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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: hashem
Toras HaShem Is Now Young Israel Of Valley Village
Jeff emails: Did you hear that Rabbi Zvi Block is negotiating selling his shul Toras HaShem for 1.2mil $ to Yeshivas Ner Aryeh? Joe emails: “It would be an incredible power play by the right wing in the valley. Toras … Continue reading
Posted in Synagogue
Tagged aryeh, black hats, hashem, orthodox shuls, toras, yeshivas
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LimmudLA 2010
I hope Heaven will be one long LimmudLA. Here’s my story this year: Jan. 29. I got sick. Jan. 31. The healing begins. Feb. 7. I return to yoga for the first time in 11 days. “Perfect,” I think. “I … Continue reading
Posted in Limmud, Personal, R. Michael Melchior
Tagged adrenalin, Alexander Technique, alexander technique teacher, attitude, brown paper bags, costa mesa hilton, couch, credit card payments, financial responsibility, friday morning, hashem, heaven, jan 29, pornographer, sessions, teacher training
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RebMoshe.com!
In heretofore secret documents now finally unveiled by the Leader, Reb Moshe lays out his plans for his very own website (grammatical and spelling mistakes are in the original): Through the gift of ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), HaShem showed me … Continue reading
Posted in Orthodoxy, Rabbis, Satire
Tagged hashem, nationaldebt, reb moshe, ruach hakodesh, secret documents, spelling mistakes, spiritual artist, spiritual friend
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There’s A Giant Book Expo In Town
And nobody has invited me to a party. I have no pull. Whatever happened to the power of Luke Ford? I guess I gave it all up for HaShem. I went in 1999. It seemed boring. I walked around. Big … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged angel city press, book expo, bookexpo america, california artists, david kipen, edgar award, giant book, hashem, intimate history, joe queenan, kevin roderick, keynote speaker, local publishers, luke ford, michael connelly, new york stinks, publishers weekly, raw egg, red carpet, thomas l friedman
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A Portrait Of A Rabbi Predator
Think Rabbi Yaakov Menken aka Kenny the Shark. That type. We’ve got one or two rabbis like this in Pico/Robertson. They’re in positions of power. I wouldn’t want to rock the boat. I’m not the type who likes to name … Continue reading
Posted in Rabbis
Tagged best friend, Conversion, conversions, counseling, Divorce, family and friends, goyim, hashem, jewish growth, job, kenny the shark, Marriage, Orthodoxy, outreach, predator, rabbi yaakov menken, Rabbis, sake, vulnerable women
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Young Israel Of Valley Village
As I reported Friday, Beis Midrash Toras HaShem at 12422 Chandler Blvd will become Young Israel of Valley Village. A source who initially derided this report called me Sunday to say he was wrong. Rabbi Block will stay on. The … Continue reading
Posted in Shaarey Zedek
Tagged beis midrash, black hats, breakaway, chandler blvd, edelstein, hashem, Israel, magnolia blvd, minyan, niceties, rabbi aron tendler, rabbi block, regime, right wing, right wingers, Shaarey Zedek, stature, Torah, toras, Young Israel
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San Fernando Valley Shul Reviews
Beis Midrash Toras HaShem (O); 12422 Chandler Blvd, Valley Village, CA 91607; Phone 818-980-6934; http://torashashem.blogspot.com Prayer: B+ Friendliness: C+ Food: B Singles: D Decor: B Average Age of membership: 40. Misc: Good kiddish and decent childcare. The shul is comprised … Continue reading
Posted in Synagogue
Tagged 9278, aish, bequest, chandler blvd, friendliness, hashem, israelis, kiddish, married couples, middle age, Midrash, minyan, moroccan, north hollywood ca, Prayer, rabbi, rabbi block, San Fernando Valley, sephardic, shul, sylvan st, weekdays, Young Israel
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No Country For Old Cars
"There will be blood," I worried Wednesday morning and emailed Amy Alkon for a ride to David Rensin‘s party tonight at the LA Press Club. Twice I’d emailed the club my RSVP and eight times my emails came back to … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged amy alkon, anti semites, billowing smoke, david rensin, days of my life, delivery status notification, female protagonist, goodness and mercy, half mile, hashem, hollywood blvd, la cienega blvd, larry mcmurtry, long trek, lustful thoughts, Narcissism, old cars, Orthodox Union, ounce jar, plastic container, radiator cap, runneth, santa monica blvd, shadow of death, valley of the shadow, valley of the shadow of death, water bottle, wellsprings of life, wilshire blvd
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Contamination From The Goyim
Joe emails: "KBY had to fire a number of their teachers after the Rabin assasination, but still seems to have an unfortunate racist bent. I was stunned to see this up, and on Hirhurim as well." From Rosh Hayeshiva Harav … Continue reading
Posted in Race, Torah
Tagged anan, carcass, divine presence, gemara, goyim, hashem, Hirhurim, imperfection, kby, kook, length of days, mordechai, natan, one hundred years, pure soul, rabin assasination, sanhedrin, source of life, tzara, yavneh
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The True Significance Of Sharing A Hand-Out
The scene is an Orthodox synagogue. The situation is that there are not enough hand-outs for all present. The rabbi stands up and says: "You’re going to have to share. You know my ruling on this: if you’re sleeping with … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged hashem, huddle, orthodox synagogue, rabbi, shame, true significance
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