- 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 scroll
This Week’s Torah Portion Is Terumah (Exodus 25:1-27:19)
Watch the whole show. I discuss the weekly Torah portion with Rabbi Rabbs every Monday at 7pm PST on my live cam and YouTube. This week’s parasha is Terumah (Exodus 25:1-27:19). * We discuss my Saturday night interview with Heshy … Continue reading
Posted in R. Rabbs, Torah
Tagged debbie friedman, god in our midst, god is god, heshy, presence of god, rabbs, religious artifacts, religious rituals, torah scroll, weekly torah portion
Comments Off on This Week’s Torah Portion Is Terumah (Exodus 25:1-27:19)
Random Thoughts On The Torah Scroll Dispute
* Rita Pauker interview. Rabbi Samuel Ohana interview. * In an offer attached as Exhibit B to R. Ohana’s first pleading filed with the Los Angeles Superior Court in this case, R. Ohana offered to give Rita Pauker all four … Continue reading
Posted in R. Avraham Teichman, R. Gavriel Cohen, R. Nachum Sauer, R. Samuel Ohana, R. Sholom Tendler, R. Yitzhock Adlerstein, RCC, Steven Friedman
Tagged absolute confidentiality, confidentiality clause, los angeles superior court, sifrei torah, torah scroll, torah scrolls, torah torah
Comments Off on Random Thoughts On The Torah Scroll Dispute
I Was Called First To The Torah
It was a mincha on a Shabbos. “Levi Ben,” said the rabbi, pointing at me. I froze in shock. “But I’m not a Cohen,” I said. “I know,” said the rabbi. “Come on up.” I walked up in shock. I … Continue reading
Posted in Orthodoxy, Personal
Tagged alexander technique teacher, discombobulated, little pad, mincha, parsha, second blessing, social anxiety, torah scroll
Comments Off on I Was Called First To The Torah
Los Angeles Torah Scroll Dispute
Julie Fax writes July 20, 2010 in the Jewish Journal: Despite two rabbinic court rulings against him, a Sherman Oaks rabbi is refusing to turn over four Torah scrolls that a rabbi’s widow says belong to her. In May, a … Continue reading
Posted in R. Samuel Ohana
Tagged gross injustice, israel congregation, mid 1990s, mishkan, pauker, scott sobel, torah scroll, torah scrolls
Comments Off on Los Angeles Torah Scroll Dispute
Widow To Get Torahs Back
Background on this dispute. Jeff emails: Luke: Last April, you blogged about the Mishan Israel/Pauker fight over the Torahs. Just as an FYI, the RCC Bet Din heard the case again and issued a second ruling in Pauker’s favor, demanding … Continue reading
Posted in R. Samuel Ohana, RCC
Tagged bet, civil judgment, fyi, israel congregation, ohana, pauker, rabbinical council of california, torah scroll, torah scrolls
Comments Off on Widow To Get Torahs Back
Over Shabbos, I Penetrated The Mystery Of Love
Today I read Rabbi Dr. Marc Gafni‘s 2003 book "The Mystery of Love." I was surprised to find it such an erotically charged book. I thought it would be boring. From page 68: "The model for eros is virtually always … Continue reading
Posted in Marc Gafni, Sex
Tagged animal skin, love quot, mail, marc gafni, reading table, synagogue service, torah scroll
Comments Off on Over Shabbos, I Penetrated The Mystery Of Love