Civil War

I have been looking at the Civil War and it seems to me the South was right from a Constitutional point of view. "Perpetual union" was mentioned in the Articles of Confederation, but not the Constitution. The union of states in the Constitution is a voluntary union. Thus, the South could leave.

 And as for the issue of slavery,  lots of people have to work. I do not see that as some great evil. [Though it is better to learn Torah. --I mean to say that there is such a thing as one accepting on himself the yoke of Torah, and then there is removed from him the the yoke of work and government. There is also trust in God. But there is nothing wrong with work.  Just the opposite. The fact that welfare recipients force work out of the working population to get free money seems to me to be  wrong.--even if they can get the government to force the issue. That does not make it right.  -( It goes against the "general welfare" clause about what taxes can be used for.) Even if the majority of the people want it, it still is unconstitutional. For welfare to be constitutional , you would have to change the Constitution, and leave out the general welfare clause. 

[Just an added thought: the general welfare clause is for what Congress can make taxes for. One of them is the general welfare which means not to tax one segment of the population (like working people) to benefit a different segment.  ( e.g., those who are not working.) It has to be "general welfare"- that which benefits all. This is just common place knowledge in Constitutional Law about what that clause is meant for.

three tribes of Indians on the east part of Ohio. (Shawnee, Wyandot, Delaware) ערוגה בת ששה טפחים על ששה טפחים

 Did it ever occur to you that the mishna ערוגה בת ששה טפחים על ששה טפחים seems a bit strained. 

[Five types of vegetables can be planted in a plot of land 6 handbreadths by 6 handbreadths]

Why plant five types of beans or vegetables in a plot of land that is a square foot? Well, the answer is there were three tribes of Indians on the east part of Ohio. (Shawnee, Wyandot, Delaware) Their practice was to plant corn --their main stable. When it sprouted a little they would make a little mound around it and plant beans on that hill. That kept the soil in place [and added nitrogen to the soil afterwards)]. Then planted pumpkins over it--that gave shade and prevented weeds.

So these three crops ["the three sisters"] were in a sort of symbiotic relation. So you can see that planting certain kinds of beans or vegetables in close proximity can be a great help-so one does have to be able to do this without transgressing mixed kinds of vegetables. [So the geometric shapes discussed in that mishna become very practical. --The mishna says 5 types can be planted  there but they have to conform to the restriction that each be not actually mixed with the other.

Litvak yeshiva

 Simchat Torah in Shar Yashuv was a profound experience for me. You could feel the love of Torah just permeating the air. That of course was a result of the fact that he whole year the love of Torah permeated the whole place. It was not just for one day. And that same point I think could be said about most any Litvak yeshiva. However I am sure who ever is reading this must have some complaints about the Litvak yeshiva world. [I have my own list and I am sure everyone else must have a similar list.] 

What sets the Litvak yeshiva apart are the ideas of the Gra. But we also know that these places do not follow the Gra in every respect. Thus, my suggestion is this: whatever you or I see as a lack in the Litvak yeshiva world is a direct result of their not following the Gra in every respect. [And I have in fact seen this. The problems I have seen are in fact related directed and result directly from the divergence from the Gra.] The answer thus is simple. They ought to follow the Gra in every respect, not just some respects.

So when people criticize the USA for having had slaves

 Forcing people to work without recompense is slavery. So should not all the people that see slavery as the greatest of all evils object to welfare? Is not the whole idea of welfare is making people work for the non working part of the population in order to get their (of the non workers) votes? So former slaves do not object to slavery when they get to be the masters.

So when people criticize the USA for having had slaves, you might ask these same people if they object as strongly to welfare? i.e. giving money to people for not working. Why do they not lobby the Congress to abolish all welfare payments? [Maybe they like the money?]

[I thought to add that the General Welfare clause of the Constitution (i.e. for what the Congress can make taxes for) means the general welfare of all the people of the USA--not to take from one group to give to another. This is a common place fact in Constitutional Law]

advice I heard from my father--many times. The idea of self reliance

 There is another bit of advice I heard from my father--many times. The idea of self reliance. So when I went to Shar Yashuv  and later the Mir in NY,I was thinking of Torah Lishma --[learning Torah for its own sake.]And the idea is more or less thus: that when one learns Torah for its own sake, then parnasah [a living] and all one's other needs come to him automatically. That is the ideal which I was striving for. And I still hold that is is a viable approach--that when one turns all his focus on learning Torah then everything else falls into place. 

But there is an aspect of Avodat Hashem [service of God] that is working at an honest job. This is gone into in the LeM of Rav Nahman vol II perek 4 [I think]. 

My mother and father were highly suspicious of new medicines. They strongly advised against taking any new medicine that has not been on the market for at least fifty years.

 There is a piece of advice I would like to share with others. My mother and father were highly suspicious of new medicines. They strongly advised against taking any new medicine that has not been on the market for at least fifty years. And this in fact corresponds to a large degree of the idea of Rav Nahman [Conversations of Rav Nahman paragraph 50] to be wary of doctors. However I realize that one  might merit to have a good and honest doctor, and that seem to depend on Divine providence. [When I was in Uman in fact the medical care I received was amazing. It was always with great competence--but also with a complete and utter refusal to deal with anything that was not an immediate threat. They would never treat anything because of some new toy they had as you find all the time in the West.

