Skip to main content

Posts

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

Justice Delayed

Ost of Eden

Just when you’ve given up hope in our entire leadership along comes someone to restore your faith in humanity. Step forward the real “Angel Gabriel” Ost. Arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice, he had the good sense and decency to step down in the interim from his position as CEO of Shomrim North West while he fights to clear his name. You may think that is not particularly remarkable and is exactly what any sensible person in his position would do. Alas, you would not have been living in Jewish London for the last half year if you harboured such thoughts. If only the main protagonist would have mustered the same dignity and courage and acted in a likewise manner, he would have saved the broader community, the UOHC, his own shul and followers, his family including his elderly father and, above all, himself the shame and disgrace that has justifiably been heaped upon them all. He could then have tried to clear his name away from the limelight and without draggin

The Breach Position

We are where we are and a chap, who until recently was a senior member of the most senior rabbinical body of our community, has been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault. So what does the body do? Forget about the rabbis. They're not trained in crises handling and the best one can expect from them is to stroke their beards and call on their flock to repent. After all, our leaders are only under suspicion while we're a bunch of hoary sinners at the best of times, or at least so we're told. You would also not expect our Chief to do anything but keep his counsel this time round given what happened when he was last consulted on such delicate issues. Silence after all doesn't make particularly good TV viewing. But what of our lay leaders? What do they do at a time like this? You know like the robin-round Rosh Hakohol . Or the chairman of the external affairs committee who week in week out pontificates on neither here nor there. Or the spokesman and occasional 'QC

Let My People Speak

Due to this morning's arrests the position with comments has become further complicated due to sub-judice (pronounced, sub JEW dc) rules. For some helpful guidance please see the following links: http://www.channel4.com/producers-handbook/media-law/contempt-and-reporting-legal-proceedings/contempt-or-sub-judice-rules http://www.out-law.com/page-9742 Please read carefully before you comment. Editing comments is horribly time consuming and if there is any doubt the comment will not be published. If there is a media lawyer reading this and is able to assist please can you make yourself known by email. There is however no reason why there cannot be a sensible discussion on how we got to where we are and the many repercussions to the community of the current situation. So please do not give in to those who would like to silence us and do contribute to this very important debate. Be heard not herded.

Tickle Tackled

As you all know this site has been the subject of legal action. We have no intention of boring you with the details but a few things must be said. There is a court order for Google Inc to disclose the IP address of the owner of this blog as well as of certain 'named' commenters which are based in the EU. The pseudonyms of the affected comments are listed below and those concerned should urgently seek legal advice. "The official FISHEL" "non-apikores" "Betrayed Former Supporter" "Hersh" "M055AD" "Playing with fire" "Shia" "Ger - (woman with brain)" "Be a Mentch!" "DSM IV 302.89" "Kazuhide Uekusa" "Antwerpian" "Stamford Hill'er" "Ben Tzion" "Laurence Davis" "Velvel" "The Curtain Falls" "Simche" "r''l" "r"l strikes again" "Avi" &quo

Second Coming

Clear Blue Water

[1 February 2013] Clarification I wish to make it clear that the Haloche requires that cases involving criminal activity must be reported to the authorities (social services or police) without delay. Victims of crime who do so, will of course be given all appropriate support. Where criminal activity is only suspected, the above also applies, however care must then be taken to ascertain that these concerns do indeed have a reasonable basis. May God grant all of us the protection necessary to ensure that the situation never occurs in practice. Good Shabbos Rabbi Cohn So it appears we have a serious machloikes haposkim (dispute of the authorities). Rav Padwa is of the view that reporting abuse to the police is mesira and anyway “the police is not the solution,” while Rabbi Cohn thinks it is actually haloche that requires one to report all criminal activity to the authorities which includes the police. Rabbi Cohn as we know is also an ‘honest broker’ in the UOHC convened B

Not Just Another Brick in the Wall

Original Scarfe Cartoon… …and Hamodia’s take on it For goodness sake, they’re wearing a tichel Methinks that the JAA (Jewish Acronym Alliance) ought to demand an immediate retraction of this notorious distortion of this notorious ad, Rupert Murdoch’s counterpart at Hamodia Newspaper Ltd must issue an unreserved apology and the Hamodia’s editor should be seriously considering his position. And as for Gerald Scarfe’s chareidi counterpart, if only we had one…

Mutiny in the Ranks

-------- Original message -------- Subject: NHAYS: Beis Din Tsedek From: NHAYS Webmaster < webmaster@northhendon.co.uk > To: mailinglist@northhendon.co.uk CC: Sent on behalf of the Executive: This is a statement to confirm that the Executive and Board of Management are most surprised that our Rov has been appointed to represent a 'Beis Din Tsedek' in the local case (see here ). This has been done without our knowledge and is therefore totally independent of our shul. Yours sincerely, The Executive of NHAYS

