The Gra defines the path of Torah.
The Gra equates Joy with the world of "Bina" Understanding. Which is the root of all holiness.
1) Joy is holiness in itself.
It is much more than just extra extra credit. If I was doing some kind of practice that I thought was obligatory according to Jewish law, but I knew this practice made me depressed, I dropped it.
I said to myself, "If this would really be an obligation according to the Torah, it would not be making me depressed."
This would especially apply to how I would keep Shabat or pray.
The idea in the LM: "Joy is the realm of holiness in itself. Depression is the evil realm, and God hates it."
And I also thought that to make people upset also was not a mitzvah. This related to how I would interact with others. I assumed the only interaction with others that could count as a mitzvah would be when I would bring them joy. This in fact has support from the Gra when he equates Joy with the world of "Bina" Understanding. Which is the root of all holiness.
2) Talking with God. It is the highest goal of all to be talking with God all the time. Mainly in a forest. When I was down and out, this gave me a connection with God that has kept me going through thick and thin. I dread to think where I would be today without this amazing piece of advice.
3) Say the words and go on. This amazing piece of advice has gotten me through the Talmud and Rambam and writings of Isaac Luria and much more. And he was right that when I thought I was not understanding, later on understanding just came spontaneously. Without this advice, I would never have gotten as far as I did in the Oral and Written Law,-- or Mathematics and Physics either.
(Obviously there are lots of things that remain mysteries to me. I am just not very smart. But in this way I learned and understood a lot more than if I would have gotten stuck on details and ended up dropping the whole thing; or even worse--think that I understood stuff when if I had gone on to read the whole subject, it became clear only by the picture what the details were about. In fact, it is a lot easier to decide what a DNA molecule of a tree is saying by looking at the forest, rather than trying to decipher the actual molecule. )
4)I learned from the Rambam that the belief system of the Torah is Monotheism. This is not the same as Pantheism. Pantheism is the faith of Hinduism and I can understand why people might be attracted to it. But then they should just say they are teaching Hinduism. Not claim to be teaching Judaism.
The Gra equates Joy with the world of "Bina" Understanding. Which is the root of all holiness.
1) Joy is holiness in itself.
It is much more than just extra extra credit. If I was doing some kind of practice that I thought was obligatory according to Jewish law, but I knew this practice made me depressed, I dropped it.
I said to myself, "If this would really be an obligation according to the Torah, it would not be making me depressed."
This would especially apply to how I would keep Shabat or pray.
The idea in the LM: "Joy is the realm of holiness in itself. Depression is the evil realm, and God hates it."
And I also thought that to make people upset also was not a mitzvah. This related to how I would interact with others. I assumed the only interaction with others that could count as a mitzvah would be when I would bring them joy. This in fact has support from the Gra when he equates Joy with the world of "Bina" Understanding. Which is the root of all holiness.
2) Talking with God. It is the highest goal of all to be talking with God all the time. Mainly in a forest. When I was down and out, this gave me a connection with God that has kept me going through thick and thin. I dread to think where I would be today without this amazing piece of advice.
3) Say the words and go on. This amazing piece of advice has gotten me through the Talmud and Rambam and writings of Isaac Luria and much more. And he was right that when I thought I was not understanding, later on understanding just came spontaneously. Without this advice, I would never have gotten as far as I did in the Oral and Written Law,-- or Mathematics and Physics either.
(Obviously there are lots of things that remain mysteries to me. I am just not very smart. But in this way I learned and understood a lot more than if I would have gotten stuck on details and ended up dropping the whole thing; or even worse--think that I understood stuff when if I had gone on to read the whole subject, it became clear only by the picture what the details were about. In fact, it is a lot easier to decide what a DNA molecule of a tree is saying by looking at the forest, rather than trying to decipher the actual molecule. )
4)I learned from the Rambam that the belief system of the Torah is Monotheism. This is not the same as Pantheism. Pantheism is the faith of Hinduism and I can understand why people might be attracted to it. But then they should just say they are teaching Hinduism. Not claim to be teaching Judaism.
