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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: upper west side
Women’s Prayer Groups Are Passe
In a 2010 lecture on R. Joseph Messas and R. Avraham Shapiro, Marc B. Shapiro (no relation) says that the Sephardim have always had a positive view of the return to Israel. Sephardim have never been anti-Zionist. Rav Messas wrote … Continue reading
Posted in Feminism, Marc B. Shapiro, Modern Orthodox, Orthodoxy
Tagged Marc B. Shapiro, mechitza, prayer groups, rabbi avi weiss, sefer torah, traditional judaism, upper west side
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What About Faith?
Rabbi Arnie Singer writes: As an Orthodox rabbi living and working on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, I’m thrilled to see so many single men and women actively involved in Torah and mitzvot. This is also the case in Queens, Brooklyn, … Continue reading
Posted in Dating
Tagged bitachon, minute details, mitzvot, orthodox rabbi, unrelenting quest, upper west side
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What’s The Big Difference Between LA And NY Orthodox Shuls?
There are hardly any single women in Los Angeles Orthodox shuls while New York shuls are filled with them. The Upper West Side of Manhattan has the biggest Orthodox singles scene in North America. Los Angeles? Not so much. In … Continue reading
Posted in Dating, Orthodoxy
Tagged jewish day schools, orthodox shuls, orthodox women, upper west side, women graduates
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‘The Shiksa Syndrome’
Dec. 4. Watch here. Temple Israel (My previous interviews with Laurie.) Author Laurie Graff, who lives on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, dropped her pet at doggie daycare on Highland before coming tonight. Laurie: "It’s my brother’s birthday this Saturday. He … Continue reading
Posted in Author Interviews, Jewish Literature, Laurie Graff
Tagged danny maseng, Laurie Graff, neon sign, new york jew, temple israel, upper west side
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I Join Amy Klein & Orit Arfa At Temple Israel Thursday Night To Hear Laurie Graff Talk About Her New Book ‘Shiksa Syndrome’
Watch here. Temple Israel (My previous interviews with Laurie.) Graff, who lives on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, dropped her pet at doggie daycare on Highland before coming tonight. Laurie: "It’s my brother’s birthday this Saturday. He has a big party. … Continue reading
Posted in Author Interviews, Jewish Literature, Laurie Graff
Tagged Amy Klein, arfa, danny maseng, Laurie Graff, neon sign, new york jew, orit, slim model, temple israel, upper west side, whiskey and wine
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No Room For Shiksas In These Temples
I call novelist Laurie Graff Nov. 16. Her new book is called The Shiksa Syndrome. She lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Luke: "Do you still do performances?" Laurie: "I haven’t really acted since all this book stuff … Continue reading
Posted in Jewish Literature
Tagged jcc, jewish book council, Laurie Graff, shiksas, upper west side, yiddish words
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Jewish Singles On The Upper West Side
From the Forward: Writing in Ha’aretz, Marco Greenberg offers an ode to Jewish life on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, and drops the following bombshell: “Even the New York Times has recently picked up on the UWS-Jewish connection.” Greenberg goes on … Continue reading
Posted in Dating
Tagged aretz, jewish connection, jewish singles, rsquo, upper west side
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Naked Gentile Chick
Yael Goldstein writes for Jewcy: “Oh, and wear something bordering on appropriate,” my mother says into the phone, an hour before my cousin’s wedding. “Hrmm,” I say noncommittally, reaching deep into my closet for an item that to the untrained … Continue reading
Posted in Clothes, Orthodoxy
Tagged che guevara, collar bones, family purity, life girls, suited men, upper west side
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Creating Attraction Between Men & Women
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach writes: Tens of thousands of singles congregate on the Upper West Side of Manhattan or the Pico-Robertson area of Los Angeles. They attend singles synagogues. They go to an endless variety of singles events. They date about … Continue reading
Posted in Dating
Tagged educational structures, endless variety, erotic mind, fifth person, rabbi shmuley boteach, upper west side
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The Oy of Sex; Adultery Can’t Be Kosher. Can It? A Story About God, Conscience . . . and Concubines
You can seek all the outlets you want, but don’t claim God blesses you for it. In Judaism and Christianity and Islam, sex is a genie to be confined to the marital bottle (Dennis Prager’s words). I may sin but … Continue reading
Posted in Sex
Tagged brooklyn accent, claim god, dancing wind, Dennis Prager, extramarital sex, household harmony, instruction sheets, islam sex, kosher style, lampposts, laura blumenfeld, mad men, morning prayers, ok men, peace and harmony, rabbi jacob, secretive group, sexual mate, t claim, upper west side
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