These are thy gods, O Israel

Channel 4’s news item on the programme

Call to Arms

Helpline of Least Resistance

Guest post by “Pen Tivakesh” The so-called “unfortunate” Channel 4 Dispatches programme is about to hit the airwaves, and the UOHC has done it again. It has laid bare its wares and showcased its blatant disregard for anything but the safeguarding of its own precarious existence. Nothing is more indicative of this than Rav Padwa’s characteristically myopic and blinkered response which is bound to spread further the rot decaying the UOHC’s rickety construction. Rav Padwa: if it is indeed so important to you that our children are protected from harm, where on God’s earth have you been hitherto? Why have you to date cared so little for the pain and suffering of children and of victims of child abuse? Why have you shown them the door on numerous occasions citing their inadmissibility as witnesses owing to your own dark-age interpretation of Halacha ? If child protection is indeed so important to you, why do you still allow school teachers to beat their charges black and blue at the schoo

Union smells the coffee (or cordite)

13 Shvat 5773 [24 January 2013] To Rabbis, Educators and Heads of Educational Institutions here [in London] UOHC and Child Protection Parents and educational institutions in our community dedicate themselves to bringing up and educating pure souls and to raise them and watch over them with sanctity and purity, and with the help of God have much success. Guarding our precious children and protecting them from all harm and abuse is of course essential. It is therefore incumbent on us to treat every complaint of abuse, God forbid, very seriously. We need to understand how to deal with this appropriately, [how] to institute safeguards to prevent such possibilities and to provide appropriate support to those who have been abused. There exists a special committee appointed by the Union to deal with cases of abuse, God forbid, of children in our community. Members of the committee are rabbis, educators and community members some of whom have have been trained in how to deal appropria

A Grave Situation

In the furore that has recently gripped us all a small news item in the JC back in October of last year may have been overlooked. Nothing ground breaking, if that's not a metaphor too far, since we're only talking about a tiny little baby of a few days old, born prematurely and which is dead anyway. It's not even relevant to its manner of dying but rather its burial and the inconsequential matter of a mother wishing to discover her baby's burial place. But still I think it's important enough not to have the story buried, if you'll excuse the pun, during this bad news period. It was the caring and feeling Adath that took charge of the cadaver and interred it out of sight hoping it would remain out of mind. Along comes mum several years later asking the outlandish question of where the dead body is bestowed. Trust our Adath to come up with a humane answer to this apparently insoluble query which may have taxed even the brains of Solomon. And true to character t

Cri de Cur

The Da Vintshn Code

Guest Post (with a not altogether silent host) Dear "still not in the no" I have hesitated to respond to your inquisitive comments for I am fearful of incurring the displeasure of my Divrei Chaim brethren, and hope I shall not be banished from the DC magic circle for disclosing the clandestine mysticism oft-practiced in our cult. As you must have heard, we entrusted our entire life including our womenfolk and children to our Rebbe. Some even accorded to him the ancient right of droit du seigneur but it is said that our Rebbe, renown for his asceticism and self-abnegation, would exhort that the bride merely have him in mind during the Great Act rather than participate in it in person. We would pose to him all queries concerning our businesses and families for we knew Him to be the source of all knowledge. We would include even such esoteric topics as psychotherapy, tax avoidance and gynaecology and never would he fail us. Our Rebbe is a practitioner too of the ancient art

Passing Over

Strange that the ‘signature given’ to the notice proclaiming that, despite myriad allegations, Chaim Halpern may continue in all public positions was in Hebrew, while the above retraction is in English. Is this playing to different audiences or is it revealing of the signatory’s attitude to our collective mother tongue? To me at least it suggests that Hebrew is for zealotry while common sense comes in English.

More on that Swan

Part II So where were we before we were rudely interrupted by a Beis Din that will/will not take place? A (no) Show Trial where the judges are brought kicking and screaming, the witnesses are nowhere to be seen and the guy in the dock is smirking like a combatant after a prize-winning wrestle. Stalin couldn’t even have thought this one up but they call it justice round here. They even had me fool standing at the door with a hand on the mezuzah returning thinking it was a final curtain call, but which turned out to be a fly-by-night Beis Din stuck on the runway. Firstly, thanks for all the kind words and sentiments expressed. 'Mertshem by you,' you can see me nodding in all directions. 'Not at all, it was mamesh our pleasure. Ach don't be silly,' I say to those who insist on helping take home the half bottles of cherryade and unopened plonk because the waiters were under orders to hide the corkscrew openers. ' Loz , the goyim will look after it. Mach zich

Triple Whammy: JC going for the jugular

Sorry for the quality of the images. You’ll have to buy tomorrow’s paper or wait till they are put up online.

