- https://PayPal.Me/lukeisback
"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: shlomo riskin
You No Longer Get To Sit On Your Rabbi’s Lap
Professor Marc Shapiro writes: Another change in our era is that signs of physical affection between a rebbe and student, which at one time were very important especially as the rebbe served as a father figure, are no longer acceptable. … Continue reading
Posted in Marc B. Shapiro, R. Shlomo Riskin
Tagged making of a gadol, marc shapiro, physical affection, relevant passages, religious circles, shlomo riskin
Comments Off on You No Longer Get To Sit On Your Rabbi’s Lap
Jewish News
From Hirhurim: David Greenfield defends wearing tefillin on airplanes: link Anti-semitism highest since WW2: link R. Shlomo Riskin wants Efrat to be smoke-free: link When religious people lie: link Orthodox rabbis fight for release of convicted perpetrator of bank fraud: … Continue reading
Posted in Jews
Tagged Anti-Semitism, bank fraud, david greenfield, Hirhurim, shlomo riskin
Comments Off on Jewish News
Jewish News
From Hirhurim: New article on homosexuality by four senior YU roshei yeshiva: link Shas joins World Zionist Congress: link R. Shlomo Riskin and R. Eugene Korn: A time to act for Catholic-Jewish reconciliation: link Deafening silence over EJF scandal: link … Continue reading
Posted in Hirhurim
Tagged chief rabbinate, israel gap, Sarah Palin, seth farber, shlomo riskin, world zionist congress
Comments Off on Jewish News
This Week’s Torah Portion – Emor 5769
Steve Brizel writes: Kedushas Kehunah and Kedushas Am Yisrael R. Aharon Lichtenstein explains why non-Kohanim can and should emulate the Kohen in our everyday lives: link R. Yisocher Frand illustrates why the Halachos of Tumas Kohanim, even for a minor, … Continue reading
Posted in Torah
Tagged aharon lichtenstein, berel wein, dovid gottlieb, kohen gadol, shlomo riskin, yom tov
Comments Off on This Week’s Torah Portion – Emor 5769
This Week’s Torah Portion Tazria-Metzora 5769
Steve Brizel writes: Yom HaShoah R. Aharon Lichtenstein reminds and exhorts us to respond , but not to offer theodicy-based explanations for the Holocaust: link R. Tamir Granot explores various hashkafic perspectives on anti-Semitism and the Holocaust: link R. Hershel … Continue reading
Posted in Torah
Tagged aharon lichtenstein, berel wein, bris milah, jonathan sacks, observant jew, shlomo riskin
Comments Off on This Week’s Torah Portion Tazria-Metzora 5769
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
Comments Off on Torah Portion Audio Roundup
Torah Portion Roundup
Steve Brizel writes: The Mandatory Half Shekel R. Yitzchak Adlerstein, based upon the teachings of the Nesivos Shalom, illustrates how and why personal growth is dependent on partnering with the greater community of Klal Yisrael: link Why Every Jew Counts … Continue reading
Posted in Torah
Tagged aharon lichtenstein, berel wein, david horwitz, moshe rabbeinu, proper observance, shlomo riskin
Comments Off on Torah Portion Roundup
The Secrets Of Making Converts To Orthodox Judaism
Rabbi Gil student writes: Urim Publications recently published A Circle in the Square, a book that is a combination of a biography of R. Shlomo Riskin until his aliyah in 1983 and the story of the innovation that is Lincoln … Continue reading
Posted in Hirhurim
Tagged gil student, lincoln square synagogue, orthodox judaism, shlomo riskin, torah giants, torah portion
Comments Off on The Secrets Of Making Converts To Orthodox Judaism
New Torah
Rabbi Gil Students writes: Meorot Journal 7:1, September 2008/Tishrei 5769 (link) Introduction to the Tishrei 5769 Edition by Dr. Eugene Korn "Dat Ha-Emet" in Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah by R. Chaim Rapoport Maimonides’ "True Religion": For Jews or All Humanity? A … Continue reading
Posted in Torah
Tagged chaim rapoport, marc angel, mishneh torah, orthodox judaism, shlomo riskin, yom tov
Comments Off on New Torah
This Week’s Torah Portion Is Bamidbar
We’re beginning the book of Numbers this Sabbath. Steve Brizel writes for Hirhurim: The Themes of Sefer Bamidbar R. Berel Wein reminds us that one of the key elements of Bamidar is how people, their attitudes and actions played a … Continue reading
Posted in Torah
Tagged aharon lichtenstein, berel wein, book of numbers, brizel, buchwald, daniel stein, dovid gottlieb, hatzlacha, history link, jonathan sacks, land of israel, rabbah, rosensweig, shechinah, shevet, shlomo riskin, shlomo wolbe, torah portion, yom yerushalayim, zev
Comments Off on This Week’s Torah Portion Is Bamidbar