The County hospital [near Uman but not connected with Uman but rather with the county called the raiyona bolnitza] had a great reputation and in fact I was there twice. What ever was wrong with me was cleared up within a minute of taking the medicines they prescribed. The doctors and nurses at the Trauma unit in Uman proper gave me such care when I was in need of their help that I was flabbergasted.

Pluto

 What is wrong with scientists? They came up with three criterion for something to be  planet? The three is it has to be massive enough to clear all the dust and particles surrounding it. Thus Pluto they do not count as a planet. Well they ought to take out Saturn also that has vast dust clouds called "rings". From where do they come up with stuff? [Though I admit that besides Physicists and Mathematicians, they are all pseudo scientists-especially doctors. They think they know what they do not know.]

[However I saw in the former USSR that doctors were aware of their limitations and did held by the idea "Do nor fix that which is not broken". I was very impressed by the doctors in Uman -both in the local nd also the regional hospital.

But on the other hand -what is it with the "religious"? They even more so believe they know that which they do not know. They get a little bit of religion and all of a sudden wearing\ a kipa is the foremost commandment [Forget about parents.] [Even though there is no requirement to wear a kipa not from the Torah nor from the sages.] And about that Gemara where wearing a head covering is thought to bring to fear of God00well that is not why people wear a kipa.. Rather they ear a kipa in order t show how religious they are. And that in itself  prohibition--הצנע לכת עם אלהיך  to walk modestly with God --that is not to show off how religious you are. 

the being that wrestled with Yaakov Avinu {Jacob}was God himself

 You can see in Book of Hoshea 12 verse 3 that the being that wrestled with Yaakov Avinu {Jacob}was God himself. [That incident is recounted in Genesis 32]. This leaves room for some questions. Could not God have won? Why did He find it so hard to wrestle with Yaakov who after all was only a man? And when the morning came God said "Let me go because the morning has come." ("I have got things to do?" Or maybe He has to work in the dark where his actions are hidden?). And He could not leave until Yaakov let Him go? You would imagine that God could leave any time he wanted--even if Yaakov did not let Him go. 

And you can see that that being was God in the verses themselves where Yakov calls the place "pnuel" [the Face of God]. for I have seen God face to face and my soul was saved. [There is a danger in seeing the Face of God as the verse says "no man can see me and live."

What I am getting at is the idea of of the Kant -Fries School of thought that there is some area beyond what is accessible to human or even pure reason. That is the "dinge an sich." That is, there are two kinds of knowledge: (a) what can be checked--empirical and (b) what can not--a priori.  Also two kinds of fact. Synthetic and Analytic. Analytic proven true by definition, and synthetic true but does not have to be true by definition. So what about Synthetic a priori like a figure can be formed by  less than three lines. You can not make a figure with two lines. So how can u know if synthetic a priori is true? to Kant that is by structures in the mind. To Fries that is by immediate non intuitive. Hegel disagreed that this could be a true source of knowledge, but to me this makes sense--that Reason has limits.

This area of reasoning about God is one of those areas that is beyond reason--but still possible to know. See Kelley Ross's web site on the Kant Fries approach.

argument between Rav Shach and the Chazon Ish-

 Witnesses on a doc is an argument between Rav Shach and the Chazon Ish--if they are considered to have made their testimony before or after the plea.

I mean to say that Rav Shach is trying to prove that  the obligation of an oath in the case of a woman says to her ex husband that he owes 100 zuzim. He says he paid fifty.--that case he is obligated an oath. Rav Shach says this is a case here there is no document [Ketubah], for if there was, he would not be required an oath since the admission in half happened in such a way that he could not deny and also  there would be witnesses on the doc their testimony would be considered as coming before the claims. Thus also he would be not obligated in taking an oath. The Chazon Ish holds in this last case witnesses are thought to be coming after the plea so it is like admission in  half and he would be obligated to take an oath.

On the way back from the sea I was thinking about this and it seems to me clear. The Chazon Ish is thinking about  witnesses. If you have two witnesses that come to court and say he is obligated in half the sum that is demanded he is required to take an oath.--even if they say that they already testified to this ion a previous occasion. And that is true. But Rav Shach's point is witnesses on the document  is not the same thing.  They only signed it once and that was before the plaintiff came to make his plea.

Thus the only case that the law in the Rambam in laws of marriage  16 is possible is in a place where it is not the custom to write a ketubah.

 

Mediterranean Sea is called the "ים הגדול." That was the common name for it. For example the name the Italian people gave to it was "Mare Magnum"

 I was at the sea again and it occurred to me that the Mediterranean Sea is called the "ים הגדול." That was the common name for it. For example the name the Italian people gave to it was "Mare Magnum". The great sea. [That was before it became a Roman lake at which time the Romans began to refer to it as "Mare Nostrum"--"Our Sea". At any rate you see the common usage was to refer to it as the "great sea". So there is no doubt in my mind that the blessing "who made the great sea" refers to the Mediterranean.

{But I think it can also refer to the Atlantic which is the source of the Mediterranean which was just a dry desert until the Atlantic made an opening through the area of the Rock of Gibraltar.

Not to add extra restrictions. What people try to pass off as the Law, is almost always their own additions or even perversions.

