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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: orthodox rabbinate
Parashat Vayera (Genesis 18:1-22:24)
Why doesn’t the rabbi touch his girlfriend? Is he a freak? No. He’s just an authentic Orthodox Jew. All Jews are expected by Jewish law to not touch the opposite sex (except for spouse and family). Most Orthodox Jews observe … Continue reading
Posted in Torah
Tagged congregational rabbi, orthodox jew, orthodox jews, orthodox rabbi, orthodox rabbinate, rabbi chaim
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Rabbi Daniel Gordis – A Conservative Rabbi And Lightning Rod On Israel
I never thought much of Rabbi Daniel Gordis’s work (I read his first two books, they were snoozers) until he moved to Israel. Since then, everything I have read by him has been magnificent. He’s found his mission. He’s found … Continue reading
Posted in R. Daniel Gordis
Tagged conservative rabbi, jewish national homeland, judah magnes, lifelong activist, orthodox rabbinate, rabbi daniel
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Orthodox Man Hesitates Five Seconds Before Patronizing Kosher Restaurant Without Ethics Certification
LOS ANGELES: Modern Orthodox Jew Brad Gold found himself debating in his mind Monday whether or not to eat at his favorite kosher deli. On the one hand, the food looked good, on the other hand, he could find in … Continue reading
Posted in Satire
Tagged beef sandwich, corn beef, ethics in business, lectures on ethics, orthodox jew, orthodox rabbinate
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The Mob Rule Of LA’s Orthodox Rabbinate
On his radio show May 20, 2010, Dennis Prager says: “I want to tell you a story here. Every kid, for reasons we can never explain as adults, remembers something forever that didn’t even happen to the kid… Every one … Continue reading
Posted in Meir Kin, R. Avrohom Union, Rabbis, Union
Tagged bank of america, Beth Jacob, Dennis Prager, greg baer, mob rule, orthodox rabbinate, teenage kid, YICC
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Amalek Declares Luke A Jew
Bob emails: “Why is Luke Ford not profiled here? His omission here is more hurtful than his absence from hotornot.com.” Khunrum emails: “Let’s face it lads. No one takes this Luke/Jew thing seriously including Luke. He’s about as Jewish as … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged age appearance, luke ford, orthodox jew, orthodox judaism, orthodox rabbinate, proper conversion
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The Former Orthodox Rabbi Who Now Does Interfaith Weddings
I interviewed David Gruber in June 2008 about how he lost his faith and left the Orthodox rabbinate. Then I did another interview with him Nov. 30 about his appearance on MTV doing an interfaith wedding. Here’s an excerpt from … Continue reading
Posted in R. David S. Gruber
Tagged david i, different faiths, gruber, interfaith weddings, jewish wedding, mtv, orthodox rabbi, orthodox rabbinate
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Is The Elevator Kosher?
The New York Times reports: Tangible things occupy the days of most building managers in New York City. Hot water, floods, bugs, rent checks and so on. But last week, newly added to the tenant issues facing building managers like … Continue reading
Posted in Orthodoxy
Tagged building managers, elevator button, observant jews, orthodox rabbinate, rise apartment, water floods
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What Makes The Rabbinical Council Of California The Most Powerful Orthodox Institution In Town?
It’s the killer combination of Rabbi Gershon Bess — the savviest politician among the traditional Orthodox rabbinate in Los Angeles — and Rabbi Avrohom Union, a nasty street fighter who administers the RCC. In my mind, being skilled at politics … Continue reading
Posted in R. Avrohom Union, Rabbis, RCC
Tagged killer combination, loving kindness, nasty street, orthodox institution, orthodox rabbinate, rabbinical council of california, torah study
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