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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: psak
Does Leib Tropper Still Have A Following?
Yaakov* emails: The world loves a “martyr” and to the Agudists Tropper was framed and all is denied, in spite of all the scandals and expulsions, Tropper still has access to top Haredi rabbis. He still has money. He looted … Continue reading
Posted in R. Leib Tropper
Tagged beis, ejf, Haredi, Monsey, psak, unacceptable level
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Random Thoughts On Steven Friedman’s Ouster From Sunday Morning OU Panel
Background on the case. * A source says: The right story is that the OU canceled Steven Friedman. Why? Think. Why did the OU cancel it’s own speaker? Baruch Cohen is NOT that powerful and he’s not the story. The … Continue reading
Posted in R. Samuel Ohana, Steven Friedman
Tagged orthodox community, orthodox jews, psak, scott sobel, Steven Friedman, torah scrolls
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Seeking Justice In Jerusalem
Benji Kornbluth emails: Dear Luke Ford, I was wondering if I can ask your help on a matter. I live in Israel and work in the Real-Estate field (it’s tough and making a living for me isn’t easy), last year … Continue reading
Posted in Jerusalem
Tagged eretz yisrael, false rumours, justice in jerusalem, luke ford, orthodox jew, psak
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Blogging Allowed On Festival’s Intermediate Days
Rabbi Gil Student says: R. Yuval Cherlow rules that you are allowed to blog on Chol Ha-Mo’ed (link). See also this post: link. Note that you should ask your own rabbi and not rely on internet rulings. YEHUDA POSTS: I … Continue reading
Posted in Hirhurim
Tagged chassidim, ed link, gil student, intermediate days, psak, strange position
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Papal Infallibility And Its Parallels In Orthodox Judaism
Rabbi Gil Student writes: There is a review in the new issue of First Things of a book by a Protestant scholar on papal infallibility (link – subscription required). To my surprise, mainly due to my ignorance of Catholic history, … Continue reading
Posted in Hirhurim, Marc B. Shapiro, Orthodoxy
Tagged catholic dogma, catholic history, gil student, orthodox judaism, papal infallibility, psak, roman catholic church, Torah
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Destroying Amalek
Rabbi Gil Student writes: The Purpose of the Priestly Garments R. Mordechai Willig reminds us to emulate the character of Aharon HaKohen in our everyday conduct: link R. Shalom Rosner discusses many halachic aspects of the Bigdei Kehunah: link (audio) … Continue reading
Posted in Orthodoxy
Tagged gil student, Hirhurim, psak, rabinovitch, revivim, soloveichik
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