 In the LeM of Rav Nachman vol. II perek 44 is a lesson about not to add extra restrictions. חומרות יתירות And I used to say that Torah lesson over every day for 40 days. At some point the message got through  and I began to see that a lot of what people try to pass off as the Law, is almost always their own additions or even perversions.    I became skeptical of the religious world. The only part of the religious world that  have respect for is the Litvak yeshiva [based on the Gra]. Litvak yeshivot bear in mind this principle: "Do not add and do not subtract from the Law"

[Though even with this principle, it is not always easy to tell what is the actual law and what is the fraud that the religious try to pull over our eyes.] 

At any rate, you might notice that this message did not get through to me until I read it in the book of Rav Nahman. But however I got the message, I wish to convey this important idea--which is in fact a verse in Deuteronomy, "Do not add and do not subtract from the Law."

Climate change --the worse consequences for mankind

 The so called ""Climate scientists" are all liars. They hide the fact that the CO2 content of the atmosphere is lower than it has ever been. Pluss the highly relevant fact that if there would be any less Carbon Dioxide all plant life would cease to exist. And that would have worse consequences for mankind than a slight warming of the atmosphere.  CO2 is the food of plants. So why is it that all so called "Climate scientists" keep on lying about this? Because of money. If they say a word about this fraud, they lose all their funding.

not to be extra strict.

 There are three places in the writings of Rav Nahman that emphasize not to be extra strict. I realize this looking for extra things to be strict about is a fundamental flaw in my own personality. One is supposed to keep Torah plain and simple --not to add and not to subtract. However I would like to suggest that this is not to say there is nothing one ought to be strict about. Rather it is a matter of getting the priorities straight. Things that the Torah itself is strict, (like not to do idolatry), one ought to be extra strict. Good character also is high on the list of the things the Torah is strict about. As gaining good character trait is one of the reasons for the mitzvot as all the Rishonim that list the mitzvot go into [for example Sefer HaChinuch].

Henry VIII really could marry Catherine because that is the exact case of Yibum.

 Henry VIII really could marry Catherine because that is the exact case of Yibum. Arthur had married Catherine but did not leave any children. So Henry was obligated to marry her.   He did not need the excuse that the marriage had not been consummated. And when he wanted to annul it, he did not understand the verse that marrying one's brother's wife is a an "erva" [prohibition of the sex because of close family relations.]because that verse refers to a case where the brother has had children.

I should add that the sexual acts of Leviticus 18 are not all because of family relations. But all are under the category of "erva". E.g., a nida is an erva. [That is a woman who has seen blood. She is forbidden because of Erva until she dips herself into a natural body of water like a river or sea or spring. All the "arayot" are ae guilty of a " Karet offence, but not all get the death penalty. Nida is an example of that. It is Karet but not a death penalty. A homosexual relation is also an "erva but does get the death penalty.]" 

Musar Ethics

I think the most benefit of Musar [books from the Middle Ages about ethics] for me comes from the idea of finding in what particular areas I am lacking and to find that specific topic discussed in Musar. Then to take some paragraph about that subject and repeat it to myself every day when I get up in the morning. 

[Musar refers books about Ethics from the Rishonim {medieval authors}and a few achronim [later authors]. Rishonim means people from the Middle Ages. The books of Achronim refers to a few books written about ethics after around 1520 or any time during or after Rav Joseph Karo. But the term {Musar} also got expanded to mean even the books of the disciples of Rav Israel Salanter. While I was at the Mir in NY, I made it a point to go through as much of that material as I could. (But not during the two official learning sessions which were for Gemara only. The Musar study I did on my own time.) The two books that affected me the most were the Or Israel by Rav Isaac Blazer and the Madragot HaAdam by Joseph Yozel Horwitz of Navardok. The first brings out the importance of Fear of God and good character traits. The second shows the importance of trust in God.]

my dad's contribution to science

 I wanted to explain what was my dad's contribution to science besides the InfraRed telescope. That is this:  a radio is imposing a signal on a preset signal. Thus laser communication is the same thing except that you are using laser frequency instead of radio frequency. This he developed at TRW until the incident with the KGB stealing secrets from TRW was revealed, and TRW lost all their contracts and became a car company for 20 years. All their aerospace technology was sold to the other aerospace companies.

[The paper trail I think was lost. However I was very well aware of his work because I saw it myself, and it was explained to me at TRW itself in some detail when I visited there. But I should add that even though this is an incredible advance comparable with radio communication because of the much wider band width, still the reason for its development was not to improve communications,  but rather to keep secrets away from the Russians that could listen to radio waves that spread, while laser beams don't spread out much.]

I should mention that my dad was not embarrassed of his name Rosenblum. Rather he had decided to change it to something shorter [Rosten] when he had to sign the release papers of German civilians after WWII. [He was able to speak German fluently [since he grew u in a Yidish speaking home] and thus was placed in position to interrogate German civilians to make sure they were not part of the Nazi Party.] {Yidish is a off shoot of German so it is easy to switch from one to the other.]

"Seven Wisdoms."

 There is an aspect of the Gra that is less known than the learning Torah part. That is the emphasis of the "Seven Wisdoms." [As mentioned by Rav Baruch of Shkolav in his introduction to his translation of Euclid's Elements.  {the Gra: "According to the lack of knowledge in any one of the Seven Wisdoms, one will lack knowledge of Torah a hundred fold. "}

So while Litvak yeshivot tend to follow the Gra in many important aspects, there is still this part that tends to be left out.

