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Of Making Many Books

And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end (Ecclesiastes 12:12) A pdf version of this essay  can be downloaded here [*] Years in brackets refer to an individual’s or book author’s year of birth Thought experiment for the day: Anyone born 1945 would be pushing towards 80 and mostly past their prime. So name any Charedi sefer written by someone born post war that has or is likely to enter the canon, be it haloche, lomdus, al hatorah or mussar. Single one will do for now — IfYouTickleUs (@ifyoutickleus) July 27, 2022 A tweet in the summer which gained some traction asked for a book by an author born from 1945 onwards that has entered the Torah and rabbinic canon or is heading in that direction. I didn't exactly phrase it this way and some quibbled about 'canonisation'. The word does indeed have a precise meaning though in its popular use it has no narrow definition. Canonisation, or ‘entering the canon’ is generally understood to
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Has Pinter been demoted?

The 'Rabbi' has always titled himself as the 'principal' of Yesodey Hatorah Schools or, sometimes, Yesodey Hatorah Secondary School.

In 2003 the BBC website has him as principal, in 2004 he was so called in The Independent, in 2008 in the Guardian and more recently in the JC on 21 September 2010, when the 'Rabbi' also said 'I have 150 employees..' presumably as principal of one or more of the schools.

So why was he described in last week's JC as 'Charedi leader' and who and what does he lead other than his schools, unless a rent-a-quote career on any subject from human embryology to the number of people at a wedding qualifies one as a leader?

Even stranger is his title in the recent interview with him on the Blood and Property blog on the very subject of YHS where he is introduced as Yesodey Hatorah 'spokesman'.

So has he resigned as principal? Has he been sacked? If so, by whom and why? And is it usual for schools to have spokespeople, do they draw a salary, how many hours do they work a week?

'Rabbi': please can we have a quote.

Comments

  1. Blood and Property23 October, 2010 15:16

    I hope the 'spokesman' title wasn't wrong - it was supposed to be less interesting than principal! A result of laziness on my part. I was in a rush and saw his wife's name and title on the ofsted report and opted for what I thought was a neutral description of his role.

    But at least the school has someone who talks! That's more than can be said for other Hackney schools.

    By the way, do you think the cuts could result in more charedi children going to state schools? Otherwise good luck with the blog.

    ReplyDelete
  2. IfYouTickleUs24 October, 2010 00:04

    Thanks!

    I'll agree with you on the 'someone who talks' though 'doesn't stop' is more like it.

    Practically zero chance of chareidi children going to state schools if only because by definition they'd stop being chareidi.

    ReplyDelete

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