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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: samson raphael hirsch
Denying Science Makes A Mockery Of Orthodox Judaism
In a 2009 lecture on Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch for Torah in Motion, Dr. Marc B. Shapiro says: “It’s impossible to cover up these things now they’re out there [online]. “Hirsch says we’re not bound to any opposition to science. … Continue reading
Posted in Evolution, Marc B. Shapiro, Orthodoxy
Tagged great lover, kook, Marc B. Shapiro, mythical creatures, orthodox judaism, Rabbis, samson raphael hirsch, slifkin
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‘Levi, Have You Seen My Lapdancers?’
I often get off the 10 Freeway at Robertson Blvd and have to pass by this den of iniquity — Skin, a strip club at 3388 Robertson. Here’s a strip club right next door to the burning heart of Modern … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged Aish HaTorah, Beth Jacob, David Klinghoffer, orthodox conversion, samson raphael hirsch, YICC
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Eternal Judaism
Joe emails: I seriously find major fault with Bnai David. The use of time and money to feed the local homeless population, which are mostly psychotics (any sane homeless person lives by the beach in Venice Santa Monica) is a … Continue reading
Posted in Bnai David-Judea, Germany, Haredi, Homeless, Modern Orthodox, Orthodoxy, Pico/Robertson
Tagged darth vader, free train rides, local private schools, rabbi samson raphael hirsch, samson raphael hirsch, worst case scenario
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If Rav Schachter Says March, They March
I was fascinated by the Meir Kin case. Not the messy details of the divorce, but the side issue of three Modern Orthodox shuls in Pico-Robertson repeatedly sending their members to picket outside the home of Meir Kin’s parents. I … Continue reading
Posted in Beth Jacob, Bnai David-Judea, Dennis Prager, Meir Kin, Personal, YICC
Tagged Beth Jacob, filthy pervert, messy divorce, orthodox shuls, rabbinical council of california, samson raphael hirsch
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When Rabbis Over-Step
I love this story because I love seeing rabbis who fancy themselves authorities in matters they know little get humiliated when they try to squash others. Rabbi Hirsch fancied himself the leader of German Orthodoxy. He attacked Rabbi David Zvi … Continue reading
Posted in Marc B. Shapiro, Orthodoxy
Tagged england nissan, least five years, Marc B. Shapiro, rabbi hirsch, samson raphael hirsch, talmudic sage, torah in motion, torah scholar
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What Is The Scientific Study Of Judaism?
Academic study of Judaism aka critical study aka scientific study all mean something simple — following the facts wherever they lead. The major Ashkenazi denominations of Judaism (Reform, Conservative and Orthodox) developed in Germany in the 19th Century. A founder … Continue reading
Posted in Judaism, Marc B. Shapiro, Modern Orthodox, Orthodoxy
Tagged critical notes, critical study, julius wellhausen, Marc B. Shapiro, samson raphael hirsch, semitic languages, steinsaltz, talmud study, torah in motion
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Torah Portion Audio Roundup
Steve Brizel writes: Moshe and Klal Yisrael After the Episode of the Golden Calf R. Aharon Lichtenstein explains why Moshe Rabbeinu spoke to the entire Jewish People after the Episode of the Golden Calf: link Shabbos and Mishkan The Nesivos … Continue reading
Posted in Torah
Tagged aharon lichtenstein, berel wein, dovid gottlieb, moshe rabbeinu, samson raphael hirsch, shlomo riskin
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Remembering Aish HaTorah’s Founder Noah Weinberg
Rabbi Gil Student writes: To the great sadness of Jews around the world, R. Noah Weinberg passed away last week (link). There are many moving tributes on Aish.com.* One thing about R. Weinberg was that he was passionate. You couldn’t … Continue reading
Posted in Aish HaTorah
Tagged famous rabbis, gil student, independent thinker, moving tributes, political fallout, samson raphael hirsch
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Why Is There No Rabbi Who’s A Prominent Intellectual?
Chaim Amalek emails: "Why are there no prominent, widely accepted rabbis in America who can speak truth to torah and torah to truth? Because Judaism has been centrifuged into two components, the first a fossil faith incapable of change in … Continue reading
Posted in David Klinghoffer
Tagged David Klinghoffer, forefather abraham, intellectual trend, jerusalem post, rabbi samson raphael hirsch, samson raphael hirsch
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The Term ‘Scholar’ Is Given Away Too Early
Jewcy.com calls Andrew Bostom a "scholar of Islam." Andrew can’t read read Arabic. Just as anybody who can’t read Hebrew can not be a scholar of Judaism and somebody who can’t read German can’t be a scholar of Samson Raphael … Continue reading
Posted in Academia
Tagged andrew bostom, samson raphael hirsch, scholar of islam, sorry steve, steve bailey
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