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31.1.24

Seeking truth rather that loyalty to the group

 Seeking truth rather that loyalty to the group ought to be of prime importance. However for most people, their bread and butter depend on loyalty to the group. Therefore to have seeking truth, individuality, self criticism of one's self and one's group have to come from the group itself--i.e. to be born into a society that stresses individuality is the only way one can come to value truth seeking above all other values.

It must have been some what of a leap  of faith for the Rambam to include the importance of Physics and Metaphysics in the Mishna Torah [Laws of Talmud Torah chapter 3] and the Guide [introduction] where as the simple ''peshat'' of the Gemara is to exclude all ''Greek wisdom'' with extreme prejudice. You have to say that seeking of truth was more important to the Rambam that going along with what everyone else was saying.  [This approach began with Saadia Gaon and Josef ibn Pakuda author of the Obligations of the Hearts.   ][Also see intro to the book Euclid translated to Hebrew by a disciple of the Gra.]

But how to go about this is unclear. On one hand learning fast--saying the words and going on is for me the only way I could get into math and physics at all. But there is also the importance of understanding and review;--and so far I have not really figured out a way for that to work except what I was doing while at the Polytechnic Institute of NYU--reading and saying every word and every page forward and backwards. That certainly helped me getting my A's in the Physics and getting through the Math. But that is slow, and leaves one without the big picture. for a year i have been doing the in depth learning by doing one chap and then review of all previous chapters. then going on to the next chapter and then going back to all previous chapters. But in another period, i just took  to doing a chapter in a Joos ''Theoretical Physics'' 40 times. Then at some point i discovered listening to lectures on utube seems to help-- like harpreet bedi on homology, and susskind on physics TO listen to lectures by an expert is the best way of all the above ways of doing in depth learning.

30.1.24

God is not a composite, no concept of substance or form applies to him what so ever.

Monotheism includes the idea of Divine simplicity. Despite the importance of this idea came about, it is largely forgotten. God is not a composite, no concept of substance or form applies to him what so ever.

So worship of dead so called ''tzadikim'' really ought to be easily understood to be outside of Judaism as the GRA saw so clearly and yet his signature on the letter of excommunication  is still largely ignored except by a few.

29.1.24

what Torah is "all about."

 There seems to me to be a kind of doubt about what Torah is "all about." Looking at a book on Jewish History today is noticed a few things. The first is that History is not  a science. Anyone writing it can tilt it in any direction he desires. The next thing was the odd fact that some  secular Jews  used to think that Judaism is all about democracy and equality. Looking at Torah that can not be right. That was the reform Judaism line until it turned into Social Justice  [i.e. Marxism]. That also is not Torah. Nationalism is also out there, but that seems wrong. However I have noticed that Reform Judaism is right about Monotheism. unfortunately the idolatry that Jews rejected for thousands of years came back in the guise of worship of dead people thought to be saints. That, thankfully, Reform Judaism rejects totally.      

28.1.24

MICHAEL HUEMER JAN 28 The Price of Liberalism

 


Previously, I worried about the cost of liberalism in reduced fertility. It’s time for a second major cost of liberalism: reduced social cohesion.

1. The Need for Loyalty

Humans are selfish social animals. This means that, unlike the case of bees or ants, our cooperation is always in danger of degenerating into conflict, because each of us is genetically programmed to pursue our own interests, often at the expense of others. Moreover, even when our interests align, our judgments often conflict. We might agree that we all want economic prosperity but disagree about which policies or leaders are likely to produce that. So there is a standing temptation for people to behave uncooperatively, to work to defeat each other and undermine each other’s efforts. In the worst cases, you have actual violence.

Social loyalty—the sense of loyalty to one’s own society and its ways—is society’s defense against that danger. We need this defense because human beings are not smart and rational enough to agree on what the right institutions and policies are. So we need something that makes people put up with (what they regard as) the stupidity and degeneracy of the other members of their society. We have to be ready to say, for example, that even though the person who just got elected is obviously an incompetent asshole whom only a moron would vote for, we’re going to keep peacefully cooperating with such morons, for the good of society. We’re not going to try to burn down our institutions in order to get our way.