Firing Epistle

First Anti Halpern Letter Note on translation: Since the text waffles on in places I have omitted the less relevant passages. The letter refers to Rav Padwa in the 3rd person which has been changed to direct speech. Committee of Rabbis of NW London Days of Selichos Elul 5772 [September 2012] To the Gaavad of the UOHC Rabbi M.C.E Padwa shlita We have become aware that one of the Dayanim, a member of the Union Rabbinate, is involved in obscene acts with married women. By ‘obscene’ we mean deeds that according to all [halachic] opinions are within the category of an obligation of martyrdom rather than commit the acts. Many women have testified that he speaks freely in the most licentious of manners. To our great consternation, his actions too are of an extremely grave nature. Those close to the matter have said that even if he has yet to transgress the prohibition against adultery, there is considerable concern that he may commit such acts too in the near future, God forbid.

A Voice from the Wilderness

This comment was left by someone calling himself 'We are victims too' I was thinking of writing for a long time, and tonight after reading the many comments, I have decided to take the plunge and I hope people will be kind and read my post in the way it was intended. I am referring to the many attacks against the "evil", "selfish", "foolish", "irresponsible" " baalei machloikes " leftover DC mispalelim. Please understand, we the leftover DC mispalelim are victims ourselves. We now KNOW and realise the sad truth, but we cannot leave because we were imprisoned by R' Padva. You need to remember, when R' Padva promised the B'Din there were mainly just lots of rumours but no clear public guidance from rabbonim, so some of us had no motivation or courage to jump ship and leave. Many of us had the subconscious thought of "lets wait another week". The moment R'Padva said that he was getting a

With Frands like these...

Open Letter from "yankel" Dear Mr Frand, Firstly, let me introduce myself. I'm just an average Golders Greener, have only eaten Kedassia meat for the last 40 plus years, used to daven in Halpern shuls, but still daven in very right wing shuls (no eiruv carriers) send my kids to the most frum schools in NW, and try and do whats right in the eyes of Hashem. I go to work everyday, schvitzing to make a living to enable me to bring up my kids frum and correctly. Oy and 1 more thing I almost forgot to mention - I try to respect what my Rabonim and magid shiurim have to say. Your letter throws all this to the wind! What message are you sending out to me? I can't trust my rabonim I've learnt from and davened with for all these decades? I may as well send my kids to Christ College; they will probably end up being better guided knowing right from wrong! (Will save a fortune in school fees too!) I am thoroughly appalled by your recent announcement naming 3 ra

Courting Trouble

Reb Tickle’s Swan Song: Part I – On Rabbis and Rabble

The time has come to bow out of Towelgate. I shan't refer to it as the 'Painful Saga' as those who coined that name had in mind only the pain of the poor accused and his 'distinguished family'. But not a word was heard from those quarters to acknowledge even the existence of victims and never mind a kind word for their pain. It's a propitious time of year for reckoning so as we move on from the winter of discontent that has rocked our community it wouldn't be a bad idea to stand back and reflect. The basic facts hardly need repeating and the outcome is still far from certain. The reverberations will be felt for some time to come and there will be ample opportunity to analyse the causes and effects, exposures and cover ups, successes and setbacks, and winners and losers. On balance, however, I think we as a community have plenty to be proud of. We have shown that rabbis too can be responsive when the weight of public anger is brought to bear down on them. D

Rabbis and Rumours

Harav Wosner's T'Shuvah, Highlights By ‘Moish’ Much of the confusion in the recent case has been due to the fact that there is so little by way of precedent in terms of how to deal with rabbis who are alleged to have acted 'improperly'. Within the Charedi world, although such issues have surely arisen, they have been dealt with (if at all) so furtively as to leave barely a smidgen of record in the halachic literature. Precedents from the Modern Orthodox community are easier to find, but, well, they're modern anyway so what do you expect? The one recent case that does spring to mind is that of Rabbi Mordechai Tendler of Monsey. Without going into details, the rabbi concerned was expelled from the American RCA on account of his alleged misbehaviour with women in a counselling context (ring any bells?) and a group of his local colleagues took it upon themselves to examine the evidence against him and proceeded to publicise their verdict. Whilst the parallels are fa

Another One Fights the Lust

Leil Yud Tes Teves 5763 [1 January 2013] Statement The Union may not be responsible for the alleged misbehaviour of one its Dayonim. However its lack of willingness or ability to deal with the matter in any way is perceived to be unacceptable and is a matter of great embarrassment. As a result we have been put in an impossible position where our Shul has fallen victim to the situation just by virtue of our official association with the Union. We must do all that we can to protect the Shul and its membership from this. The internal equilibrium and stability of our k ehilla is far more important than with whom our Shul is affiliated. I am therefore fully behind the Executives decision to call this meeting, in order to examine and explore our options. We must take into account all the ramifications of any decision we make. We need to enlist Hakodosh Boruch Hu ’s help to make the correct decision, and many more t efillos to invoke His rachamim that this terribly destructive g