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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: orthodox jewish community
Should I Move To Dallas?
Greg Leake emails: Hi Luke and Rabbs, Last Torah Talks, Luke said to Rabbs, “Who was that guy who used to write all the time?” Rabbs puts hand over face and goes into a 45-second brown study, presumably because my … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged alexander technique teacher, dillon texas, discretionary income, herbal store, introductory lectures, orthodox jewish community
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Jerusalem court finds author Naomi Ragen guilty of plagiarism
I’ve covered this story extensively here. Haaretz reports: After four years of adjudication, the Jerusalem District Court Sunday upheld the writer Sarah Shapiro’s plagiarism claim against best-selling writer Naomi Ragen. The court ruled that Ragen knowingly copied from Shapiro’s work … Continue reading
Posted in Naomi Ragen
Tagged adjudication, debut novel, jerusalem district court, orthodox jewish community, sarah shapiro
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Breaking The Silence In Orthodox Judaism
Michael Lesher writes in the New York Post: The numbers are startling — in the past two years, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes’ office says it has arrested and charged 89 Orthodox Jewish men with child sex abuse. It’s horrific … Continue reading
Posted in Abuse
Tagged abuse survivors, charles hynes, child advocates, child sex abuse, orthodox jewish community, orthodox judaism
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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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Editor Phil Jacobs Investigates Sexual Abuse Within Baltimore’s Orthodox Community
From the Baltimore City Paper: Late last month, Phil Jacobs, executive editor of the Baltimore Jewish Times, was packing his bags and feeling anxious. He was on his way to the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. Standing Silent, a documentary directed … Continue reading
Posted in Abuse, Jewish Journalism
Tagged atlanta film festival, baltimore city paper, baltimore jewish times, jewish film festival, lashon hora, orthodox jewish community
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Christians In Jerusalem Want Jews To Stop Spitting On Them
From TorahMusings.com: Christians in Jerusalem want Jews to stop spitting on them ▪ National memorial for fallen rabbi nears in Arlington National Cemetery ▪ JPPI summarizes demographic trends ▪ Stanley Fish: What’s Up With the Jews? ▪ Israel’s Cedar wins award at Cannes ▪ Treasury agrees … Continue reading
Posted in Jews
Tagged american scholar, arlington national cemetery, jewish vision, jppi, orthodox jewish community, stanley fish
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Rethinking Jewish Day Schools
From DonnaBurstyn.com: I was calculating what I spent on the education of my four daughters before they hit college. Three of them went to Orthodox Jewish day schools. A fourth one went until third grade and then was in other … Continue reading
Posted in Donna Burstyn, Education, Orthodoxy
Tagged archdiocese of los angeles, catholic day, jewish day school, jewish day schools, orthodox jewish community, practicing catholic
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Converting The Mentally Ill
Orthodox Jews don’t look for converts among non-Jews. They typically turn away three times Gentiles seeking conversion and then only convert them after they have proved themselves. Now what happens if the convert is sincere but mentally ill? Different Batei … Continue reading
Posted in Conversion, Personal, R. Avrohom Union, R. David Rue
Tagged chronic fatigue syndrome, conversion applications, head rabbi, jewish conversion, masters degree in psychology, orthodox jewish community, rabbi abner weiss, rabbi david, rabbinical council of california
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Heshy Fried Live In The Hovel!
Heshy Fried operates FrumSatire.net. I hung out with Heshy for four hours Sunday night. (My 2011 video interview with Heshy.) Things started out in the hovel and then moved to Haifa restaurant on Pico Blvd. Luke: “Heshy, when you were … Continue reading
Posted in Dating, Heshy Fried, Orthodoxy, Sex
Tagged camp moshava, classic kid, hebrew day school, heshy, high school equivalency, one of those guys, orthodox background, orthodox jewish community, providence hebrew day school, providence rhode island, skater girls, stand up comedian, west end avenue, yeshivish
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