A rational person would do the game theoretic calculations and figure out that they should act cooperatively. But a typical human just feels a sense of social loyalty.

2. The Source of Loyalty

Hypothesis: We promote social loyalty, in part, by emphasizing the goodness of our society and the nobility of its fundamental ideals. We teach young children, for example, about how our country was founded on ideals of liberty, equality, and democracy. We teach them about the advantages of our form of government, the wisdom of its Constitution, and how our country has from its founding represented a beacon of freedom to the world. We go on to teach about admirable figures in our history, about the selflessness and honesty of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Notice that it’s not just a matter of dispassionately enumerating the benefits of living in our society; the education needs to form positive emotional associations with our society. (This is discussed in my colleague Ajume Wingo’s book, Veil Politics in Liberal Democratic States.)

I received all those lessons in primary school. Of course, being an instinctive libertarian, I questioned many of them. But I retained an emotional appreciation for American ideals, such as those of freedom, equality, and innovation.

The propaganda is not only for children. Traditionally, we repeat to each other statements of appreciation for our society and its ideals, even as adults, to prevent each other from backsliding. Not that ordinary people are intentionally reinforcing each other’s social loyalty. But this might be a product of cultural evolution—cultures with a tradition of self-reinforcement tend to survive longer than cultures with no such tradition. So almost all cultures have such traditions.

If someone attacks our society, we instinctively punish that person, at least with social disapproval (if not actual legal penalties). Human beings learn how to behave, and even how to feel, from observing each other. So these traditions are self-perpetuating.

Only in recent years, they have collapsed. Now school children are taught that America is a despicable nation founded on hatred and domination. In the popular culture, attacks on the nation’s majority groups are becoming increasingly open and increasingly strident. The nation’s elites consider it offensive to praise their own society.

3. Undermining Loyalty

There are at least three reasons why liberalism undermines social loyalty.

3.1. Hypocrisy

Liberal values are unnatural for human beings. Basically, humans are biologically predisposed to be assholes—to oppress the weak, to hate foreigners, to admire authoritarian leaders. (Why this is the case is an interesting question for another time.) As a result, a society with explicitly liberal values will predictably be able to find many illiberal aspects of itself, especially of its history. Human nature pretty much guarantees that people in your society will have often acted illiberally. You will then have grounds to condemn your own society, from the standpoint of its own professed values. Obvious example: the founding fathers holding slaves at the same time that they loftily proclaimed that “all men are created equal”.

This problem does not so much afflict illiberal societies, because they can more easily live up to their own, illiberal ideals.

3.2. The Value of Self-Criticism

To some degree, self-criticism itself is a liberal value. It isn’t liberal to reflexively endorse one’s own society and its ways merely because they are one’s own. A good, cosmopolitan liberal should assess the value of his own society in a rational, unbiased way and call out its flaws. This is the only way to improve society, after all.

Illiberal societies don’t have this problem; illiberal values are consistent with dogmatically refusing to acknowledge any flaws in your society.

3.3. Freedom of Expression

Free expression is the most paradigmatic of liberal values. It means that we cannot silence people who attack our own society and its institutions. This is one of the great strengths of liberalism, because this criticism leads to reform, which makes the society better. This is why the world’s most liberal societies have been on the leading edge of human progress for the last two centuries.

The problem is, we can’t silence critics even if their attacks are complete nonsense. Suppose, for example, that someone is going around saying that this society is so utterly barbaric that its authorities regularly murder perfectly harmless people out of sheer hatred for their skin color, and the rest of society lets them do it because they are racist too. Suppose also that the government and a large portion of society perfectly well know that that is false. We still can’t suppress the people who are saying that, lest we abandon liberal ideals. We actually have to let people lie about us, even in the most malicious and invidious of ways.

You may have noticed some similarity between these hypotheticals and the current, actual situation of American society. A large portion of America’s intellectual class has for several decades devoted their lives to attacking their own society. What I have in mind here is not constructive criticism aimed at promoting identifiable political reforms. What I have in mind are attacks that seem motivated by resentment and aimed at provoking shame and resentment in Americans—shame on the part of the presumably dominant groups and resentment on the part of the presumably oppressed minorities.