Why? One reason is that to gain any real expertise in any field there is the 10,000 hour rule. [Which almost equals four years of college in that field.]So to gain any real understanding of Torah, one requires at least a good four years in an advanced Litvak yeshiva. 

 So the lack of emphasis is not a problem, but rather a lack of awareness  of this approach of the Gra--such that at least after the basic four years, one can start to begin his or her education in Mathematics and Physics.

The "proletariat" [the lower class workers] is interchangeable with anyone that wants to claims to be oppressed. {As we see today in the USA.}

 Trotsky believed that Marx and Lenin achieved the highest spiritual level possible for mankind.[Thus he wrote in his My Life] And this is what seems to me to point to a sort of self contradiction in his thinking. He believed that Communism was the perfect system. --Or at least the most perfect up until that stage of development of mankind. (It was thought to be the natural development of Capitalism. Thus there is no reason to say that it might not lead to some further advance in that kind of Marxist thought.]

Yet in the thought of Trotsky, Stalin had subverted and uprooted the Communist Revolution. [He called it the "Thermidor".] So one might be inclined to ask how is it that the will of one person can uproot the "Perfect System?"

Besides  this there is another flaw in this system. The "proletariat" [the lower class workers] is interchangeable\ with anyone that wants to claims to be oppressed. {As we see today in the USA.} 

It thus starts with a world in which there in unlimited plenty, and assumes that the only reason anyone does not have plenty of stuff is because they are being oppressed. 

music file z31

 z31 B minor

t the type of government has nothing to do with anything.. It is the people and their attitudes.

 Too much emphasis is given to types of government. You can see this cases where some superpower supports types of government that are in alignment with its own type--all the while not seeing that the type of government has nothing to do with anything.. It is the people and their attitudes. One example: The USA supported the nationalist in China against the communists. So while the sort of government of the USA works well for WASPs, it is clear to me that the nationalist in China were out of touch with the common people. One reporter [Audrey Topping] was driving with a officer of the nationalist party during the Chinese civil war, and while the nationalists were living high on the hog [like the maharaja as she said--parties every night] she saw people starving in the streets [eating grass]. She said to the government official she was with : "Though seeing these people suffering hurts me, it must hurt you more so.?" The answer she got was, "We do not consider them to be people." She thought to herself, "No wonder why there is  a revolution." 

[The same principle applies in spiritual areas where people accept doctrines which have little or no support from reason. They believe that they have arrived at this or that system because of rational reasons but in fact all follows from the desire to be part of some group .]

{That is not to say that some system might have indeed some support. In fact Kelley Ross in his formulation of the Kant Fries approach has a positive idea of spiritual values. And it i well founded on the extremely rigorous approach of Leonard Nelson.]

hidden motivations

 I realize that I have hidden motivations. And I can see  in others as well--almost too obviously. It is kind of like what Michael Huemer wrote about why people are irrational about politics. They are trying to fit in with a certain group they want to identify with. And I can see that this goes deeper than what Dr. Huemer suggests. Rather, I see that people often from their real and intense desire to fit with with a group, adopt all the opinions of that group, but believe sincerely and with all their heart that they came to their conclusions totally rationally.

אבי עזרי הלכות גירושין פרק ב.

 I have been hanging out at the sea and while there I have been pondering the issues that come up in the Avi Ezri [laws of Gitin 2] This relates to the Gemara Arachin pg 21 and kidushin 50. 

What is puzzling to me is the difference between gitin and sales --besides the need of desire. What I mean is there is the difference that in gitin you need desire. But what is hard for me to understand is that there seems to be some further difference.

For in selling if one makes a protest before the sale, the sale is void even if he nullifies the protest at the time of the sale. In gitin the get [divorce document] is valid. 

Just for background. In Arachin Rav Sheshet said if one makes a protest at the time of a get [divorce document] his protest in valid. The Gemara asks: is this not obvious? Answer: It is a case where he was forced to give the get [divorce document] and agreed. You might have thought since he agreed, the protest is void. So now we know the protest stands until he explicitly nullifies the protest. Rav Shach notes that this is the source of the law that says at the time of a forced get the husband has to say "I want it." For otherwise, why should we think he nullifies the protest? [The point of Rav Shach is that  a forced sale is valid. The act is an act, even with the desire to sell.  So is the case with gitin. The act of giving the get is valid but one needs an extra ingredient. The desire to divorce. So if he is forced according to the law of the Torah, then it should be valid automatically since his inner desire to to listen to the wise. Why should we think he then also nullifies the protest? I must be that he is forced to say I want it.

But now we know if he nullifies the protest explicitly, then the get [divorce document] is valid. Not so with selling. So there seems to be some added difference between gitin and selling.

Later I saw that Rav Shach answers this question. So, in fact, the only difference between gitin and selling is desire. But in giving a divorce document one must say "I want". And so when he nullifies all the previous protests, what is left is the current statement "I want" and so the get in valid. But in the case of selling he does not say "I want". So when he nullifies all previous objections, all that is left is the present statement against the previous ones, Both have equal weight. and so the sale is not valid.  

