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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: rosh hashanah
Friendly Luke
People relate to me without the beard. It makes me appear more friendly, more accessible. Women dig it. A guy said to me in shul over Rosh Hashanah that I have the friendliest face. Frankly, I haven’t been particularly friendly … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged Alexander Technique, ford center, honorable profession, hovel, rosh hashanah, shul
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Your Moral Leader Has Had The Flu Since Rosh Hashanah
It must be a punishment for my sins. I’ve got an appointment tonight at 7 to see a doctor. Rodger Jacobs: I’ve had the same virus for weeks; it goes away and then it comes back. Rinse, lather, repeat. The … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged appetite loss, cdc statement, flu viruses, lather, lethargy, moral leader, orthodox jew, oxygen tank, physical ailments, respiratory congestion, rosh hashanah
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Sick
I’ve felt like crap since Rosh Hashanah, almost three weeks ago. Every time I feel like I am getting better and I return to yoga and I get some exercise and I try to resume a normal life, I get … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged common people, going home, great health, rosh hashanah, simchat torah
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Dennis Prager Asks For The Bereavement Fare
Dennis Prager’s mom Hilda died Saturday, Rosh Hashanah, Sept. 19, 2009. As he was booking a flight to New York for himself, his wife and his LA son, Dennis asked the ticket agent for the bereavement fare. He’d heard that … Continue reading
Posted in Dennis Prager
Tagged bereavement, Dennis Prager, rosh hashanah, son dennis, ticket agent
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Nasty Flu
I got sick last Sunday, the second day of Rosh Hashanah, and came home after just an hour at shul, barely enough time to daven and look at the pretty girls. I spent the next three days in bed and … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged last sunday, nasty flu, pretty girls, rosh hashanah, yom kippur
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Yisroel Pensack: “Industrial Strength” Global Fundraising By Chabad For The New Year 5770
At first, I thought the return address said "CHABAD OF CRIME A" in Brooklyn, so I was wondering: What is the difference between "Crime A" and "Crime B", and what crimes do they stand for? Then when I opened the … Continue reading
Posted in Brooklyn, Chabad, Charity, Israel, Yisroel Pensack
Tagged 5770, Crimea, fundraising, rosh hashanah
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Yisroel Pensack: Berkeley Mohel Battling Oral Cancer Wrote Rosh Hashanah Poem
This poem by the seriously ill mohel and Torah teacher Rabbi Chanan Feld was read to his Beit Midrash Ohr HaChaim congregation in Berkeley by his wife Jody on Rosh Hashanah: Rosh HaShanah words from Rabbi Chanan Feld [HaRav Chanan … Continue reading
Posted in Mohel, Poetry, Yisroel Pensack
Tagged Beit Midrash Ohr HaChaim, Berkeley, R. Chanan Feld, rosh hashanah
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Yisroel Pensack: Leonard Cohen Should Have Been In Shul For Rosh Hashanah
The next time you want to persuade your friends or your kids to go to shul on Rosh Hashanah, you can tell them what happened to singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen on Friday. According to a Reuters report in The New York … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Yisroel Pensack
Tagged concert, Leonard Cohen, rosh hashanah, Spain
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My Gratitude To My Friends
I have about the most flexible ethics around. It must be all the yoga. It’s way too easy for me to justify doing anything that feels good. Hence, I consistently act like a pig in my own community of Pico-Robertson. … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged character flaws, free love, gratitude, holiday meals, orthodox judaism, rosh hashanah, zipper
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“The Most Fundamental Tenet Of Judaism”
In an aish.com article, Rabbi Noson Weisz writes that . . . contrary to popular belief, Rosh Hashanah is not about reward and punishment. The Talmud informs us that mitzvot cannot be rewarded in this world (Kiddushin 39b). The commentators explain … Continue reading
Posted in Aish HaTorah, Judaism, Yisroel Pensack
Tagged aish.com, Rabbi Dessler, Rabbi Noson Weisz, rosh hashanah
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