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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 yeshiva
Can Jewish Law Be Wrong?
Dennis Prager writes: Many years ago, one of the most respected Orthodox rabbis of our generation, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, the chief rabbi of Efrat, told me the following story — and, of course gave me permission to tell it in … Continue reading
Posted in Dennis Prager, Orthodoxy
Tagged chief rabbi, Dennis Prager, electric shaver, orthodox rabbis, rabbi shlomo, rosh yeshiva
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Stories About Rabbi Moshe Feinstein
Marc B. Shapiro writes: For another such story, see p. 20 where he records how R. Moshe told a certain Rosh Yeshiva that it was inappropriate for him to refuse to be mesader kidushin just because there would be mixed … Continue reading
Posted in Marc B. Shapiro, R. Moshe Feinstein
Tagged male massage therapist, Marc B. Shapiro, professional relationship, rabbi moshe feinstein, rosh yeshiva
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When Rabbis Used To Slap Students
Marc Shapiro writes: Even though, as mentioned, teachers were never supposed to inflict real pain, I think it is fair to say that the physical punishments over the generations sometimes did get out of hand (see next note). I recall … Continue reading
Posted in Marc B. Shapiro
Tagged gentle person, going on strike, marc shapiro, rosh yeshiva, torah study, yeshivot
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Orthodox Jews Have Their Own Language
Heshy Fried — the most consistently amusing Jewish blogger — writes: Orthodox Jews have their own language, some call it yinglish, but we really add English, Yiddish, Hebrew, Aramaic and random terms from the Torah into out lingo. Where else … Continue reading
Posted in Heshy Fried, Orthodoxy
Tagged blogger, english yiddish, meaning of a word, orthodox jews, rosh yeshiva, shabbos
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The Eye Of The Storm
Dr. Marc B. Shapiro catches a story passed off as fact that never occurred in the new book by the rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Ner Yisroel, R. Aharon Feldman, The Eye of the Storm. Such nonsense makes me distrust anything … Continue reading
Posted in Marc B. Shapiro
Tagged aharon feldman, eye of the storm, Marc B. Shapiro, role of women, rosh yeshiva
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Talmud Talk
Luke Ford is worried that his weekly Torah Talks with Rabbi Rabbs are becoming too popular and too accessible to the goyim and perhaps at some point we should switch to a daily Daf Yomi live cam Talmud Talk. We’ll … Continue reading
Posted in Personal, Torah
Tagged daf yomi, luke ford, rabbs, rosh yeshiva, secular subjects, virtual yeshiva
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The Hasidim Conquered America
From a Jewish Press interview with Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff: Today we all wear uniforms. What is the concept of wearing a uniform? What is chassidus all about? It’s beautiful. You have a social order, you build a wall around yourself … Continue reading
Posted in Hasidim, R. Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff
Tagged black hats, chassidic rebbe, rabbi aaron, rosh yeshiva, roshei yeshiva, torah jew
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Aftermath of rescue: boy’s father sues
Much of the best reporting on Orthodox Jewish life these days occurs on The Jewish Star. Michael Orbach writes: A Brooklyn father who sent his son to an abusive boot camp for delinquents in the Caribbean is suing a Far … Continue reading
Posted in Isaac Hersh, The Jewish Star
Tagged jewish star, life these days, orthodox jewish life, rosh yeshiva, son isaac, tranquility bay
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Heshy Fried On Frum Sex Scandals
Read or watch the whole interview here. Here’s an excerpt: Heshy: “Everything offends someone. If you want to get offended, you get offended. In the frum community, it’s even worse. I did a show where I talked about my dating … Continue reading
Posted in Heshy Fried, Sex
Tagged heshy, monsey new york, reb moshe, rosh yeshiva, search engine tactics, shtender
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