Tag Archives: orthodox conversion

Thank God For Texas

Greg Leake emails: Hi Luke, I have to agree with your family in respect to your beard. Soon you’ll be an Alexander Technique teacher, and naturally an inviting presence would seemingly be part of a realistic sales technique. You know, … Continue reading

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First Time In An Orthodox Shul

Jane emails: “Do you have any advice for me before I go walking into an Orthodox synagogue?” * Know that in Orthodox Judaism, men and women pray separately. The more Orthodox the community, the more men and women are separated, … Continue reading

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Racism In The Orthodox Community

Bill McCaulley writes: Dear Mr. Ford: I would wish to respond to a posting concerning racism among Orthodox Jews. I came upon the post recently I realize my reply is not timely, but I am greatly intrigued by the subject. … Continue reading

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God Hates Sodomy

This week’s Torah portion is Haazinu (the end of Deuteronomy). On Torah Talk, Rabbi Rabbs discusses Rosh Hashanah, the parsha, and the Ten Commandments of Luke Ford: * You shall laugh at Christianity, and compare believing in Jesus to believing … Continue reading

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Sex Under False Pretenses

Here’s a hilarious story from Israel: “A Palestinian man has been convicted of rape by deception after having consensual sex with a woman who had believed him to be a fellow Jew.” Oy, what will the goyim think? Oy, did … Continue reading

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A Convert Laments

I’m tired of all this Jewish lamenting over the latest conversion bill. I’m a convert to Orthodox Judaism and a well respected one at that! Like Jewish philosopher Jacob Stein, you’d be hard-pressed to find any Orthodox Jew who has … Continue reading

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Marrying A Convert

It does not make sense to me why somebody Orthodox from birth would want to marry a convert or a baal teshuva (penitent). I figure the more you have in common, the better. There tends to be a naive wide-eyed … Continue reading

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Rahm Emmanuel Holds A Bar Mitzvah Celebration For His Son On A Sunday

I know that Rahm Emanuel speaks Hebrew, belongs to an Orthodox synagogue and visits Israel. His wife, Amy Rule, apparently did not receive an Orthodox conversion. Rabbi Asher Lopatin writes to the Failed Messiah blog in November 2008: Please read … Continue reading

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Technical Difficulties

Friday. 4 pm. All over my blog in the widgets section, I’m getting this: “Warning: call_user_func_array() [function.call-user-func-array]: First argument is expected to be a valid callback, ‘shortcode_unautop’ was given in /home/lukef0rd/lukeford.net/blog/wp-includes/plugin.php on line 166” Anyone have a suggestion? [email protected]. This … Continue reading

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Finding An Orthodox Wife

A young man converting to Judaism tells me: “The problem I have is that most orthodox women (90% +???) won’t recognize a ger (a convert to Judaism) unless he has an RCA-approved conversion.” I don’t think that’s true. Unless you … Continue reading

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