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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)
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Tag Archives: jewish theological seminary
Should Orthodox Jewish Parents Worry About Sending Their Kids To A Secular College?
Jewish Theological Seminary professor Alan Mittleman wrote in First Things in 2003: There is a pamphlet making its way, via the Internet, through the Modern Orthodox stream of the American Jewish community. Written by Gil Perl and Yaakov Weinstein, graduate … Continue reading
Posted in Marc B. Shapiro, Orthodoxy
Tagged alan mittleman, american jewish community, jewish theological seminary, Marc B. Shapiro, orthodox jewish parents, victorian prose
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David Wolpe – America’s Top Congregational Rabbi
From the Jewish Chronicle of London, this interview with the Sinai Temple rav: And as for the question of gay marriages, he argues that “in America in 10 years, maybe less, maybe more, it won’t be an issue. The sociological … Continue reading
Posted in R. David Wolpe
Tagged chief rabbi, congregational rabbi, David Wolpe, faith foundation, jewish theological seminary, rabbi louis jacobs
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The Visual Culture Of Chabad
Marc B. Shapiro blogs: …[L]et me also include this amazing picture of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. It appears courtesy of the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary, and I thank Rabbi Jerry Schwarzbard who first showed it to me a few … Continue reading
Posted in Chabad, Marc B. Shapiro
Tagged bryan mark rigg, jewish theological seminary, lubavitcher rebbe, Marc B. Shapiro, psychoanalyst wilhelm, Samuel Heilman
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The Love Letters Of Rav Ahron Kotler
Jude posts: “In his book “Making of a Godol” Rabbi Nathan Kamenetsky (son of Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetzky a’h) depicts the Lithuanian sages “wrestling with the lures of secular life.” This two-volume book was published privately by Rabbi Kamenetsky in a … Continue reading
Posted in Marc B. Shapiro, R. Ahron Kotler, R. Nathan Kamenetsky
Tagged jewish theological seminary, making of a godol, Marc B. Shapiro, rabbi nathan, rabbi yisrael, torah in motion
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When In Doubt, Call Your Opponents Racists
Whenever I hear the charge of “racism” these days, I’m immediately suspicious because I’m so used to the accusation being tossed around without evidence. I’m also tired of Jews using their putative Orthodox status to lobby for non-Orthodox positions. I’m … Continue reading
Posted in Ashkenazim, Haredi, R. Brad Hirschfield, Sephardim
Tagged Conservative Judaism, jewish theological seminary, lengthy bio, liberal jews, orthodox judaism, orthodox rabbi, rabbinic ordination
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Saul Lieberman’s Attempt To Take Over The Jewish Theological Seminary
In his second class on Rabbi Ben Zion Uziel for Torah in Motion, Dr. Marc B. Shapiro says: Saul Lieberman attempted to get anyone of stature to come to JTS. Lieberman posited JTS as an institution that accepts the binding … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Judaism, Marc B. Shapiro
Tagged jewish theological seminary, Marc B. Shapiro, saul lieberman, torah in motion, torah scholars
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Between the Yeshiva World and Modern Orthodoxy: The Life and Works of Rabbi Jehiel Jacob Weinberg, 1884-1966
I’m listening to Professor Marc B. Shapiro‘s lecture on the Srida Aish (Rabbi Jehiel Jacob Weinberg) for Torah in Motion (Movers and Shakers of Modern Orthodoxy 2). Marc says that if World War II ended in 1942, instead of talking … Continue reading
Posted in Marc B. Shapiro, Orthodoxy
Tagged jewish theological seminary, Marc B. Shapiro, montreux switzerland, movers and shakers, saul lieberman, torah in motion
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Beth Am Chooses Elliot Dorff’s Son-In-Law As New Rabbi
Rabbi Dr. Elliot Dorff is the rector at American Jewish University and a key member of Temple Beth Am (he’s a regular at the Library Minyan downstairs). Scores of Conservative rabbis were inspired to take up their calling by Elliot … Continue reading
Posted in Beth Am, Conservative Judaism, R. Adam Kligfeld, R. Elliot N. Dorff, Rabbis
Tagged conservative rabbi, jewish theological seminary, kabbalat shabbat service, lashon hara, rabbi adam, shabbat experience
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‘A Fabulous Tale’ Set In North Africa
From Princeton: Midway through rabbinical school, Burton Visotzky fell in love with midrash — rabbinic narrative and interpretation of the Bible. Maybe it is not a surprise that an English major from the University of Illinois would be … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged 1001 arabian nights, academic texts, business texts, interpretation of the bible, interreligious studies, jewish theological seminary
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