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  אבי עזרי הלכות גירושין פרק ב. This relates to the גמרא ערכין דף כ''א and קודושין דף נ. What is hard to understand for me is the difference between גיטין and sales, besides the need of desire. What I mean to say is that there is one difference that in גיטין you need רצון. But what is hard for me to understand is that there seems to be some further difference. For in selling, if one makes a protest מודעה before the sale, the sale is void even if he nullifies the protest מודעה at the time of the sale. In גיטין the גט is valid. Just for background. In ערכין רב ששת said if one makes a מודעה at the time of a get his מודעה in valid. The גמרא asks: is this not obvious? Answer: It is a case where he was forced to give the get and agreed. You might have thought since he agreed, the protest is void. So now we know the protest stands until he explicitly nullifies the protest. רב שך notes that this is the source of the law that says at the time of a forced get the husband has to say "I want it." For otherwise, why should we think he nullifies the protest מודעה? [The idea of רב שך is that  a forced sale is valid. The act is an act, even with the desire to sell.  So is the case with גיטין. The act of giving the גט is valid but one needs an extra ingredient. The desire to divorce. So if he is forced according to the law of the Torah, then it should be valid automatically since his inner רצון  to listen to the wise. Why should we think he then also nullifies the protest מודעה? I must be that he is forced to say, "I want it".But now we know if he nullifies the protest מודעה explicitly then the get in valid. Not so with selling. So there seems to be some added difference between גיטין and selling.

Later I saw that רב שך answers this question. So, in fact, the only difference between גיטין and selling is desire. But in giving a divorce document one must say "I want". And so when he nullifies all the previous מודעות, what is left is the current statement "I want" and so the גט  valid. But in the case of selling, he does not say "I want". So when he nullifies all previous מודעות, all that is left is the present statement against the previous ones, Both have equal weight. and so the sale is not valid.  

אבי עזרי הלכות גירושין פרק ב. זה מתייחס לגמרא ערכין דף כ''א וקודושין דף נ. מה שקשה לי להבין הוא ההבדל בין גיטין למכירה, מלבד הצורך ברצון. מה שאני מתכוון לומר הוא שיש הבדל אחד שבגיטין אתה צריך רצון. אבל מה שקשה לי להבין הוא שנראה שיש הבדל נוסף. שכן במכירה, אם מבצעים מודעת מחאתה לפני המכירה, המכירה בטלה גם אם הוא מבטל את מודעת המחאה בזמן המכירה. בגיטין הגט תקף. רק לרקע. בערכין רב ששת אמר אם עושים מודעה בעת גירושין המודעה שלו בתוקף. הגמרא שואל: האם זה לא מובן מאליו? תשובה: זה מקרה שבו הוא נאלץ לתת את הגט והסכים. יכול להיות שחשבתם מאז שהסכים, המודעה בטלה. אז עכשיו אנחנו יודעים שהמחאה עומדת עד שהוא מבטל במפורש את המחאה. רב שך מציין כי זהו המקור של התקנה שאומרת בזמן הכפייה בעלה צריך להגיד "אני רוצה את זה". כי אחרת, מדוע שנחשוב שהוא מבטל את המחאה? [רב שך מציין  שמכירה כפויה תקפה. המעשה הוא מעשה, אפילו אם אין רצון למכור. כך גם לגבי גיטין. פעולת מתן הגט תקפה אך יש צורך במרכיב נוסף, הרצון להתגרש. אז אם הוא נאלץ על פי חוק התורה, אז זה צריך להיות תקף אוטומטית מאז הרצון הפנימי שלו להקשיב לחכם. מדוע שנחשוב שהוא גם מבטל את המחאה?  חייב להיות שהוא נאלץ לומר, "אני רוצה את זה". אבל עכשיו אנחנו יודעים אם הוא מבטל את מודעת המחאה במפורש ואז גט תקף. לא כך לגבי מכירה. אז נראה שיש הבדל נוסף בין גיטין למכירה.

מאוחר יותר ראיתי שרב שך עונה על שאלה זו. כך שלמעשה ההבדל היחיד בין גיטין למכירה הוא רצון. אך במתן מסמך גירושין יש לומר "אני רוצה". ולכן כשהוא מבטל את כל הדברים האחרונים, מה שנותר הוא המשפט הנוכחי "אני רוצה" ולכן הגט תקף. אבל במקרה של מכירה, הוא לא אומר "אני רוצה". אז כשהוא מבטל את כל הדברים הקודמים, כל שנותר הוא ההצהרה הנוכחית מול הקודמים, לשניהם יש משקל שווה. ולכן המכירה אינה תקפה.

The issue is never the issue. Rather anything the Left can do in order to undermine the USA is fair game.

 The main objective of the Left is to undermine the USA in any way possible. Instead of noting hat the average temperature during the age of the dinosaurs was 5 to 10 degrees Celsius higher than today. The Left tries to create panic that all life would vanish at such temperatures.

The issue is never the issue. Rather anything the Left can do in order to undermine the USA is fair game.

society divides naturally into classes.

 I wanted to mention that society divides naturally into classes. This is similar to what Jordan Peterson mentions about the fact that even lobsters have  a hierarchy. There is always one on top. But what I would like to suggest is that once the population of a society gets to be  any more than a village, the natural order draws people to divide into classes. [I mean not just division of labor, but rather actual upper, middle, and lower classes.  Like a wedding cake.] And people naturally get drawn consciously or unconsciously into the class where they belong.

It is not that some societies are divided into the land owners and the peasants just by law, rather that there is a natural order. In the West the natural order is based on competence. [Not birth]. 