The virulence of these attacks is not purely a product of liberalism. It is also in part an accident of history, due to the ideological uniformity that has grown up in American universities in the last several decades. This uniformity has produced increasing extremism, as academics compete with each other to make ever more extravagant displays of fealty to the common ideology. Progressivism began with reasonable critique of our society’s failures to live up to its ideals. Take that through several generations of increasing extremism and you get people expressing naked hatred for men, for white people, and for America in general.

We can’t silence these people, under liberal ideals. Granted, not all speech is protected, and some kinds of lies can be legally prohibited. But that only includes lies about relatively straightforward matters of empirical fact. Like if you’re selling a car, and you understate its mileage by 50,000 miles. It would not include, for example, the “lie” that Jesus was the son of God, or even that Trayvon Martin was a victim of racism. If we start prohibiting the latter sort of lies, we’re opening the door to the government prohibiting speech that criticizes the government’s own positions.

4. More Lies

It is not only leftists who are telling invidious lies, of course. The basic leftist lie is that America is fundamentally all about racism, sexism, and oppression. The right-wing lies include the likes of:

  • Democrats don’t believe their stated political positions. They’re just lying about their views to gain power. E.g., they don’t believe in global warming; they’re just trying to come up with an excuse to give the government more power. They don’t believe in immigration either; they’re just trying to import more Democratic voters.

  • Democrats stole the last election with rigged voting machines, etc.

  • Everyone who criticizes Trump or makes any decision against his interests is purely politically motivated. The American court system prosecutes Republicans for purely political motives.

  • The country is run by America-hating “globalists” who want to turn the country over to foreigners.

  • Or it’s run by Satanic pedophiles.

  • Or lizard-people.

These lies are also calculated to maximize resentment, division, and rage—they’re just aimed at a different group of people than the left-wing lies.

The two sides feed off each other: the more you catch the other side lying, the more you feel justified in counterattacking with equally scurrilous lies.

5. Solutions?

You know the liberal solution: “The solution to bad speech is more speech.” I.e., we just need to have people constantly debunking the lies of the extremists.

Not all the divisive content is lies, though. Some of it is merely a matter of deliberately choosing focus and spinning stories to maximize division. E.g., it’s not a lie that America practiced slavery. We’re not supposed to cover that up, are we?

No, but the historical facts could be taught in a less self-flagellating spirit. We might teach people that slavery was widely practiced around the world and throughout human history, including in the early days of our own country. Fortunately, we abolished it long ago, because it was incompatible with our fundamental ideals. That’s a better story (and a truer one) than the woke story that the nation was founded on racism as its core principle.

This liberal solution to the problem of loyalty-undermining speech might work … but only if these debunkers can gain a wide audience. If, for example, there were some non-partisan information sources that people of all ideological orientations would trust, then this could work. Increasingly, though, there isn’t. Increasingly, Americans sort themselves into separate information environments, each with relentless biases and no voices of dissent.

So I can, for example, debunk the Michael Brown myth all day (the myth that Michael Brown surrendered and then was gunned down by the police anyway just because he was black), but hardly anyone who has consumed that myth will ever even see my debunking. My article debunking the myth will be coded as “right wing propaganda”, which “nice” progressives don’t look at.

So I don’t know what the solution is. Perhaps the nation is doomed to collapse into chaos, and humanity’s experiment with liberal democracy will end.

)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

That is the end of Dr. Huemer's writing. My own feeling about this is that the approach of democracy or government as a republic does seem to get reborn even after it is torched. Athens, SQPR, England, USA, Israel,- 

-and Europe.







debt to gentiles, debt to Jews

   There is a tendency to not acknowledge our debt to gentiles at all. However, the Talmud says,''Wisdom by goyim-believe it. Torah by goyim don't believe it.'' On the other hand, the debt to Jews also tends to be ignored. Examples are many. One case that I thought was an example was my father's invention of the Infrared Telescope as mentioned in LIFE Magazine 1954 AUGUST, but later I learned that my dad did in fact get plenty of credit for that.

