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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: lubavitcher rebbe
The Greatness Of Rav Kook
Marc Shapiro writes: In fact, it is only with the publication, uncensored, of R. Kook’s writings that the “lights” of his soul are revealed in all their grandeur. What other spiritual leader with unconventional views could declare that he is … Continue reading
Posted in Marc B. Shapiro
Tagged iyah, lubavitcher rebbe, marc shapiro, rav kook, tragic consequences, unconventional views
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This Week’s Torah Portion – Parashat Masei (Numbers 33:1-36:13)
I discuss the weekly Torah portion with Rabbi Rabbs every Monday at 7pm PST on my live cam and on YouTube. Facebook Fan Page. This week we study Parashat Masei (Numbers 33:1-36:13). Watch the video. * This is the end … Continue reading
Posted in Torah
Tagged cavalier attitude, Dennis Prager, lubavitcher rebbe, proper borders, rabbs, weekly torah portion
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The Queer Frum Orthodox Chasidic Mother Of Eight Novelist
Somebody tried to set me up with this woman. Then I did my research and found out she was queer. So I just asked for an interview instead. Goldie said yes. We exchanged a bunch of emails trying to nail … Continue reading
Posted in Chabad, Jewish Literature
Tagged chicago jewish news, lubavitcher rebbe, orthodox jew, synagogue life, three girls
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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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Yisroel Pensack: Some Thoughts on the Sentencing Hearing of Sholom Rubashkin
A sentencing hearing in the financial fraud case of former Agriprocessors kosher slaughterhouse manager and Lubavitcher chassid Sholom Rubashkin is scheduled to begin tomorrow (Wednesday) in federal court in Iowa. There is a concept in Judaism that each Shabbat “blesses,” … Continue reading
Posted in Agriprocessors, Chabad, Ethics, Fraud, Judaism, Kashrut, Torah, Truth, Yisroel Pensack
Tagged animal slaughter, chillul Hashem, conduit for blessing, confession, egypt, federal court, Iowa, lubavitcher, lubavitcher rebbe, Pesach sheni, Rashi, sacrificing animals, second Passover, sentencing hearing, shabbat, Sholom Rubashkin, wages, weights and measures, yom kippur
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Rabbi Gavriel Cohen’s Beit Din Of Beverly Hills
Rabbi Gavriel Cohen set up his Beit Din of Beverly Hills in 1983 with the approval of Israel’s Sephardic Chief Rabbi. He has the support of such Sephardic rabbis as the current Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar and the Sephardic gadol … Continue reading
Posted in R. Gavriel Cohen, R. Samuel Ohana, Rabbis, RCC
Tagged chief rabbi shlomo amar, chief rabbis, gavriel, lubavitcher rebbe, rabbi cohen, rabbi shlomo amar
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Kundalini & Judaism
Myron emails: Hi Luke, I read your blog about Kundalini and Judaism. I too practice Kundalini Yoga (since February 2009) and think about it in relationship to Judaism…I guess doing this in Jerusalem where we do make connections with Holidays, … Continue reading
Posted in Judaism, Yoga
Tagged hassidim, ivine, kippa, levinas, lubavitcher rebbe, values of ethics
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Failed Messiah’s Interview With Historian Bryan Mark Rigg
Shmarya Rosenberg writes: Chabad wants the head of Nazi Germany’s Military Intelligence to be granted Righteous Gentile status by Yad Vashem. Here is a no holds barred interview conducted this evening with the historian who wrote the groundbreaking book on … Continue reading
Posted in FailedMessiah
Tagged bryan mark rigg, groundbreaking book, lubavitcher rebbe, nazi germany, yad vashem
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Why Marc B. Shapiro Won’t Be Giving Any Classes On The Rebbe, The Rav, And Aharon Kotler
In his first class on Rabbi Jehiel Jacob Weinberg for Torah in Motion, Professor Marc B. Shapiro says: Let me tell you about who we won’t be discussing — the three most important figures in post-war North American Orthodoxy — … Continue reading
Posted in Haredi, Marc B. Shapiro, Modern Orthodox, Orthodoxy
Tagged american hebrew, american orthodoxy, kotler, lubavitcher rebbe, Marc B. Shapiro, professor marc, soloveitchik, torah in motion
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Rav Soloveitchik Predicted There Would Never Be Hasidic Judaism In America
During World War II, there were fewer than 100 Satmar families in the United States. Now the Satmar are the most numerous Hasidic group, about 125,000 presently. In a lecture on the Satmar Rav for Torah in Motion, historian Marc … Continue reading
Posted in Haredi, Hasidim, Marc B. Shapiro
Tagged chaim herzog, judaism in america, lubavitcher rebbe, Marc B. Shapiro, rav soloveitchik, reb moshe, torah in motion, torah scholar
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