In the religious world there is something seriously wrong. What it is, is not at all clear,, but there seems to be some underlying problem that many have noticed, but offer different suggestions about what is the problem and what to do about it. That makes it hard to recommend Torah as a practical path since keeping Torah for most people means to join the religious world and that is clearly a terrible mistake because of the aforementioned previous problem that no one seems to be able to define.
I myself have offered a few suggestions, but I have not really gotten to the basic problem. The best suggestion I can see is to stick with authentic Torah as taught and practiced in the well known great Lithuanian yeshivas, like Ponovitch, Mir, Chaim Berlin, and Torah VeDaat.
If you are not in the area of an authentic Litvak yeshiva, the best thing is to stay home and learn Torah on your own. That is getting through the Old Testament, Two Talmuds, Musar books [medieval ethics based on Torah].
But even though the religious world claims to be doing Torah, there is something under the surface that is clearly not kosher and very very wrong --even though there is no clear indication of what it might be.
Part of the problem is fake religious organizations which undermine authentic Torah values. [Most Jewish religious organizations are pure poison, and thoroughbred cults of the most pernicious type.]
[Once I was part of the yeshiva of Rav Freifeld, Shar Yashuv in NY, and later the Mir. I soaked up the words of Torah like a fish that can not be out of water. But that world is what is called the "Yeshiva world." It is very different than the religious world that is the home of the Dark Side. But there is no well defined border between them, so the demonic forces of the Dark Side have also penetrated in to many yeshivas.] Nowadays I go to no synagogue, since I think they have been taken over by the Dark Side.
[New comers are largely unaware of this, and thus become victims of the cult by not being street smart. תקרובת ע''ז אסורה בהנאה. By becoming victims of the cult or the Leviathan, they no longer can escape and their lives are finished even if they do manage to escape in time. As the Sages said "things sacrificed to an idol remain forbidden forever."]
In fact, most yeshivas today I would have to say are cults. The best thing is to follow the basic path of the Rambam at home on your own- learning the Old Testament, and the Oral Law [the Two Talmuds plus the books of Musar {Torah ethics}, Modern Physics and the Metaphysics of Aristotle.]
For an introduction to the Law of Moses it is good to learn the Mishne Torah of the Rambam page by page along with the Keseph Mishna of Rav Joseph Karo, and in a separate session to go through the entire Avi Ezri of Rav Shach. As for the ethics of Torah, the main thing is the book of the Middle Ages, Obligations of the Heart חבובות לבבות by Bechayee Ibn Pakuda.
As for Physics, the main thing is String Theory, but it takes some background to get there. The main background is Quantum Field Theory. (The best way to get to that I am not sure of. As for myself, I learned a lot of Joos's book Theoretical Physics, and I think it was good preparation for me, because it did a very thorough job on waves, and in fact I used it to help me in my talks at Hebrew University on Differential Equations.)
Concerning Metaphysics, obviously the Rambam was referring to the books of Aristotle by that name, but I also recommend the books of Kant and Schopenhauer.
The Torah itself--the Old Testament should be read in Hebrew and finished at least once.
In fact that is my idea about mitzvot. That there is such a thing as doing a mitzvah completely. Thus the mitzvah of Torah learning means to finish the entire Oral and Written Law at least once. [Tenach, Two Talmuds with Tosphot and Maharsha, Tosephta, Sifra, Sifri, Torah Kohanim, Midrash Raba, the Rambam with Avi Ezri and the Keseph Mishna, Tur, Beit Yoseph and all the books of Musar of the Rishonim and the disciples of Reb Israel Salanter
All the above I believe ought to be in every public school and be taught as part of the curriculum. [They already teach The Book of Job very well, but the whole Old Testament should be taught as they do in Israeli public schools.] The aspect of the Oral Law that should be in public schools is mainly Tosphot. That is to learn how to analyze a sugia with Tosphot. [That is "to learn how to learn."] But I do not believe in tests when it comes to Torah, because I believe that is using the Torah for personal gain. [Most everything else they teach in public schools should be thrown out. Especially the Humanities and Social Studies departments as already mentioned by Allen Bloom in The Closing of the American Mind.]
So I foresee a kind of religious revival that is necessary, but not one based on the Bible alone but rather this Four Part System: The Old Testament, the Oral Law, Metaphysics and Physics. But this revival would have nothing to do with the present day religious Jewish world which is pure poison. Rather it would be in connection with Reform and Conservative and Zionist Judaism.