  Maybe the reason for all the denial on each side of the aisle is that the idea is so important that you do not want people to ignore it just because of which group it comes from.  

  Jews never like to hear of any debt of ideas from Christians what so ever, but are willing to acknowledge some debt to some great Muslim philosophers during the Middle Ages. On the other hand, it might be noticed that the not just the Old Testament, but the New Testament was written only by Jews.

To me the whole idea of refusing to acknowledge a debt on either side of the aisle seems like small mindedness.    


I do appreciate learning Torah but I do not see it as an excuse not to do any other mitzvah,

אחיכם יעלו למלחמה ואתם תשבו Moses asked the two and half tribes that wanted to settle in the land on the opposite side of the Jordan River: ''Your brothers go to war and you will stay behind?" TO me this seems relevant to the yeshiva world that has had a petur  [permission to be excused] from service in the Israeli Defense Force ever since the 1948 war of Independence.  I do appreciate learning Torah, but I do not see it as an excuse not to do any other mitzvah, furthermore, i think that this war is in the category of michemet mitzva [obligatory war]--as opposed to milchemet r'shut [permissible war]. 

27.1.24

American model of government

 I used to think that the American model of government is as good as it gets. But doubt has arisen because of how odd things have become. I do not think it works except for the sort of WASP population that it was originally designed for. [WASP=White Anglo Saxon Protestant] That seems to be an inescapable conclusion. But I also would like to venture a guess that there are two factors that are involved--DNA and also the Judeo-Christian set of values as contained in the Bible. [However, it is interesting that the American form of government was really a duplicate of the English form along with  the Magna Carta and Provisions of Oxford which were developed while England was  Catholic. That is when that form of government was conceived. But, of course, when John Locke wrote the Two Treatises of Government and the  important ideas of Daniel Defoe , England was already Protestant.    ]

From this insight, I am thinking that the attack on American values from inside and out as a negative thing. But in what way this relates to Israel, still befuddles me. After all, after Theodore  Herzl, Israel was founded by communists or hard left socialists. But that is not to say that that was the best approach. I RECALL vividly when the left wing Labor Party was in power in the 1980's, and the inflation was like Weimer Germany in the 1920's. I loaned one fellow a hundred shekels, and when after a half year he returned the money, it was worth 10 shekels.  

25.1.24

To get through the whole Oral and Written Law.

 To the Gra one has an obligation to get through the whole oral and written law. [Old Testament, two Talmuds, the midrashei halacha and midrashei agada.] This clearly implies the fast sort of learning mentioned in the Gemara, ''Always one should be saying the words in order and going on [גורס] even though he forgets and even though he does not know what he is saying,'' [Tractate Shabat and Avoda Zara--i forget the page numbers.] However that is second in priority to learning in depth. So to accomplish that, I recommend getting through the basic Achronim: Reb Chaim of Brisk and his two students (1) the Birchat Shmuel, (2) Shimon Skophf and the Avi Ezri. [There are also the early Achronim that I used to learn--the Pnei Yehoshua and the Aruch La'Ner which are very important.]

[I am saying to do this on one' own, but if possible it is also worth while to learn from a Litvish Rosh Yeshiva. I had such an opportunity [Reb Shmuel Berenbaum at the Mir  in NY and Naftali Yeager at Shar Yashuv.] but I realize not everyone has this possibility, and so at least one should do so on one' s own.  ] [the mir was along the lines of reb chaim of brisk while naftali yegear is more along the lines of the early achronim.  ]

The Gra also held with the importance of the Seven Wisdoms, and said that, ''One who lacks any knowledge in the seven wisdoms will lack in Torah a hundred fold more.'' [That refers to the trivium and quadrivium][Grammar, logic, and rhetoric, Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy, Music]

Philosophy is not a part of this. However the Rambam held with a different set of the things one should learn,--Old Testament, the Yad HaChazaka, Physics and Metaphysics.

