- 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: yeshivot
When Rabbis Used To Slap Students
Marc Shapiro writes: Even though, as mentioned, teachers were never supposed to inflict real pain, I think it is fair to say that the physical punishments over the generations sometimes did get out of hand (see next note). I recall … Continue reading
Posted in Marc B. Shapiro
Tagged gentle person, going on strike, marc shapiro, rosh yeshiva, torah study, yeshivot
Comments Off on When Rabbis Used To Slap Students
When Do Big Rabbis Become Small Rabbis?
In his third lecture on Rabbi Chalom Messas for Torah in Motion, Rabbi Marc B. Shapiro says: I don’t think Rabbi Yitzhak Abadi has any following. He learned his whole life in the Litvisha world. Rav Abadi was the posek … Continue reading
Posted in Lakewood, Marc B. Shapiro, R. Yitzhak Abadi
Tagged chalom, har nof, kotler, Marc B. Shapiro, torah in motion, yeshivot
Comments Off on When Do Big Rabbis Become Small Rabbis?
The Top Five Mizrachi Rabbis In Israel
What is Mizrachi? It is religious Zionism. Rav Mordecai Eliyahu would have to be number one. Then Haim Drukman, Yaakov Ariel, Aharon Lichtenstein, She’ar Yashuv Cohen (the Rav of Haifa and the son of the Nazir of Jerusalem David Cohen), … Continue reading
Posted in Haredi, Israel, Modern Orthodox
Tagged aharon lichtenstein, eliyahu, high school students, israel god, jerusalem post, marriage registration, matthew wagner, mizrachi, Modern Orthodox, mordecai, nazir, rabbinic ordination, Rabbis, yeshivot
Comments Off on The Top Five Mizrachi Rabbis In Israel
Paying For Jewish Day Schools
From Hirhurim: OU Plans to Foster Major Savings in Non-Academic Yeshiva Expenses (link): With the encouragement and participation of a growing number of yeshivot and day schools across North America, the Orthodox Union is quickly moving ahead with a two-pronged … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Orthodox Union, Orthodoxy
Tagged academic areas, insurance savings, jewish day schools, jewish education, orthodox community, Orthodox Union, parosh, plan health insurance, prong approach, revenue enhancement, school tuition, yeshivot
Comments Off on Paying For Jewish Day Schools
The Declining Quality Of Yeshiva Education
A teacher writes on Hirhurim: "As someone who has taught and teaches in high level post high school yeshivot and seminaries- I can attest that the reading level, as well as the ability to "sit" and study, has declined. They … Continue reading
Posted in Yeshiva
Tagged gil student, jesuit priest, level discussions, noach, thoughtful analysis, yeshivot
Comments Off on The Declining Quality Of Yeshiva Education
The Agony Of Rabbi Jechiel Yaakov Weinberg
Professor Marc B. Shapiro blogs: Yet while Weinberg wanted to live as a more modern type of rabbi, one who was a Zionist and academic scholar in addition to being a Torah sage, he wanted to be remembered as a … Continue reading
Posted in Marc B. Shapiro
Tagged academic scholar, har etzion, maaleh adumim, Marc B. Shapiro, torah study, yeshivot
Comments Off on The Agony Of Rabbi Jechiel Yaakov Weinberg
Frightened By The Conversion Controversy
Frightened posts to Cross-Currents: Again, there is an issue in that the court abolished ALL of the giyur done by R. Druckman and R. Avi-Or. The apologeticists and attackers keep framing this debate in terms of extremes, in which a … Continue reading
Posted in Conversion
Tagged controversial cases, conversion controversy, female offspring, rsquo, yeshiva student, yeshivot
Comments Off on Frightened By The Conversion Controversy
Philosophy of Spiritual Education
By Aryeh Ben David "For education to be truly effective it has to penetrate into the depths of the soul of the student." The Disconnectedness of Standard Jewish Education In my opinion there is a serious problem in Jewish Education … Continue reading
Posted in Aryeh Ben David, Education, Spirituality
Tagged abraham, aish kodesh, approach work, aryeh, cynicism, hassidic masters, jewish education, judging others, knowledgeable educators, pedagogy, personal relevance, quot, rav kook, safe space, spiritual education, supportive environment, talmud, vilna gaon, wisdom of the kabbalah, yeshivot
Comments Off on Philosophy of Spiritual Education