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...
So Golders Green can have sit-down restaurants and cafes, schools run by a board of governors rather than a single nepotistic strongman, mixed Tashlich sessions, decent mikvo’os and now even an eiruv and all with a Kedassia hechsher. But as for Stamford Hill it has been decreed that we are to remain forever under the servitude of a cabal of kleptomaniacs who can carry nothing but their own wallets.
It’s not as if we in Stamford Hill are incompetent because in many respects we are far more capable than others. Reb Aaron of Satmar will this week lay the foundation stone and attend the opening of a shul, yeshiva and school, the other Satmar recently opened its own mega girl school, Belz has commenced a huge building project, Vizhnitz has in the last few years opened shuls and schools, ditto for Bobov and Ger.
Yet in all this time the wretched UOHC has barely managed to refurbish a single mikve after many years as a building site and another mikve remains in a decrepit state after almost a decade. It can barely sweep its own front yard and they only put their cemetery in order after protests and notices in shuls. Oh, and they also facilitate the grand theft at the Yesodey Hatorah wedding hall through an agency, a leaseback, money changers, offshore companies and anything else they can think of to rip us off.
The time has come to realise that they are simply not fit for purpose and let them disband. Their boards and committees are not elected, they do not meet our needs and yet we pay for their upkeep through their kashrus racket. No taxation without representation goes the saying but I’d forgive them even that if they provided some kind of service. But they don’t and so let them disappear and we’ll manage far better without them.
Mr. Tickle
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't you marry a multi-billionaire's (inherited wealth)daughter?
We have schools, one in particular, run by it's own single strongman, albeit with the help of his son in law who, coincidentally is connected to this issue.
ReplyDeleteTottenham area is also closed off at side 1)Crowland road (railway),
ReplyDeleteside 2)River Lea
side 3)Spring Hill (Park)
side 4)zuras hapesach on each road that ends at Stamford hill or Clapton common.
as a movi from 3 sides and the forth side may have zuras hapesach 'lecol hadias' as Rabbi Eisner writes for GG
Having perused the perimeter of your suggested route today, it seems that you are entirely correct. Shouldn't take much work to build either. I'd advise interested parties to start lobbying the local vested interests. To (very loosely) paraphrase Karl Marx, you have nothing to loose but your shabbos belts.
DeleteMeir says
ReplyDeleteTo the last poster. One should approach all rabbis in the area especially Rav Biberfeld a more 'modern' one and DEMAND that something be done about making the eruv. Leave out the Union dayan Dunner, although he will be the first 'on board' when its in the making. A few 'strings' over the ends of the half a dozen streets wont even cost very much.
I can only reiterate that if the Israeli experts can be brought in and they prepare a plan it will be very hard for any local rov (who most likely have no idea of eiruvin) to refuse.
There must be some method of forcing the union. Like stopping contributions until this matter is settled.
If only the 'other' meat was recognised as being just as kosher one could stop buying the kedassia one.
One cannot stop contributions to the Union. Except for those that have some vested interest i.e. paying in less than taking out, nobody pays anything to the Union. Their income comes mainly from their exorbitant kashrut fees and the outright robbery by the burial society.
ReplyDeleteThat is why the protect their monopoly so vigorously.
Incidentally Rav Biberfeld's shul is not affiliated to the Union.
Many thanks Mr T for posting the Eisner letter. But hang on to your britches, and stop galloping away.
ReplyDeleteWhat is all this nonsense about sit down restaurants and cafés? The vast majority of kosher eateries in NW London do not have a kedassia license. The vast majority of their clientele are either from Finchley & HGS, or from the Hill. The very few (2 or 3) kedassia establishments, certainly do not fall under the category of sit down restaurant, and are struggling to make ends meet.
The schools may be run by a board of governors (many indeed are) and that board is free to discuss and plan the future direction for the school and debate policy all day and all night. Ultimately the board presents its decision to the vaad hachinuch - a politically correct term for "single nepotistic strongman". And if he doesn't like what he hears, he tells them what to decide. The board then votes and the results are usually unanimous. Of course, some of the schools don't bother with the charade, and the strongman just notifies his gofers of his new decision.
Tashlich, I can't vouch for every location, but I have yet to come across a mixed one. (Perhaps I'm not frequenting the right watering holes).
As for mikvo'ois, forget about decent - let's settle for kosher. The implication is that the union has 2 mikvo'ois, albeit in poor repair. In NW London Messrs Frand & co as well as all their predecessors, have not deemed it necessary to build a mikvah. For years HAYS (not the UOHC) had the only ladies' mikva and its kashrus relied on far greater leniencies than any eruv ever thought of. As it was literally crumbling away, a group of individual askonim - not UOHC - set about building a new mikvah a good forty minutes walk away at the other end of Golders Green. When that opened the Hendon mikva closed. Another group of askonim with Reb E Halpern's blessing set about giving their mikva a serious upgrade. But that is also a private mikvah and not a kehilla mikvah. They may well be decent, and open to the general public, but they are not communal and at any given moment the Charity Commission or the trustees can close the mikvahs without so much as a by your leave.
As for this new eruv, other than a few handful of residents living within its boundaries, it doesn't really affect anyone at all. And one way or another most of those people were carrying in the NWL Eruv anyway.
The shocking state of the cemetries affected the NW segment just as it did the N.
The only thing I was unaware of is the business about YHS hall, how did the mafia get involved in that one? What connection does the union have with the school or its premises?