Committed: Men, Women, Marriage

Luke Ford says:

Elizabeth Gilbert wrote the bestseller Eat, Pray, Love.

In her new book Committed, she writes on page 55:

…the Old Testament is such a family-centric, stranger abhorring, genealogical extravaganza… the driving narrative always concerns the progress and tribulations of the bloodline…

But the New Testament — which is to say, the arrival of Jesus Christ — invalidated all those old family loyalties to a degree that was truly socially revolutionary. Instead of perpetuating the tribal notion of “the chosen people against the world,” Jesus…taught that we are all chosen people, that we are all brothers and sisters united within one human family. Now, this was an utterly radical idea that could never possibly fly in a traditional tribal system. You cannot embrace a stranger as your brother, after all, unless you are willing to renounce your real biological brother, thus capsizing an ancient code that binds you in sacred obligation to your blood relatives while setting you in auto-opposition to the unclean outsider.

Read On

Men, Women, Marriage

Luke Ford says:

Elizabeth Gilbert writes:

Married men live longer than single men; married men accumulate more wealth than single men; married men excel at their careers above single men; married men are far less likely to die a violent death than single men; married men report themselves to be much happier than single men; and married men suffer less from alcoholism, drug addiction, and depression than do single men….

There doesn’t seem to be anything, statistically speaking, that a man does not gain by getting married.

Dishearteningly, the reverse is not true. Modern married women do not fare better in life than their single counterparts. Married women in America do not live longer than single women; married women do not accumulate as much wealth as single women…; married women do not thrive on their careers to the extent single women do… [blah blah] less healthy… [yadda yadda] depression… [yadda blah] violent death…statistically speaking, the most dangerous person in the average woman’s life is her own man.

Read On

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach Vs. Dennis Prager

Luke Ford says:

This was recorded during Thanksgiving, 2009.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: “Values are not just abortion and gay marriage.”

Dennis Prager: “Those are very huge.”

Shmuley: “Values are family values. Keeping families together is the main thing. I don’t see where gays come into it. I think it’s a bogeyman.”

Dennis: “Whether marriage is redefined is a bogeyman? Whether girls will be raised to marry a man or a woman?”

Shmuley: “That can not compare to the disintegration of the family in our time. That’s why Christian pastors such as Rick Warren and Joel Olsteen don’t even get involved in this issue anymore. They don’t touch it.”

Dennis: “They’re worthless. They are Deepok Chopras of Christianity. They say nothing. They are meaningless popularizers who say nothing.”

Read On

I Was A Teenage Dirtbag

Luke Ford says:

I knew a boy named Luke Ford. I had the misfortune of being close to him.

My name is Amber*. Because I’m nice, I was always seated next to Luke Ford at Jewish journalism events. People thought I could control him.

Fat chance. Like trying to control the devil.

I met Luke Ford in a Jewish journalism laboratory.

He was my lab partner. We were assigned the complete works of Thane Rosenbaum. It was disgusting but we had to do it to graduate from yeshiva. We worked for a week cutting up this fetal pig.

Read On

Who Lost Turkey?

Luke Ford says:

Over the past five years, Turkey, which has the second biggest army in NATO, has moved from an ally of the West to an ally of Iran.

I guess Turkey, along with more and more of the world, is aligning with Iran because they see more advantages to do that than to align with the United States.

Under Barack Obama, the U.S. beats up on its friends (Israel, England, etc) and sucks up to its enemies (Iran and much of the Islamic world).

Turkey has been part of NATO since its inception. Now it has a radical Islamic party in power. It’s trying to dismantle secular parts of Turkey and place the country in bed with Iran.

It was Turks that attacked the Israeli soldiers on the flotilla Monday.

Read On

When Did I Become Israel's Ambassador?

Luke Ford says:

As I walked around today in my yarmulke and tzitzit out, I knew that I’d get challenges about Israel killing ten people on that aid flotilla to Gaza.

Non-Jews in my life were gentle but this was on their minds and I represent Israel to them.

So many Jews tell me that wearing a beard is not important. Not required by Jewish law (that’s true, but it is certainly the preferred state for Jewish men). Go clean-shaven and fit in, modern Jews tell me. Well, the goyim certainly understand what is an intensely Jewish appearance and they respond accordingly. In America, non-Jews have more respect for Jewish Jews than goyish Jews and they feel more comfortable with us when we are authentic to our traditions, including wearing a beard, than when we try to blend in.

When I had a beard and belonged to a Modern Orthodox shul, the non-Jewish Mexican cleaning lady asked a friend of mine at shul why the rabbi (me!) didn’t go up front to preach. Our rabbis (and 99% of the male congregation) were clean-shaven.

Read On

Obliterating Differences Between Men and Women

Luke Ford says:

When I can’t figure out whether a person is male or female, it disturbs me.

I like people who are clear and forthright in their identity. I like Jews who are Jewish and Christians who are Christian and women who are womanly. I don’t like dating women who want to be men.

I prefer women who dress in skirts rather than pants. I’m a traditionalist. Men on top. Stiff upper lip. Queen and country. Advance Australia Fair.

Dennis Prager writes:

In his just-published book, “How Pleasure Works,” Yale Professor of Psychology Paul Bloom, described by Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, as “among the deepest thinkers and clearest writers on the science of mind today,” writes:

Read On