[Learning Torah is the highest of all commandments, however to the Rambam, learning Physics and Metaphysics is considered to be part of the commandment to learn Gemara/Talmud. ] [Metaphysics is the name of a book of collected lectures from Aristotle.] ]

 Looking at the A and B deduction of KANT- I wonder '' Is this like Hegel?" I mean to say that to receive information from the objective world we need to be a unified subject. [Three people each one thinking one word ''I'', the other thinking ''like'', and the next thinking ''pizza'' does not contain any information. But along with this insight, Kant adds that the objective world itself has to be able to be understood by rules--i.e. by reason. Is that not the same thing as saying reason penetrates and permeates and objectifies the external world.]  

I am not negative towards Hegel, BUT I am upset about how much he is misused. And is also feel that he did miss some important insight of Jacob Fries concerning immediate knowledge--. but as the objection of Michael Huemer, ''Why should we think implanted knowledge has any validity what- so- ever?'' I can answer we can know by the idea of Karl Popper--falsifiability. And, in fact, that is exactly how we got to know that space is not rigid Euclidian. Dr. Kelley Ross has gone into the importance of Popper for the NEW Friesian School. Without the insights of Popper and Kelley Ross, it is hard to hold up the new Friesian School. [To me it is clear that the Friesian  School can not stand without Kelley Ross. Even the brilliant and insightful Leonard Nelson did not accept General Relativity even after it was proven all because it was not in line with Kant's idea that space and have to be immutable hardware in us for with that, no knowledge of the external world is possible. [See deduction B in the Critique.] 

The philosophical; movement back to Kant-has support from Carl Jung who held all philosophy after Kant was garbage. [Referring mainly to the Continental stuff. I am not sure what his take on Frege and Russel or Prichard might have been.] Certainly we know he was highly impressed by Jacob Fries 

24.1.24

The Raavad holds a woman or her carrier that brings her divorce has to establish its validity and it is not enough for either to say it was written and signed in front of me. Rav Shach brings a proof for this opinion comes from a version of the gemara in Gitin page 5b. The gemara brings a teaching that if a carrier brings a get outside of Israel and does not say, ''It was written and signed in front of me,'' the document is not valid, unless its validity was established by witnesses. This is a  question against Rabah who holds the reason for saying, ''It was written and signed before me'' is they do not know about the need to write the doc for the sake of that particular woman.. after all outside of Israel, they do not know about the need for her sake. One answer is this is after they learned the law.  A second version says the answer to Rabah as to the question why does it help to say that formula [or establish its validity by witnesses-if they do not know the need for writing it for her sake] is because the whole worry is maybe the husband might come and complain that the doc was forged. But if he does not come and complain about the need to write it for her sake, why should we complain for him? [To Rav Shach this proves the Raavad because the worry about Lishma we do not worry about unless the husband complain. But the worry about forgery, we do worry about regardless if the husband complains or not.   So if her carrier or she herself bring the document, we do require validation.] This shows that the Raavad was right because for the case where a woman or her carrier bring the document, we do complain and require full validation of the document. However, one can question this because the Gemara itself is saying that if the husband does not come and complain about the need to write it for her sake, why should we complain for him? That seems to imply in all cases (whether she brings her own document or her carrier or his carrier) that we depend on the saying of ''It was written and signed before me'' or we do not even need that if she or her carrier bring her own document.

However the point of Rav Shach is that we do worry about forgery. That is the entire point of this Gemara. That is if the carrier does not say "Before me it was written and signed", then the doc is not valid.  And Rabah is saying that if he does say that formula, then we ask him if it was written for her sake. The question on Rabah is that that is only when he says the formula, but if he does not say it and we depend on establishing the validity of the doc by asking the witnesses if they signed on it, that fact tells us nothing about Lishmah. And the answer of Rabah to this question is if he the husband does not claim it was not lishma, then we don't complain about it. But we certainly do complain about forgery, Therefore the Raavad is correct that we need validation in all cases including if the wife or her carrier bring her own doc.  

