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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: rav
The Gadolim Stand Behind Rabbi Rabbs
The whole thing. Rabbi Rabbs: “I don’t want kids. I’d be a terrible parent just like my parents.” “I am strongly against child abuse. That’s my big ticket item… I see myself as a leader in standing up against child … Continue reading
Posted in R. Rabbs
Tagged cycle of abuse, rabbi, Rabbis, rav, substitute father, weird ideas
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The Ordination Of Women As Orthodox Rabbis
I’m told: There are many aspects to this and I do not believe that any one or two people can change things on their own. Orthodox Judaism is a religion of consensus. Sometimes ideas are discussed for decades before they … Continue reading
Posted in Modern Orthodox, Orthodoxy
Tagged avi weiss, ordination of women, orthodox judaism, orthodox rabbis, rav, sephardic world
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Fighting With Your Betters
I often have conflicts with people who are my superiors. They’re not just more successful in life (they’re married with children) than me, they’re finer. Kinder. More mentchy. More moral. More Jewish. More knowledgeable of Torah. It leaves me with … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged betters, hierarchy of values, married with children, rav, superiors
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I Was A Talmid Of The Rav!
Only now can the truth be told! I know every rabbi claims to have been a talmid of the Rav, but I really was. I studded under the Rav for three years when he was still teaching in Yiddish. The … Continue reading
Posted in Modern Orthodox, Orthodoxy, Personal, Rabbis, Satire
Tagged biblical criticism, broken man, intellectual exercise, orthodox judaism, rav, talmid
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Why Do People Fear Mussar?
Benyamin Eckstein posts to HirHurim: The big fear which prevents people from studying and applying Mussar is that they are deathly afraid of getting to know themselves. It is that which is too painful, not hearing about the dire consequences … Continue reading
Posted in Mussar
Tagged consequences of sin, different styles, fire and brimstone, rav, self awareness
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Spinka Claims His Miranda Rights Were Violated Because He Doesn’t Understand English
One of the Spinka Hasidim busted along with the Spinka Rav is going to make a motion Monday that his arrest should be thrown out because he was read his rights in English which he doesn’t understand, and in Yiddish, … Continue reading
The RCC & Corruption
Jane calls. "I just curse the day I took my case to the RCC. They are so corrupt and biased. The RCC rabbis sit on these different boards, they have so many entanglements, and I feel like the big donors … Continue reading
Posted in RCC
Tagged corruption, donors, entanglements, quot quot, rav
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Re: Rav Daniel Arnall, Rav Abner Weiss
Gadi Shapiro ([email protected]) emails from the Israel Fathers Rights Advocacy Council about this post: Rav Daniel Arnall is not only one of the brightest intellectual rabbinic lights among the modern orthodox in LA (whenever I needed to borrow a copy … Continue reading
Posted in Abner Weiss, Daniel Arnall
Tagged Abner Weiss, advocacy council, american population, arnall, arnell, Beth Jacob, fathers rights, gadi, gmail, halachic decisions, ifrac, intelligent approach, last decade, Modern Orthodox, modernity, public apology, rav, RCC, rich elite, YICC
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Who Was The Rogachover?
I heard from professor Marc B. Shapiro this week that the Rogachover was the preeminent genius of the 20th Century. Who was this Hasidic sage? I found this story on Google from Ruby Stein: A story about the Rogachover that … Continue reading
Posted in Rogachover
Tagged 20th century, amidah, darche noam, genius, Google, gr, heart, learner, Marc B. Shapiro, professor marc, r isaacs, rav, regard, ruby, sage, shul, six years, three steps
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Why Are There No Female Saints In Judaism?
Professor Marc B. Shapiro writes: Since I mentioned some stories from Halakhic Man that show that the Rav did not have a Modern Orthodox ethos, I will also say something about the following story, which some have wondered about. Once … Continue reading
Posted in Judaism
Tagged adherent, Christianity, elitism, female saints, hasidism, Marc B. Shapiro, notion, nots, prayers, professor marc, psalm book, rav, renown, rsquo, seforim, Synagogue, talmud, torah study, traditional judaism, younger generation
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