For it is the custom to force the husband against his will

 Even though I am not intending to blog, still it did occur to me to mention something that I was pondering about while at the sea today. That is the fact that a "get" [doc of divorce] needs the desire of the husband, not just his willingness. This is a startling fact that casts doubt on almost all gitin nowadays. For it is the custom to force the husband against his will by many different means. Financial and others sorts of threats. That is OK as far as gaining his willingness to give a valid get--but it does not mean he wants to give the "get". He would rather that his wife would be nice as she once was.

I know I am getting a bit ahead of myself here--saying my conclusion before building the case. So let me just mention the basic issues. First: In laws of buying and selling you have a case where a man is forced to sell his field. That is valid. We nowadays might not like this but still it is a fact. We say that even though he is being forced, still because of the force he decided to in fact make a valid sell. This same thing is in the case of a get.  He might be forced and thus actually intend to give a valid get. But in terms of gitin there is an extra condition--he has to want to divorce her. And so when he is being forced  according to the law, then we say his inner desire is to fulfill the law of the Torah. So a forced get that is being forced by law is valid. But  the cases of gitin nowadays are rarely [if ever] being forced not by law. As you can see in the teshuvot HaRema. There was a man who was playing cards and did not keep Shabat. The Rema said that is not a case where the law says he must give  a get. 

I am tired right now. I was out the whole day. Still I think it might be a good idea to go into this sugia in more depth. In the meantime you might look at the Avi Ezri of Rav Shach Laws of Gitin where he brings this issue.

There was in fact one extremely successful lawyer [who almost invariably won all his cases] who made it a point to take a break from his work about five months out of every year

 Sorry for not blogging for the people that have been loyal readers. I am finding learning difficult. I do not know if this is permanent or that I need to "give a rest". There was in fact one case of a extremely successful lawyer [who almost invariably won all his cases] who made it a point to take a break from his work about five months out of every year.--That is to completely forget about law. Maybe I also need a break. Or maybe I need to move on. [Anyway people have stopped looking at my blog- perhaps because my opinions do not follow the party line. (People lie to read opinions which more or less agree with their own and that includes me.) That seems to be at least one reason. Also in terms of Torah, I have not made much progress in laws of Gitin, so I have nothing to add. Also my thoughts have been about the USA Civil War which I am tending to go with the idea that the South was right--which is certainly not a popular opinion. So I can see why people would not read this blog anymore and I can well see their point.

psychologists are insane and attempt to use their pseudo science to normalize their pathological mental makeup

 I can not prove this, but I would like to suggest the idea that all psychologists are insane and attempt to use their pseudo science to normalize their pathological mental makeup and to disenfranchise normal functioning people. However there is nothing to regret. It is a part of normal human development that we encounter obstacles. Thus the psychologists are a normal obstacle for functioning humans and the only people that fall prey to them are those that deserve to fall prey to them. Normal people already know to avoid psychologists at all cost.

a lot of people claim to be learning Torah,

 I know a lot of people claim to be learning Torah, but all their claims can always be proven false by a simple walk into the doors of their supposed "yeshivot". This fact is too well known for me to go into this. [It is by means of their claim to be learning Torah that they ask for money from secular Jews.] Their lies only work on completely secular Jews who never bother to check the claims. The only people and places one can find authentic learning of Torah are Litvak yeshivot that go in the path of the Gra.

[Not that I have the merit to be in any Litvak yeshiva. But even if I do not have the merit of walking in the truth of authentic Torah, at least I can hope that my friend can have that merit. So I feel a responsibility at least to let people know the truth. There is a good reason why I name this blog on the name of the Gra. It is because that is what defines authentic Torah. After one has that then it is possible and even desirable to learn from Rav Nahman of Breslov. Still one does need to be careful about from whom one learns. As Rav Nahman himself pointed out the problem with Torah scholars that are demons in the LeM vol I perek 12 and 28. So one does need to be careful from whom one learns. I would go so far as to suggest that mot of what passes today as "Torah" is the "Torah of the Dark Side." [That is invariably what the  religious world claims as Torah.] 

So what I suggest is to learn in a Litvak Yeshiva or not at all. Better to have nothing to eat rather than chocolate pudding mixed with cyanide [which is what the religious world is]

I feel that the herem-excommunication of the Gra ought to be heeded to since the fat that it has been ignored has made an open door for the Sitra Achra to enter into the world of Torah. And that is the reason why you will only find authentic Torah in the yeshivot that walk in the path of the Gra. The rest is phony--just making an act to get money and power.  

The sad fact is that I myself did not merit to realize the greatness of the Litvak world that walks in the path of the Gra. This I think is because society is divided naturally into classes. [This is similar to the fact that even lobsters have a natural hierarchy. There is always one on top. In a similar way society does not just get one person on top, but divided naturally into layers like a wedding cake.] And thus people are drawn naturally towards their level. People with low traits are drawn towards people like that.  People with high standards are drawn toward others like that. Sadly I felt out of place in a great place like the Mir in NY.  Only much later did I begin to realize my mistake.

In Uman itself there was a large murder of Jews as commemorated there on a place outside Privat Bank [on Lenina Street--the main street].