_______________________________________________________________________________


The ראב''ד holds a woman or her carrier that brings her divorce has to establish its validity and it is not enough for either to say it was written and signed in front of me. רב שך brings a proof for this opinion comes from a version of the גמרא in גיטין ף ה' ע''ב  b. The גמרא brings a teaching that if a carrier brings a גט outside of Israel and does not say, ''It was written and signed in front of me,'' the document is not valid, unless its validity was established by witnesses. This is a  question against רבה who holds the reason for saying, ''It was written and signed before me'' is they do not know about the need to write the גט for the sake of that particular woman (לשמה). After all, outside of Israel, they do not know about the need for לשמה. One answer is this is after they learned the law.  A second version says the answer to רבה as to the question why does it help to say that formula is because the whole חשש is maybe the husband might come and complain that the גט was forged. But if he does not come and complain, why should we complain for him? [[To רב שך this proves the ראב''ד because the worry about לשמה we do not worry about unless the husband complain. But the worry about forgery, we do worry about regardless if the husband complains or not.   So if her carrier or she herself bring the גט we do require validation. ]]This shows that the ראב''ד was right because for the case where a woman or her carrier bring the document, we do complain and require full validation of the document. However one can question this because the גמרא itself is saying that if the husband does not come and complain , why should we complain for him? That seems to imply in all cases (whether she brings her own גט or her carrier or his carrier) that we depend on the saying of ''It was written and signed before me'' or we do not even need that if she or her carrier bring her own גט.


However the point of רב שך is that we do worry about forgery. That is the entire point of this גמרא. That is if the שליח does not say "Before me it was written and signed", then the גט is not valid.  And רבה is saying that if he does say that formula, then we ask him if it was written לשמה. The question on רבה is that that is only when he says the formula, but if he does not say it and we depend on establishing the validity of the גט by asking the witnesses if they signed on it, that fact tells us nothing about לשמה. And the answer of רבה to this question is if he the husband does not claim it was not לשמה, then we don't complain about it. But we certainly do complain about forgery, Therefore the ראב''ד is correct that we need validation in all cases including if the wife or her carrier bring her own גט.  


הראב''ד אוחז שאישה או שליח קבלה שמביאה את  מסמך הגירושין צריך לבסס את תוקפו ולא מספיק שאחד יאמר שזה נכתב ונחתם בפניי. רב שך מביא שהוכחה לדעה זו באה מגירסת הגמרא בגיטין ף ה' ע''ב. הגמרא מביאה הוראה שאם מוביל מביא גט מחוץ לישראל ולא יאמר ''נכתב ונחתם לפניי'' אין המסמך תקף, אלא אם כן נקבע תוקפו על ידי עדים. זו שאלה נגד רבה שמחזיק שסיבה לומר ''זה נכתב ונחתם לפניי'' הוא לא יודעים בחו''ל על הצורך לכתוב את הגט למען אותה אישה מסוימת (לשמה). הרי מחוץ לישראל לא יודעים על הצורך בלשמה. תשובה אחת היא שזה אחרי שהם למדו את החוק. גרסה שניה אומרת את התשובה לרבה (לגבי השאלה למה זה עוזר לומר את הנוסחה) היא כי כל החשש הוא שאולי הבעל יבוא ויתלונן שהגט מזויף. אבל אם הוא לא יבוא ומתלונן, למה נתלונן בשבילו? 

לרב שך זה מוכיח את הראב''ד כי הדאגה לשמה אין אנו דואגים אלא אם כן הבעל מתלונן. אבל הדאגה לזיוף, אנחנו כן דואגים, ללא קשר אם הבעל מתלונן או לא. אז אם השליח שלה או היא עצמה מביאים את המסמך, אנחנו כן דורשים אימות. 