But the world of religious Judaism is totally wicked and depraved. The Torah is desecrated there in deed while honored in word.
I myself have offered a few suggestions, but I have not really gotten to the basic problem. The best suggestion I can see is to stick with authentic Torah as taught and practiced in the well known great Lithuanian yeshivas, like Ponovitch, Mir, Chaim Berlin, and Torah VeDaat.
If you are not in the area of an authentic Litvak yeshiva, the best thing is to stay home and learn Torah on your own. That is getting through the Old Testament, Two Talmuds, Musar books [medieval ethics based on Torah].
But even though the religious world claims to be doing Torah, there is something under the surface that is clearly not kosher and very very wrong --even though there is no clear indication of what it might be.
Part of the problem is fake religious organizations which undermine authentic Torah values. [Most Jewish religious organizations are pure poison, and thoroughbred cults of the most pernicious type.]
[Once I was part of the yeshiva of Rav Freifeld, Shar Yashuv in NY, and later the Mir. I soaked up the words of Torah like a fish that can not be out of water. But that world is what is called the "Yeshiva world." It is very different than the religious world that is the home of the Dark Side. But there is no well defined border between them, so the demonic forces of the Dark Side have also penetrated in to many yeshivas.] Nowadays I go to no synagogue, since I think they have been taken over by the Dark Side.
[New comers are largely unaware of this, and thus become victims of the cult by not being street smart. תקרובת ע''ז אסורה בהנאה. By becoming victims of the cult or the Leviathan, they no longer can escape and their lives are finished even if they do manage to escape in time. As the Sages said "things sacrificed to an idol remain forbidden forever."]
In fact, most yeshivas today I would have to say are cults. The best thing is to follow the basic path of the Rambam at home on your own- learning the Old Testament, and the Oral Law [the Two Talmuds plus the books of Musar {Torah ethics}, Modern Physics and the Metaphysics of Aristotle.]
For an introduction to the Law of Moses it is good to learn the Mishne Torah of the Rambam page by page along with the Keseph Mishna of Rav Joseph Karo, and in a separate session to go through the entire Avi Ezri of Rav Shach. As for the ethics of Torah, the main thing is the book of the Middle Ages, Obligations of the Heart חבובות לבבות by Bechayee Ibn Pakuda.
As for Physics, the main thing is String Theory, but it takes some background to get there. The main background is Quantum Field Theory. (The best way to get to that I am not sure of. As for myself, I learned a lot of Joos's book Theoretical Physics, and I think it was good preparation for me, because it did a very thorough job on waves, and in fact I used it to help me in my talks at Hebrew University on Differential Equations.)
Concerning Metaphysics, obviously the Rambam was referring to the books of Aristotle by that name, but I also recommend the books of Kant and Schopenhauer.
The Torah itself--the Old Testament should be read in Hebrew and finished at least once.
In fact that is my idea about mitzvot. That there is such a thing as doing a mitzvah completely. Thus the mitzvah of Torah learning means to finish the entire Oral and Written Law at least once. [Tenach, Two Talmuds with Tosphot and Maharsha, Tosephta, Sifra, Sifri, Torah Kohanim, Midrash Raba, the Rambam with Avi Ezri and the Keseph Mishna, Tur, Beit Yoseph and all the books of Musar of the Rishonim and the disciples of Reb Israel Salanter
All the above I believe ought to be in every public school and be taught as part of the curriculum. [They already teach The Book of Job very well, but the whole Old Testament should be taught as they do in Israeli public schools.] The aspect of the Oral Law that should be in public schools is mainly Tosphot. That is to learn how to analyze a sugia with Tosphot. [That is "to learn how to learn."] But I do not believe in tests when it comes to Torah, because I believe that is using the Torah for personal gain. [Most everything else they teach in public schools should be thrown out. Especially the Humanities and Social Studies departments as already mentioned by Allen Bloom in The Closing of the American Mind.]
So I foresee a kind of religious revival that is necessary, but not one based on the Bible alone but rather this Four Part System: The Old Testament, the Oral Law, Metaphysics and Physics. But this revival would have nothing to do with the present day religious Jewish world which is pure poison. Rather it would be in connection with Reform and Conservative and Zionist Judaism.
But the world of religious Judaism is totally wicked and depraved. The Torah is desecrated there in deed while honored in word.
