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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 tradition
How Does One Enjoy Life When There’s A Genocide In Darfur?
I was just out for a walk. It’s a beautiful sunny day in Pico-Robertson. I passed these kids playing. They were laughing and shooting each other with water guns. At least one kid wore a t-shirt that read “Stop the … Continue reading
Posted in Heshy Fried, Jews
Tagged genocide in darfur, jewish tradition, mazal tov, religious tradition, water guns, Yarmulke
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What Kind Of Rabbis Go Hollywood?
What kind of rabbis turn for help with their sermons to Hollywood screenwriters? Rabbis who are empty inside. If you believe in what you are doing and are burning with passion to transmit it, then you won’t turn for help … Continue reading
Posted in Rabbis
Tagged comedy writer, high holy days, hollywood screenwriters, jewish tradition, rosh hashanah sermon, t rex
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The Minyan Offers Human Solidarity
Rabbi Elazar Muskin writes: Author Hillel Halkin, reviewing the Koren Sacks Siddur in the spring 2010 Jewish Review of Books, recounts a charming story that he heard from his father: “My father, who prayed with great kavanah [concentration] yet was … Continue reading
Posted in R. Elazar Muskin
Tagged afternoon prayer, human solidarity, jewish tradition, minyan, musaf, rabbi elazar
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Human Flight In The Jewish Tradition
Rabbi Marc B. Shapiro blogs: The most famous example of human flight in Jewish literature is that of Jesus. As described in Toledot Yeshu, Jesus was able to use God’s holy name in order to fly, and was brought down … Continue reading
Posted in Christianity, Marc B. Shapiro
Tagged human flight, jewish heritage tour, Jewish Literature, jewish tradition, judas iscariot, Marc B. Shapiro, mass delusion, yeshu
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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
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Preparing For Yom Kippur
Our topic is the Day of Atonement. Does God need to die on a cross to save us from our sins? According to Wikipedia: Yom Kippur (Hebrew: יוֹם כִּפּוּר, IPA: [ˈjom kiˈpur]), also known as the Day of Atonement, is … Continue reading
Posted in R. Rabbs
Tagged day of atonement, days of awe, god need, high holy days, jewish tradition, synagogue services
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Rabbis At An Exhibition
In a 1996 lecture on Exodus 20, Dennis Prager says: There was a great hesitation to use art for anything but worshipping God [in the Jewish tradition]. The rabbis didn’t sit down, generally speaking, and paint. We didn’t have Hillel … Continue reading
Posted in Dennis Prager
Tagged Dennis Prager, Hillel, jewish tradition, talmud, worshipping god
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Is There Anything Interesting About Tisha B’Av?
I’m going to discuss the Jewish fast of Tisha B’Av (begins at sundown July 19) with Dr. Kirschbaum this evening on my live cam and Monday at 7 pm PST with Rabbi Rabbs. Dr. Kirschbaum writes long ago for Tikkun … Continue reading
Posted in Israel, Mark Kirschbaum, Torah
Tagged jewish tradition, kirschbaum, many generations, outreach programs, rabbs, temple destruction
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Rahm Emmanuel Holds A Bar Mitzvah Celebration For His Son On A Sunday
I know that Rahm Emanuel speaks Hebrew, belongs to an Orthodox synagogue and visits Israel. His wife, Amy Rule, apparently did not receive an Orthodox conversion. Rabbi Asher Lopatin writes to the Failed Messiah blog in November 2008: Please read … Continue reading
Posted in Orthodoxy, Rahm Emanuel
Tagged agudas achim congregation, amy rule, jewish tradition, orthodox conversion, orthodox synagogue, Rahm Emanuel, rahm emmanuel, torah reading
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The 12 Questions Goyim Ask Luke About Judaism
From my live cam: Casey: I have about 12 questions. I tried to make it 9, a propos of Prager… but… YourMoralLeader: ok Casey: #1) who was the narrator? I mean, I thought I detected that you were writing this … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged authentic representation, bell curve, diamond sutra, jewish tradition, Reform Judaism, schmaltzy
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