 The Nazis had a sort of secret weapon --the assault gun which looked more or less like a tank. The StuG III Strumgeschutz that more or less allowed them to get through the Stalin Line which was the proper border of the USSR. The Red Army had a very smart Commander of the Western Forces (Bundyonny) who was able to escape [the 6th and 12th armies] at amazing speed which astounded even the Germans. Still the Nazis were able to form a pincher type of action which joined together at Uman which encircled the Red Army. Around that area was made a lot of very large prisoner of war camps.  Most of the prisoners died because they were not provided with shelter, and also were given very sparse rations. In Uman itself there was a large murder of Jews as commemorated there on a place outside Privat Bank [on Lenina Street--the main street].

I might mention that even among the German lines there were good hearted people. In one of those prisoner of war camps, a woman from Uman passed by and pointed to a prisoner and said to one of the German guards, "That is my husband," (even though she and he had never met before then). That prisoner of war was then let go (and married her) and became the father of a KGB agent whose  home I used to stay in when I came to Uman for Rosh Hashanah.

z32 music file

z32 B flat major  z32 in nwc

music file z29

 z29  D major

Rosh Hashanah

 What people ought to do for Rosh Hashanah I believe is to go out into some forest or place where they can be alone and talk or commune with God. [This is what Rav Nahman calls Hitbodadut.] It is not meditation but rather actual talking from your heart towards God. Part of the reason for this I think can be explained thus: It is too easy to lose who you are. When one is surrounded all the time by other people  it becomes too easy to lose who you really are deep inside. (It can get to the point where one's inner essence disappears. All that is left is the  consciousness of the crowd.) You think all the time other people's thoughts. You worry all the time what others will think. That is why one must go out to a place where he or she can be alone and talk to God from his heart.

{This would be in balance with learning Torah. I myself was unclear about this issue. The Gemara makes it clear that every word of Torah is a mitzvah which equals all the other mitzvot. Still, to get to Torah for its own sake depends on being in contact with one's good essence.]

Baali teshuva ( newly religious-) are traitors to their parents

 Baali teshuva ( newly religious-) in spite of their supposed loyalty to Torah, are traitors to their parents. And a traitor once- can be a traitor twice.  In fact, this is the reason for the general lunacy of the religious world. The fact that people who are newly religious and traitors to their parents are also traitors to Torah and they pervert it.  And this is the bulk of the religious world- that neither understand Torah nor are loyal towards it.

They might have asked themselves before they jettisoned their loyalty to their parents: "What to do with the fifth commandment?"

[The issue was noticed long ago and was the reason Litvak yeshivot did not accept newly religious in knowledge that the newly religious are flakey. That is--they can hold with all their might and soul to one opinion today, and to the opposite tomorrow.] 

faith of the Torah

 The basic tenet of faith of the Torah is that God made the world from nothing. Not from Himself.😊

I have gone into this a few years ago. But what I wanted to add is that the religious accept pantheism and that besides being not what the Torah holds-it is also hard to see why a good and wise God would reincarnate Himself in a world of infinite torture. We might look at the surface of the sea as calm and benevolent. But underneath the surface everything is waging total war to the death against every other creature. It is a realm the insane torture of chemical warfare. God who by the basic understanding of that word is someone infinitely  kind and wise would find no better better way to spend his time than be incarnated in creatures that torture others? And all the more so that vicious of all creatures mankind?

While on the other hand I can see that a wise and kind God would create the world with some deep purpose in mind. But that He should be spending his time torturing all creatures is absurd and contradictory to Torah  as you can see in any and all Rishonim who wrote about the faith of the Torah.

{Where did the rishonim write about this? you might ask. Mainly in the books of Musar and world view issues like the Guide. Besides that, the Ari brings at the beginning of the Eitz Chaim that God made the world from nothing --not from Himself. So there is in fact no argument on this point.]

There are plenty of Jews which worship dead people

 There is no good reason to assume that idolatry is limited to non Jews. There are plenty of Jews which worship dead people- and hang their portraits all over the place. We know that to marry a worshiper of idols is forbidden, but  that does not mean a gentile. Rather all religious Jews worship dead people. \[The fact of their worship of dead people does not help them to be considered Jewish even though they might make a show and dance of their adherence to rituals. The  religious Jews that worship the pictures of dead people shows they are idolaters. [In fact the overly strict adherence חומרות יתירות to rituals might be thought to hide an intension to pretend to be kosher, while in fact hiding some hidden agenda to entice others to their worship of dead people. []

to stick with the path of straight Torah requires a test

I think that to stick with the path of straight Torah requires a test. Or at least that might have been the case with me. For I certainly tasted the taste of Torah in Shar Yashuv and the Mir in NY. But all that time I would say the book of prayers of Rav Natan, the disciple of Rav Nahman. So I was aware of the light of straight Torah of the Gra , but also had a feeling for the teachings of Rav Nahman.

The most obvious approach would have been to hold onto the good in each path. I however got off on a tangent. So today I would like to correct that fault--but that apparently is easier said than done.  And furthermore, it still seems to me to be unclear how to strike a proper balance. Still the rule seems to be that if one has merited to be in a straight Litvak yeshiva that walks in the path of the Gra, one should never leave that under any circumstances. For that is where the real light of Torah is. But on the side I see learning the ideas and good advice of Rav Nahman to be helpful.

