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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: jewish life
The Purpose Of Prayer Is To Elevate The Moment
On his show April 29, 2011, Dennis Prager said: “I am not good at petitionary prayer and rarely make it [on behalf of myself]. I’ve done it maybe twice in my life. I don’t like using God as a celestial … Continue reading
Posted in Dennis Prager, Prayer
Tagged beautiful music, biological necessity, Dennis Prager, house of worship, jewish life, law of diminishing returns
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The Opposite Field
Wednesday night, Oct. 6, I interview Jesse Katz, author of the 2009 memoir The Opposite Field. His mom, Vera Katz, was a famous politician in Oregon. She has a long Wikipedia entry while Jesse, to my surprise, has nothing there … Continue reading
Posted in Memoir
Tagged dodgers, famous politician, hundreds of miles, jesse katz, jewish life, league franchise, monterey park california, pulitzer prize winner, shortstop, vera katz
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How Do You Keep God Alive In Your Life?
In his 1999 lecture on Exodus 34, Dennis Prager says: The Torah says you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. This is how you keep faith in God, by observing regular rituals. If you don’t observe regular rituals, you … Continue reading
Posted in Christianity, Dennis Prager, Torah
Tagged Dennis Prager, faith in god, feast of unleavened bread, jew, jewish life, jewish values, leaving egypt, rituals
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Does God Improve?
In a 2005 lecture on Deuteronomy 31, Dennis Prager says: “I don’t think there is a text dated anywhere near the text of the Torah that is so egalitarian in its depiction of women. It’s about as unsexist a text. … Continue reading
Posted in Dennis Prager, Torah
Tagged book of mormon, Dennis Prager, depiction of women, deuteronomy, god of vengeance, jewish life, Torah, traditional jews, tribal god, universal god
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It Sucks To Be Me
All these great rabbis are marrying off their daughters. And here I am, 43 years old, almost 44, and I am still unmarried. Is it not a tradition in Jewish life to marry off the most worthy daughters to the … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged jewish life, male guests, shabbos table, tefillin, torah scholars
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Missing Community
An acquaintance is pregnant. She hates Los Angeles. She feels no sense of community here even though she’s active in Jewish life. She misses her home on the East Coast where she grew up with a strong sense of community … Continue reading
Posted in Jews, Personal
Tagged Alexander Technique, allegiances, jewish life, mores, orthodox judaism, traditional expectations
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Orthodox Life In Northern California?
Michael emails: I stumbled across your site today, and got a sense that you have a good feel for Jewish life in Northern California. Is there no Orthodox life to be found north of SF and Berkeley? Seems so beautiful … Continue reading
Posted in California, Orthodoxy
Tagged jewish life, northern california, northern frontier, orthodox life, wife and kid
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Better To Be A Flea On A Lion Than The Leader Of Mice
From my live cam chat: guest27: Hey Luke, I saw your video on why you converted to Judaism and chose Orthodoxy. I converted to non-Orthodox Judaism myself but I am seriously considering an Orthodox conversion because it also seems like … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged black hat, blues brothers, dark sun, Dennis Prager, hahaha, hebrew, hordes, jew, jewish life, Jews, lion, live cam chat, mice, norwegian, orthodox conversion, orthodox judaism, orthodox rabbi, Orthodoxy, sun glasses, trough, university of amsterdam, yml
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Materialism & Jewish Life
I was just talking to someone looking for a Modern Orthodox Jewish community that wasn’t too materialistic. As long as I’ve been Jewish — 15 years — I’ve been poor. I’ve never been treated badly because of it. On the … Continue reading
Posted in Jews, Orthodoxy
Tagged attractive woman, countless occasions, friday night service, goys, hot chix, hot sex, hovel, humiliation, jewish life, Jews, materialism, new suit, nice stuff, orthodox jewish community, peers, poverty, privilege, shabbos, social ladder, suit store
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