LATEST POSTS:
- The Comparator Test: Does Penn Apply the Same Standard?
- PragerU Salaries & Bonuses
- The David Pinsof Story
- Added Context to the Dennis Prager-Cedars Sinai Lawsuit
- The Criticism Was Right and It Did Nothing: Andrew Gelman, Seth Roberts, and the Limits of Being Correct
- What Andrew Gelman Doesn’t Write About
- Andrew Gelman: ‘Computer scientists today are like economists in the early 2000s and Freudian psychiatrists in the 1950s’
- Virtue Signaling and the Amy Wax case
- Revisiting Virtually You: The Dangerous Powers of the E-Personality
- The Great Delusion
- Why Do I Instinctively Dislike Erik Erikson?
- WSJ: The Uninvited Guest Who Crashed Our Family Vacation: My Mom’s AI Chatbot
- WEHT to Marc Weisblott?
- WEHT to Moxie aka Madison Slade?
- WEHT to Nicholas Polson’s Archive?
- Cohen Passes His Own Audit (V2)
- Andrew Gelman & the E-Personality
- ‘(1) “Do you think the culture of research has genuinely changed since the replication crisis became widely discussed, or has it mostly generated new compliance rituals around pre-registration and open data while leaving the underlying incentive structure intact?, (2) Regarding Columbia University, “is there a statistical or social scientific way of understanding how institutions lose the ability to accurately perceive their own situation?”’
- What a Public Audit Does (V4)
- Post: ‘Nathan Cofnas the Schlimazel’
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: halacha
Rabbi Topp’s drasha on divisiveness
I hear: The rabbi at Beth Jacob of Beverly Hills did very well. Skillfully navigated difficult terrain. Took the wind out of the sails of the pro-Chazzan group using Rabbinic license – Halacha and precedent. Pointed out that we are … Continue reading
Posted in Beth Jacob, R. Kalman Topp
Tagged Beth Jacob, divisiveness, drasha, halacha, shul
Comments Off on Rabbi Topp’s drasha on divisiveness
Reason & Religion
Jeff emails: The Litvaks were not more “rational” than the Chassidim, in fact, the Gra and R. Haim were major league Kabbalists, the Gra wrote more on Kabbala than he did on Talmud, and we have R. Haim Brisker’s kavvanot … Continue reading
Posted in Hasidim
Tagged chassidim, halacha, jewish tradition, kabbala, mendelsohnn, rambam
Comments Off on Reason & Religion
Converting Children To Judaism
David writes on Hirhurim: "Based on Rabbi Broyde’s summary of Rabbis Kook and Elyashiv’s position, "that a bet din ought not to convert a child to Judaism unless it is nearly certain that the child will grow up to be … Continue reading
Posted in Conversion, Torah
Tagged cherem, chief rabbinate, classic sense, due respect, elyashiv, emotional impact, halacha, intellectual diversity, jewish world, kook, Rabbis
Comments Off on Converting Children To Judaism
An Orthodox Take On A Conservative Approach To Jewish Law
Rabbi Avi Shafran writes: Conceived by the rabbi of a Conservative congregation, and now endorsed by that movement’s rabbinic arm, the “Hekhsher”’s promoters insist that it is not really a hekhsher, or kashrus certification, at all. It is, rather, an … Continue reading
Posted in Orthodoxy
Tagged conservative congregation, corporate accountability, food service establishment, halacha, kosher product, laws of kashrus
Comments Off on An Orthodox Take On A Conservative Approach To Jewish Law
‘Can Anyone Grow Up To Be (Shul) President?’
I get off my sickbed Shabbos afternoon and go to this lecture. Last year, a Young Israel shul hired a graduate of the most left-wing Orthodox yeshiva (Chovevei Torah) — as its assistant rabbi. A few months later in response, … Continue reading
Posted in Modern Orthodox, YCT, YICC, Young Israel
Tagged assistant rabbi, century city, chovevei torah, converts, dr jay, halacha, Israel, israel movement, left wing, ncyi, orthodox synagogue, presidencies, presidents, private citizen, productive members, rabbi moshe feinstein, Rabbis, rosh yeshiva, screening policy, synagogue president, talmudic, weiner, woman president, Yeshiva University, young israel of toco hills, young israel synagogue
Comments Off on ‘Can Anyone Grow Up To Be (Shul) President?’
Professor Marc B. Shapiro Speaks In Los Angeles This Weekend
Professor Shapiro received his Ph.D. from Harvard University and holds the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Chair in Judaic Studies at the University of Scranton. An author of several books and dozens of scholarly articles, Professor Shapiro is considered one of … Continue reading
Posted in Marc B. Shapiro
Tagged albie, debra cohen, friday night oneg, halacha, harvard university, intellectual history, jewish book, judaic studies, Marc B. Shapiro, marc shapiro, national jewish book award, orthodox theology, professor marc, professor shapiro, scholarly articles, shabbat, shabbat morning, university of scranton, weinberg, yeshiva world
Comments Off on Professor Marc B. Shapiro Speaks In Los Angeles This Weekend