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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
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- Jordan Bardella: The Manufacture of Normality
- Everyone Became Television: Bourdieu’s Warning and the 2026 Iran War
- Marine Le Pen
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- Bernard Haykel: A Life Between the Text and the Gun
- Walker Connor (1926-2017)
- Benedict Anderson and the Nation as Imagination
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- Dominic Cummings: A Biography
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- * The Enlightenment Wasn’t Enlightened (6-23-26)
* Mr. Burge Draws The Line (6-23-26)
* 'Improving on Democracy' (6-17-26)
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* 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)
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* What would it look like if the Washington Post put its reader first? (6-1-26)
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* 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)
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Tag Archives: soloveitchik
Rabbi Hershel Shachter’s Rav Revisionism
Marc B. Shapiro blogs: It is common to hear among YU figures the expression “hakhmei ha-mesorah,” referring to authoritative rabbinic spokesmen. Readers can correct me if I am mistaken, but I don’t think that this expression, with the meaning currently … Continue reading
Posted in Hershel Schachter, Marc B. Shapiro, Rabbis, RCC
Tagged emanuel rackman, high holiday, Marc B. Shapiro, personal opposition, schachter, soloveitchik
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Has The RCA Developed Backbone Over Conversions?
Currently the RCA accepts the determination of Israel’s Chief Sephardic Rabbi Shlomo Amar about which conversions he will accept. I don’t expect the RCA will change its approach as long as Rabbi Basil Herring runs the show. He’s too weak. … Continue reading
Posted in Conversion, Haredi, R. Basil Herring, R. Shlomo Amar, RCA
Tagged basil herring, rabbi shlomo amar, rocking the boat, sephardic, soloveitchik
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Using Sex To Sell Torah
I was doing some research on Rabbi Simcha Weinberg and found some interesting comments about his late uncle Noah Weinberg, the founder of Aish HaTorah. I did not realize there was so much venom towards him. I researched these attacks … Continue reading
Posted in Aish HaTorah, Haredi, R. Noah Weinberg, R. Simcha Weinberg
Tagged Aish HaTorah, discovery seminar, haaretz, kiruv, norman lamm, professional satisfaction, ramhal, shaliach, soloveitchik, torah code
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The Shidduch (Matchmaking) Crisis
From Hirhurim: A survey of university presidents’ salaries: link Religious Zionists rabbis want kosher cellphone internet: link The new shidduch crisis: link An article on a few J-blogs: link NY Post reports on proposed solution to the Shidduch Crisis: link … Continue reading
Posted in Hirhurim
Tagged cradle robbers, men and the girls, poster posts, soloveitchik, university presidents, yeshivish
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Why Marc B. Shapiro Won’t Be Giving Any Classes On The Rebbe, The Rav, And Aharon Kotler
In his first class on Rabbi Jehiel Jacob Weinberg for Torah in Motion, Professor Marc B. Shapiro says: Let me tell you about who we won’t be discussing — the three most important figures in post-war North American Orthodoxy — … Continue reading
Posted in Haredi, Marc B. Shapiro, Modern Orthodox, Orthodoxy
Tagged american hebrew, american orthodoxy, kotler, lubavitcher rebbe, Marc B. Shapiro, professor marc, soloveitchik, torah in motion
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Intellectuals Go Nuts Over Rav Soloveitchik
But the ordinary Jew has not been affected by the Rav. Those who get drunk on the Rav’s theories are intellectuals who love theories. Yes, the Rav ordained more rabbis than anybody in history. But the Rav did not make … Continue reading
Posted in Marc B. Shapiro, Orthodoxy
Tagged chatam sofer, Marc B. Shapiro, orthodox rabbi, shulchan aruch, soloveitchik, torah in motion
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As Rabbi Mordecai Gafni Turns
Marc has been at the front of every development in Modern Orthodoxy for 30 years. He has been an incarnation of the movement’s various twists and turns. He has the ability to merge with his favorite thinkers. Around 1980, Elazar … Continue reading
Posted in Marc Gafni, R. Elazar Muskin
Tagged chief rabbi, hebrew academy, muskin, purim party, rabbi riskin, rabbi shlomo carlebach, rabbi shlomo riskin, soloveitchik, spiritual artist, straight arrows
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My Beard Bothers The World
In February 2008, I read an essay in Commentary magazine by the clean-shaven Rabbi Meir Soloveitchik on the role of the beard in Judaism. It laid out the reasons for why the beard (as opposed to the clean-shaven look) was … Continue reading →