From Aish (an Orthodox Jewish website) is a piece from a Rabbi, Rabbi Yaakov Sinclair, who in a video is discussing the origins of the British Jewish vernacular word ‘Lobbus’, which means roughly a cheeky or naughty boy. It’s a word that is not used by Yiddish speakers in other places in the West such as the USA, where Jews have settled and may well be a Polish language loan word. This word is only to be found used by British Jews. The video content itself is for me interesting as it deals with parenting a child with minor Lobbus tendencies and praying that your children keep on the derech (path) of righteousness. However what really made me sit up and take notice was this rabbinical author’s back story. It’s pretty amazing and represents a really gobsmacking story of how a person’s life can change and sometimes change for the better. He’s been at the top of his tree in two radically different areas and that is really something to be admired.

Here’s Rabbi Sinclair’s one paragraph biography:

In 1972, Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair opened SARM Studios the first 24-track recording studio in Europe where Queen mixed “Bohemian Rhapsody”. His music publishing company, Druidcrest Music published the music for The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1973) and as a record producer, he co-produced the quadruple-platinum debut album by American band “Foreigner” (1976). American Top ten singles from this album included, “Feels Like The First Time”, “Cold as Ice” and “Long, Long Way from Home”. Other production work included “The Enid – In the Region of the Summer Stars”, “The Curves”, and “Nutz” as well as singles based on The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy with Douglas Adams and Richard O’Brien. Other artists who used SARM included: ABC, Alison Moyet, Art of Noise, Brian May, The Buggles, The Clash, Dina Carroll, Dollar, Flintlock, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Grace Jones, It Bites, Malcolm McLaren, Nik Kershaw, Propaganda, Rush, Rik Mayall, Stephen Duffy, and Yes. In 1987, he settled in Jerusalem to immerse himself in the study of Torah. His two Torah books The Color of Heaven, on the weekly Torah portion, and Seasons of the Moon met with great critical acclaim. Seasons of the Moon, a unique fine-art black-and-white photography book combining poetry and Torah essays, has now sold out and is much sought as a collector’s item fetching up to $250 for a mint copy. He is much in demand as an inspirational speaker both in Israel, Great Britain and the United States. He was Plenary Keynote Speaker at the Agudas Yisrael Convention, and Keynote Speaker at Project Inspire in 2018. Rabbi Sinclair lectures in Talmud and Jewish Philosophy at Ohr Somayach/Tannenbaum College of Judaic studies in Jerusalem and is a senior staff writer of the Torah internet publications Ohrnet and Torah Weekly. His articles have been published in The Jewish Observer, American Jewish Spirit, AJOP Newsletter, Zurich’s Die Jüdische Zeitung, South African Jewish Report and many others. Rabbi Sinclair was born in London, and lives with his family in Jerusalem. He was educated at St. Anthony’s Preparatory School in Hampstead, Clifton College, and Bristol University.

From Rocky Horror Picture Show and all the sometimes negative stuff that goes with the music business, to becoming a senior and well respected Orthodox Rabbi. Now that’s what I call a massive and laudable life change.