 It seems to me that in the religious world there are many people that pretend to learn Torah for the sake of money or to get some sort of stupid job. But these are not people that have tasted the light of Torah. --even though these are the vast majority of the religious world that  need their show and public performance of their great devotion in order to make money. For simple people like me, we might ask why is there such a tremendous need of the religious to show off their great religiosity? Perhaps because it is not for God, but rather for men to gain jobs using Torah as their means of making money.

i might mention that Rav Nahman himself made a point to warn people about the Torah scholars who are demons which are the vast majority or the religious authorities.] And it is well known in Breslov the problem of the מפורסמים של שקר the famous and great religious authorities who are in fact demons.--even the authorities in Breslov itself.]

{This explains the serious problem that the religious world is quite lunatic(as is all too obvious). The reason is not from any lack of sincerity, but rather that they follow leaders who are demons. sadly, the true Torah scholars in the Litvak yeshivot do not object. --so secular Jews think that everyone agrees with the demons. That reminds me of the incident of Kamtza and Bar-Kamtza in which you see there is a need to object against the Torah scholars that are demons--even if you know that no one will listen.

Baali teshuva [newly religious] are probably the reason the religious world is somewhat insane. The problem is this: how can you trust anyone who has abandoned the path of their parents? If they can betray once, they can betray again.

 

I must state for a fact that my dad developed laser communication between satellites for that was the exact thing he created at TRW and I knew from first hand knowledge.

 There does not seem to be much I can do about making the record clear, but I must state for a fact that my dad developed laser communication between satellites for that was the exact thing he created at TRW and I knew from first hand knowledge. I saw that laser at TRW itself, and knew from conversations with my dad and his coworkers and friends what it was for. [The USA had been struggling to catch up with the USSR during the 1960's, and that creation of laser communication between satellites was an essential part of that. It was so that the Soviets would not be able to eavesdrop on USA communications. But  there are a lot more advantages to that than just keeping communications secure. Still my dad, Philip Rosten, ought to be mentioned as the inventor .[This is the same principle of fiber optics. and is what is used even now for Internet connections.] [He had been brought in at first because TRW was developing infrared satellites. Only when these were launched he started work on laser communication. 

[The adopted name Rosten was changed from the family name Rosenblum at the time he started work at TRW. But when in the USAF and when he invented the Infra Red telescope his name was Philip Rosenblum.] [He had vowed to himself to change his name to a shorter one because after WWII he had to interrogate Germans to see if they were part of the Nazi Party. When it was clear they were not he had to sign his name Rosenbloom to their release papers. That meant singing his name thousands and tens of thousands of times.]

You can imagine that I admired my dad a lot and wished to walk in his ways, but I simply found that I had zero ability in Mathematics and Physics subjects that came as naturally to him as drinking water.  

Eventually I discovered the idea of "Girsa" just saying the words and going on brought in the Musar book אורחות צדיקים and that helped a lot towards gaining some small understanding, but not much. Just enough I guess to get me in a the Polytechnic Institute of NYU, but that doesn't change my basic lack of ability. 

the USSR stood for the union of soviet republics. Yet the actual soviets were defunct after 1920. There were no more trade unions.

 It is an odd fact that that the USSR stood for the union of soviet republics. Yet the actual soviets were defunct after 1920. There were no more trade unions. Trade functions were incorporated into the Bolshevik party and under the control of political commissars. While strikes were the prime tool to bring down the previous government, a strike during the time of the USSR was straightforward  treason-and punished accordingly.

bitul Torah

Rav Nathan,  the disciple of Rav Nahman made his way to Israel about 11 years after Rav Nahman died. The first stop after was Istanbul where he encountered a middle man that cheated him. He was aware of this but since he could not speak the language he had no choice but to go along with it. People there in Istanbul told him later the story of a fellow who was a tremendous "matmid" [diligent] in learning Torah. (Leib Ashkenazi) who some years before that also had been cheated. He bought a ticket and entered the ship to wait for its departure. He waited for a long time until he decided something was "off". He went to find out, and it turned out that that ship had been out of service for years. So he went to the person that sold him the ticket and said, "For the loss of the money I forgive you. But for the bitul Torah I do not, and surely God will give you what you deserve." [Soon after that the cheater died.] {Autobiography of Rav Nathan vol II. paragraph 105] [Bitul Torah refers to the sin of being able to learn Torah but not doing so. A loose translation would be "wasting  time from learning."]

You can ask why did this catch my attention? It is because you usually do not hear about the problem  of bitul Torah anywhere except in the Litvak world. And in fact in most of the Litvak places I have hung out in, most people would be learning Torah even if there was no such sin as bitul Torah. The people that I knew in Shar Yashuv and the Mir would be learning Torah even if they would have no reward for it at all. There is some inner essence of Torah that one can be connected to that goes beyond the borders of this world. The reason for this is that one needs to be connected in some sense to the Gra.[as are  Litvak yeshivot]. When one is connected with the Gra, the light of Torah gets through to one's soul.

asking secular Jews for money

 The religious world asking  secular Jews for money is the greatest of all possible spiritual levels. Even though they say that "learning Torah" is their goal, the actual  goal is to get money from secular Jews --i. e that means  the show and pretense of keeping some rituals of  Torah. Emphasis on rituals provides a disguise for this fraud. And there is a tendency to present their leaders as super smart,  where as reality shows the religious leaders are stupid, and use the appearance of Torah to provide a a show

You can count on religious Jews begging for money--and why? For the purpose they they uphold the whole world in their merit. [Thus they say.]

Religious Jews have discovered that by a show of religiosity, they can get money from secular Jews. Therefore the main emphasis is on a show of rituals.