Q&A: Young Talent?
Young Talent?
Question
Hello Rabbi!
I’m a bit older, and I don’t understand how nowadays there are many children and young men, even 17- and 18-year-olds, who publish books with sources—when in order to study those sources you’d have to be my age…
Are they copying—literary theft?
Answer
This is not necessarily literary theft. Today there are databases, and it is relatively easy to get to the relevant sources. Not everyone who cites a source knows it and has previously gone through it and memorized it by heart. By the way, even in earlier times people used secondary references; it’s just that nowadays this is more sophisticated and more accessible.
And besides, there are also young and talented Jews, thank God. Torah is definitely enjoying a major flourishing in our times.
Discussion on Answer
I didn’t understand the question.
I saw a young man who published a book and took a lot of passages from different books. Should I speak to him or to the owners of the books?
I don’t think you need to speak to the owners of the books. They didn’t lose anything (except perhaps they didn’t get credit). You can speak to the young man, assuming he’ll listen to you (not to mention the rule against saying something that won’t be heeded). Just note that the definition of copying is not simple. You can be influenced and use earlier materials—who doesn’t do that?—as long as you add your own touch, it is your own creation.
So that’s it—I saw a teenager who published a book, and there are section numbers in that book…
Should something be done about it?