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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

Hatzola in Intensive Care?

It would be disrespectful to the good work of the Stamford Hill Hatzola organisation to cover their latest troubles in a mere few tweets, plus since this is a work-free week time is more in abundance. A full bodied blog must therefore be the order of the day. There is a dense fog surrounding Hatzola's latest saga with the main participants reluctant to 'get involved' (a favourite localism) whether out of a sense of loyalty, an unwillingness to further fan the flames or for fear of repercussions, which, given the allegations, may well be real. Our press is of course useless on anything that really matters and even then they'll spin the line they're told to or they know they are supposed to, so there's not much information to be gleaned from them either. However, this is not an excuse to desist from wading in and so if you're still here let's go. Established in the late 1970s or early 1980s, Hatzola is a voluntary organisation of medical first respond

A Vort for Sukkos

Moirai V’Raboisai! Here is my vort Lekovod Sukkos specially for my dear readers and followers. Why is it that on Pesach we pile on the stringencies while on Sukkos it is just the opposite and the leniencies win over? Let me give some examples. The Torah tells us to eat Matzoh on Pesach because our ancestors left Egypt in a hurry or because it is a slave’s ration and yet we spend a lifetime’s saving on some stale indigestible cardboard that supposedly complies with every stringency under the sun. That is also nothing compared to the ban on chometz. The Torah commands us to refrain from unleavened bread for just seven days which might be bad enough. But along come Chazal and add on about three-quarters of a day on Erev Pesach when chometz is also forbidden just in case. And it’s not just the duration of the ban but also the subject matter. Chometz means leavened dough but along came the rabbis and throw rice and millet into the bargain and of course the ashkenazim go even further and

Non-denial denial “from UOHC Rabbinate”

Wednesday ‘Vayelech’, Fast of Gedaliah… 5779 [12 September 2018] Denial on behalf of the Rabbonim A signed public rabbinical announcement was published on the eve of Rosh Hashono purportedly from the Rabbonim and Dayonim of our holy community have announced their support, intervened or have expressed a view in respect of one of the candidates in the English [British] Parliament. We hereby clarify that none of our rabbonim has signed the public announcement and that our principle remains as ever that we do not intervene or express any view in relation to general political affairs. There Rabbonim and Geonim will in future not express either verbally or in writing any view regarding political affairs. May it be the Will [of God] that no fault should result from us. Signed on behalf of the Beth Din [signature] Registrar There is something odd about this letter it being in Yiddish which is not used for public announcements of this type and extremely p

Oy Jeremy Corbyn – Rabbis for Jeremy

Translation of public notice by group of Stamford Hill rabbis Public notice from the Rabbis We were shocked to hear that there are those who are spreading reports that the Jews in England [Britain] are united against the head of the Labour party, Mr Jeremy Corbyn. They have also publicised that as a result Jews are considering leaving the land of England [Britain] out of concern that he may be elected as prime minister. We therefore publicise our views that we are in no way associated with these aforementioned irresponsible activities. Jews who are loyal to God and His Torah seek the peace of the state in which they reside and treat her leaders with respect and, God forbid, we would never contemplate antagonising political leaders. As our sages of blessed memory have taught us and as we have been commanded by the Prophet Jeremiah (29:7), Seek the peace of the city to which I have exiled you and pray for her to God for in her peace will there be peace unto you. In t

UOHC Slapped Down

In a rare act of public rebuke the full-page ad below was published in Hamodia anonymously but obviously by people in the communal educational sphere. The language and tone clearly shows that they had in their sights UOHC’s recent notice on Creationism which reportedly got UOHC into trouble with The Learning Trust for its extreme language. It definitely had many educational heads hopping mad that the UOHC which runs not a single educational institution should be making such crucial decisions without consulting anyone actually running one and is likely to be affected to the tune of millions of pounds. The operative paragraph is translated below and the speeches referred to are a reference to a speech given by the rov of Satmar ‘86’. Notwithstanding the ad, the speech must have been intended for publication as it was delivered at shaleshudes and yet it was fully recorded. Note the defiance in the final words of the translated paragraph calling to abide by the rulings of the rabbonim