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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:
- Tournier on Desmond Ford
- The Borrowed Robe: How Antisemitism Dresses in Each Age’s Virtue
- The Fence and the Blessing: How Jews Have Thought About Gentiles
- A Place For You
- Tournier on Luke Ford
- Tournier on The Nostradamus Kid
- An Alliance Theory of Antisemitism
- Tournier on Cinema Paradiso and Desmond Ford
- The Self-Hating Jew
- The Alliance Theory in the Academy
- 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)
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: norman lamm
The Rav Was Not A Zionist?
Marc B. Shapiro writes: To give one example of his many polemics, readers of the journal will never forget how he targeted R. Elya Svei. Yet he wouldn’t mention him by name. Instead, and as a way to show how … Continue reading
Posted in Marc B. Shapiro, R. J. B. Soloveitchik
Tagged intellectual freedom, joseph b soloveitchik, Marc B. Shapiro, norman lamm, r joseph, svei
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When Should A Religious Jew Go To Secular Court?
Yehuda emails: Background: Rabbi Norman Lamm Is no ultra-orthodox isolationist or fanatic but someone who very much believes very strongly in gaining secular education and knowledge and being part of secular culture. His views are so “moderate” that he has … Continue reading
Posted in R. Norman Lamm
Tagged gabbai, marital disputes, norman lamm, orthodox jewish community, religious jew, secular education
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Using Sex To Sell Torah
I was doing some research on Rabbi Simcha Weinberg and found some interesting comments about his late uncle Noah Weinberg, the founder of Aish HaTorah. I did not realize there was so much venom towards him. I researched these attacks … Continue reading
Posted in Aish HaTorah, Haredi, R. Noah Weinberg, R. Simcha Weinberg
Tagged Aish HaTorah, discovery seminar, haaretz, kiruv, norman lamm, professional satisfaction, ramhal, shaliach, soloveitchik, torah code
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The Latest Issue Of Tradition Magazine
Rabbi Gil Student writes: A new issue of Tradition has been published (link): Let Him Who Is Not A Camel Among Youby R. Shalom Carmy – Makes the point that much of the media coverage of the impact of the … Continue reading
Posted in Hirhurim
Tagged avi sagi, emanuel rackman, j david bleich, norman lamm, rabbi emanuel, shalom carmy
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Non-Orthodox Judaism Disappearing?
I’ve heard other Orthodox rabbis, such as Berel Wein, say they expected non-Orthodox Judaism to be around for hundreds of years. It would be delusional to think otherwise. Chaim Amalek emails:Isn’t that the case with all liberalizing religions in the … Continue reading
Posted in Christianity, Conservative Judaism, Modern Orthodox, Orthodoxy, R. Norman Lamm, Reconstructionist Judaism, Reform Judaism
Tagged berel wein, gil student, norman lamm, orthodox judaism, orthodox rabbis, protestant sects, rabbi isaac
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Israel’s Chief Rabbinate Is A Bad Joke
From Dr. Marc B. Shapiro‘s first lecture on Rav Isser Yehuda Unterman for Torah in Motion: "The chief rabbinate [of Israel] in the days of Rav [Abraham Isaac] Kook and Rav [Benzion Meir Hai] Uziel and Rav Unterman was the … Continue reading
Posted in Haredi, Israel, Marc B. Shapiro, Modern Orthodox, Orthodoxy
Tagged chief rabbinate, norman lamm, rav kook, supreme religious authority, torah in motion, torah scholar
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New Torah Lectures
Joel Rich writes (my favorites are anything by Marc B. Shapiro): Dr. Ya’akov Elman – Historical Context & Background of the Talmud: link Understanding history helps you understand Talmud. There are assumptions that “everyone knows” at the time but later … Continue reading
Posted in Torah
Tagged dynamic tension, Marc B. Shapiro, norman lamm, rosh hayeshiva, seeming contradiction, sefirat haomer
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Rabbi Emanuel Rackman Dead
I got an email from a shul saying: "The funeral will be in [Israel]." Emanuel Rackman was one of the great minds of Modern Orthodoxy, a far greater intellect than Shalom Auslander‘s uncle Norman Lamm who beat him out for … Continue reading
Posted in Modern Orthodox
Tagged 5th avenue, american orthodoxy, far rockaway queens, new york board of rabbis, norman lamm, rabbi emanuel, rabbinical council of america, Shalom Auslander, shul, Yeshiva University
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The Search For The Modern Orthodox Chumash
Joe emails: Luke, You keep making a big deal about the lack of a Modern Orthodox Chumash [the five books of Moses with commentary]. Here’s the real story. First of all, a Chumash like that uncovers the widening divide between … Continue reading
Posted in Modern Orthodox, Torah
Tagged books of moses, chief rabbi, five books of moses, jewish faith, norman lamm, rabbi jonathan sacks
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