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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 synagogues
Need help finding an Orthodox Synagogue!
Jane emails: “I’m a prospective Jewish convert. I’ve spent the past 4 months or so studying at a Conservative Temple here in Los Angeles. Although I really enjoyed my experience, I want to experience and learn more, however this time … Continue reading
Posted in Bnai David-Judea, Orthodoxy
Tagged Google, orthodox shuls, orthodox synagogue, orthodox synagogues, orthodox world
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I Dream Of New York
I keep having dreams about spending a weekend in New York. On Friday night in my dreams, I visit a couple of Orthodox synagogues and have a grand time. I meet people. I’m invited home for Shabbat dinner. I’m go-go-go … Continue reading
Posted in New York, Personal
Tagged crazy dreams, grand time, having dreams, orthodox synagogues, shabbat dinner
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Will Bnai David-Judea Follow Suit?
Bnai David is the most liberal Orthodox shul on the West Coast. I wonder if it will copy these developments in New York? My yetzer hara says: “Do you remember Lamelle from when she was at Bnai David? She has … Continue reading
Posted in Bnai David-Judea, Modern Orthodox
Tagged hebrew institute of riverdale, kabbalat shabbat, mail letter, orthodox shul, orthodox synagogues, rabbi avi weiss
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How The Orthodox Deal With The Non-Orthodox
Orthodox rabbi Marc B. Shapiro blogs: In general, there have been some real changes in how Orthodoxy deals with the non-Orthodox, and Adam Ferziger has recently published a valuable article on the topic. In reading the article, I was surprised … Continue reading
Posted in Haredi, Marc B. Shapiro, Orthodoxy
Tagged conservative synagogues, introductory prayer, jewish learning center, Marc B. Shapiro, orthodox synagogues, temple chai
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Liability At Issue In Chabad Lawsuit In Nevada
Report: At the center of the Nevada case is Theressa Ramani, who filed a lawsuit in District Court in Clark County in 2003 against Chabad of Southern Nevada, Chabad of Summerlin, two rabbis and other individuals she said were affiliated … Continue reading
Posted in Abuse, Chabad
Tagged advocacy groups, chabad rabbi, court briefs, david frederick, orthodox synagogues, ramani
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Pico-Robertson In The 1960s
It was populated with faux yeshivas to get Orthodox Jews out of the Vietnam draft. By 1980, there were only two Orthodox synagogues in the community — Young Israel of South Beverly Hills and Beth Jacob. There wasn’t a kosher … Continue reading
Posted in Beth Jacob, Bnai David-Judea, Hancock Park, Haredi, Harkham Hillel, Pico/Robertson, R. Kalman Topp, YICC
Tagged Abner Weiss, Beth Jacob, orthodox shul, orthodox synagogues, rabbi maurice lamm, vietnam draft, YICC, Young Israel
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Shmuel Herzfeld – A Gay-Friendly Orthodox Rabbi
James Kirchick writes: Unlike most Orthodox synagogues, some of those congregants at Ohev Sholom are gay and don’t feel pressured into keeping that fact a secret with their rabbi or fellow worshipers. This is of course in large part attributable … Continue reading
Posted in Homosexuality, Personal, R. Shmuel Herzfeld
Tagged fellow worshipers, herzfeld, orthodox rabbi, orthodox synagogues, rabbinical scholar, same sex attraction
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Kiddish Clubs & Jewish Drunkeness
Lisa Miller writes for Newsweek: It was a Saturday afternoon in July, and according to the police report, the young man was driving drunk. So drunk, in fact, that he drove into the oncoming lane, rolled his car, crashed into … Continue reading
Posted in Alcohol
Tagged jewish papers, jonathan katz, milton berle, orthodox circles, orthodox synagogues, single malt whiskey
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Partisan Rabbi Claims To Be Impartial Investigator Of Agricprocessors
Failed Messiah reports: The co-leader of the rabbis’ staged visit to Agriprocessors, Rabbi Lerner claimed to be an impartial invesigator. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. We’ve shown that before. Here’s some new evidence of Lerner’s bias. … Continue reading
Posted in Agriprocessors
Tagged forward reports, member congregations, orthodox rabbis, orthodox synagogues, umbrella group, young israel of stamford
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