injecting cocaine, rabbi avi weiss, rabbi weiss, rabbinical council of america, short sleeve shirts, swing to the right
Comments Off on If Orthodoxy Has Moved Right, Why Are Jewish Women Wearing Pants In Teaneck?
Lakewood Changes The Way It Deals With Molestation
These links are from Hirhurim: Lakewood changes how it deals with molestation: link Jewish convert comedian: link R. Stephen Pruzansky on Left Wing Modern Orthodox rabbis: link Note the second yahrtzeit — that’s the controversial R. Azariah De Rossi!: link … Continue reading
Posted in Feminism, Hirhurim
Tagged avi weiss, azariah, comedian, de rossi, gil student, Jacob Neusner, joseph kaplan, Lakewood, marc angel, ordination of women, teaneck shuls, yahrtzeit
Comments Off on Lakewood Changes The Way It Deals With Molestation

The Torah Revelation
Steve emails: Could you clarify the orthodox understanding of how, when and where was the actual full torah written by Moses as dictated by God. Was it when Moses was on Mt. Sinai in which case he came down with … Continue reading →