- 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: Torah
Tales From Jewish Dating Hell
Dating is the one thing you get worse at the more you do of it. I came to Los Angeles at age 27. I went to 20-something evenings at Aish Ha Torah. Then I started going to 30-somethings. What a … Continue reading
Posted in Dating, Personal
Tagged aish, family friends, jewish women, shanda, Torah, younger women
Comments Off on Tales From Jewish Dating Hell
Yisroel Pensack: Rep. Giffords’ Medical Progress Called a ‘Miracle’
It’s not often that The New York Times reports on “miracles”: TUCSON — …Representative Gabrielle Giffords continued Friday to make significant medical progress, her doctors said… Last Saturday, Ms. Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, was meeting with constituents in a Tucson … Continue reading
Posted in Judaism, New York Times, Torah, Yisroel Pensack
Tagged Arizona, Dr. G. Michael Lemole Jr., miracles, neurosurgery, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, thrice-daily prayers, Torah, Tucson, university medical center
Comments Off on Yisroel Pensack: Rep. Giffords’ Medical Progress Called a ‘Miracle’
The Top Ten Orthodox Blogs In English
There’s no Orthodox blog I read every day. I read most often (in order) Torah Musings, Frum Satire, Failed Messiah, and Cross Currents. I am trying to come up with a top ten list, but I would not tell you … Continue reading
Posted in Blogging
Tagged cross currents, messiah, musings, Torah, vosizneias
Comments Off on The Top Ten Orthodox Blogs In English
Football and Love
While girls have come and gone from my life over the past 33 years, I’ve loved only one football team — the Dallas Cowboys. This year, the Cowboys have one victory in seven games. They are virtually eliminated from the … Continue reading
Posted in Football, Personal
Tagged 33 years, dallas cowboys, football team, seven games, Torah
Comments Off on Football and Love
Rav Kook On Evolution
Dr. Marc Shapiro blogs: He mentions that Maimonides assumes the eternity of the world when he seeks to prove the existence, unity, and incorporeality of God. Maimonides adopts this model so that his proof will be acceptable to everyone. R. … Continue reading
Posted in Evolution, Marc B. Shapiro, R. A. I. Kook
Tagged adam and eve, creation of adam, creation of man, creation story, Judaism, kook, latest scientific discoveries, maimonides, marc shapiro, modern science, Torah
Comments Off on Rav Kook On Evolution
The Torah Doesn’t Believe In Handouts
Leviticus 19: 9 ” ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or … Continue reading
Posted in Dennis Prager, Torah
Tagged Dennis Prager, ethical responsibilities, gleanings, grapes, Torah
Comments Off on The Torah Doesn’t Believe In Handouts
I Love My Judaism, She Loves Her Jesus
How often do you hear Jews talk about how much they love God? Almost never. Jews instead say things like, “I love Torah”, or “I love Yiddishkeit” or “I love Judaism” or “I love Israel” or “I love Jews.” Christians, … Continue reading
Posted in Christianity, Jews
Tagged Dennis Prager, Jews, Judaism, lord and savior, Torah
Comments Off on I Love My Judaism, She Loves Her Jesus
Torah Talk With Rabbi Rabbs
This week we have two Torah portions — Nitzavim (Deuteronomy 29:9–30:20) and Vayelech (Deuteronomy 31:1–30). Rabbi Rabbs goes off on the Ten Commandments of Chabad Jews (I love Chabad and Aish HaTorah, but I enjoy hearing Rabbs’ rant): * You … Continue reading
Posted in R. Rabbs, Torah
Tagged bailout plan, brilliant woman, cathol, lord and savior, rabbi, rabbs, rebbe, sabbath candles, shem tov, Torah, torah portion, torah portions, vayelech
Comments Off on Torah Talk With Rabbi Rabbs
Qualifications For A Good Judge
In a 1996 lecture on Exodus 17, Dennis Prager says: What isn’t listed? Even hinted at for what a judge in Israel ought to be? What’s missing is loving and compassionate. Nothing about that is mentioned. The Torah has words … Continue reading
Posted in Dennis Prager
Tagged affirmative action, compassion, Dennis Prager, exodus, Israel, Torah
Comments Off on Qualifications For A Good Judge
The $300 Brake Job
I haven’t used one tank of gas this summer. I’ve been frugal with my driving. It helps that my brakes don’t work too well, almost to the point where I’ll open the door and drag my feet along the crowd … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged bill margold, brake job, intimacy, master of the universe, retrospect, Torah
Comments Off on The $300 Brake Job
