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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: Yarmulke
Some Game?
He sat at his desk in the law office Wednesday afternoon grinding out the work when suddenly an attractive young brunette appeared before him. “Hi!” she said. “I’m Devi*.” He was taken aback and only stuttered out a “hi” after … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged default response, goofy smile, jack cohen, ladies room, luke ford, wednesday afternoon, Yarmulke
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How Does One Enjoy Life When There’s A Genocide In Darfur?
I was just out for a walk. It’s a beautiful sunny day in Pico-Robertson. I passed these kids playing. They were laughing and shooting each other with water guns. At least one kid wore a t-shirt that read “Stop the … Continue reading
Posted in Heshy Fried, Jews
Tagged genocide in darfur, jewish tradition, mazal tov, religious tradition, water guns, Yarmulke
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The Modern Orthodox Walk Of Shame
From YUBeacon.com: Adjusting the clasp on my Hadaya necklace, I finally take in my whole reflection in the bathroom mirror. My transformation from Occasionally-Cute-Modern-Orthodox-Girl into Sexually-Appealing-Secular-Woman: complete. I had managed to startle myself so much that I rush to cover … Continue reading
Posted in Modern Orthodox, Orthodoxy, Sex
Tagged bathroom mirror, peacoat, room key, stella artois, walk of shame, Yarmulke
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The One That You Love
David Deutsch emails: So the other day, I’m in the local Rite Aid, and they’re playing “The One That You Love,” by Air Supply, and I think immediately of you. So the question, as a fan, is it flattering to … Continue reading
Posted in David Deutsch
Tagged color photo, David Deutsch, luke ford, pavlovian response, Yarmulke
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Will My Beard Hurt My Job Prospects?
Most of the people close to me hate my beard. They say it will hurt my job prospects. That people don’t like beards. I know there are jobs that require a person to be clean-shaven, but I am not so … Continue reading
Posted in Orthodoxy, Personal
Tagged ethics of judaism, fair dinkum, jewish practices, normative judaism, orthodox judaism, rusty razor, traditional judaism, transcendent values, tzitzit, Yarmulke
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Dennis Prager Disagrees With Giving Jewish Kids Distinctively Jewish Names
Dennis said on his radio show today that he disagrees with Jewish parents who give their kids distinctively Jewish names. I guess he means names such as Dovid or Shmuel or Dov. Dennis says they should have their Hebrew names … Continue reading
Posted in Dennis Prager
Tagged Dennis Prager, hebrew names, jewish names, jewish parents, public sphere, Yarmulke
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We Must Write What We Can Only Whisper
I imagine things from her perspective: I met him in yoga in early January. He came in late. He looked a mess. He wore sweats. He had a beard and a yarmulke and tzitzit hanging out. He was looking for … Continue reading
Posted in Dating, Fiction, Personal
Tagged drink tea, earthquake, guru, Jewish Literature, la cienega, la cienega blvd, orthodox jew, slippery places, slippery surface, tzitzit, Yarmulke
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Why Do People Hate Jews?
I was talking a woman the other day who was a secular leftist Jew. She had 12 years of Orthodox Jewish day school. I asked her: "If you were herded into gas chambers next week along with all the other … Continue reading
Posted in Jews, Personal
Tagged fellow jews, gas chambers, jewish day school, new york subway, why do people hate jews, Yarmulke
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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 →