זה מראה שהראב''ד צדק שכן במקרה שבו אישה או מוביל שלה מביאים את המסמך, אנחנו כן מתלוננים ודורשים תוקף מלא של המסמך. אולם אפשר לפקפק בזה משום שהגמרא עצמה אומרת שאם הבעל לא בא ומתלונן [שהגט מזויף או לא נכתב לשמה], למה נתלונן עבורו? נראה שזה מרמז בכל המקרים (בין אם היא מביאה את הגט שלה או את המוביל שלה או את המוביל שלו) שאנו תלויים באמירת ''נכתב ונחתם לפניי'' או שאפילו אין לנו צורך בכך אם היא או מובילה תביא את  הגט שלה

אולם הנקודה של רב שך היא שאנו דואגים לזיוף. זה כל הכוונה של הגמרא הזו. כלומר אם השליח לא אומר "לפני נכתב ונחתם", אז הגט אינו תקף. ורבה אומר שאם הוא כן אומר את הנוסחה הזו, אז אנחנו שואלים אותו אם היא נכתבה לשמה. השאלה על רבה היא שזה רק כשהוא אומר את הנוסחה, אבל אם הוא לא אומר אותה ואנו תלויים בביסוס תקפות הגט בשאלת העדים אם הם חתמו עליה, עובדה זו לא אומרת לנו דבר על לשמה. ותשובת רבה לשאלה זו היא שאם הוא (הבעל) אינו טוען שזה לא היה לשמה, אז אין אנו טוענים על כך. אבל אנחנו בהחלט טוענים על זיוף, לכן הראב''ד צודק שאנחנו צריכים אישור בכל המקרים כולל אם האישה או המוביל שלה מביאים גט משלה

23.1.24

When the Chatam Sofer [Moshe Sofer] was a disciple of R. Natan Adler

 A herem [excommunication] does have an effect. When the Chatam Sofer [Moshe Sofer] was a disciple of  Rav Natan Adler,  the students learned Torah on the second floor. The first floor was a hall for weddings and other festivities. One Thursday night, a bridegroom was  making a party for his friends and making so much noise that the students upstairs could not learn. Two went down but received insults to themselves and to Rav Natan Adler.  Later Moshe Sofer and others also went to quiet down the party, and blows flowed and a fist fight. The insults were along the lines that ''learners of the Talmud were lazy good for nothings.''  Those students went to Natan Adler, and he answered that it would be proper to put that crowd in herem because of insulting learners of Torah. The students interpreted this as a instruction to do so, and in fact went through with it. Later that night, the bridegroom and a friend walked home. The bridegroom slipped and hit his head on the sharp end of a wall and died. The congregation were sure that the death was the result of the herem, but Rav Natan himself mourned at the funeral. The herem of the Gra has had a different kind of effect [insanity], but no less devastating.  [It is hard to miss this fact]

In Ancient Athens there was a principle that truth can be revealed only through discussion.

 NO ONE has the right to an opinion unless they have  done their homework. People ought to do some background checks before thy form an opinion about anything. -this is an all inclusive principle including the war in Israel. however even after that first step there is the need for discussion. In Ancient Athens there was a principle that truth can be revealed only through discussion.

22.1.24

I don't think anyone ought to be a layman in science

 The problem I see in science for laymen, is that I don't think anyone ought to be a layman. The only reason there are laymen in science is that people have not heard of the way of learning fast--saying the words and going on. Then finishing the book in that way four times. Then going back to do review in depth. If people would do this, they would automatically become way above laymen level--even if the level of expert might still be a bit farther away. [But I think one needs to focus on real science, not pseudo science--see steven dutch's site for explanation of how to tell the difference. And even then it can be hard to know what is worthwhile as opposed to dead ends. Dead ends are not pseudo science -but still paths that have already been looked into and lead nowhere. ]

The fast learning applies also to the two Talmuds and all the midrashim, and along with that an in-depth session --as is the general practice of the great Litvak yeshivot.  

Gitin page 5. Rav Shach writes in Laws of Divorce 7 halacha 1.

 I am pretty sure about something Rav Shach writes in Laws of Divorce 7 halacha 1 so I feel free to write down what I understand so far on condition that I might have to revise this. The issue is why a carrier does not have to say, "It was written and signed before me" in Israel. To Tosfot, the Sages were lenient because of an aguna. [That is a woman that is still attached to her first husband and thus can't remarry ] To the Ran and Rambam the reason the carrier does not have to say this in Israel is because it is not like laws of money. The difference is a  carrier of the wife outside of Israel. To the Rambam, that carrier would not be required to say, "It was written and signed before me"; but to Tosphot, that carrier would. The reason being the requirement is we are afraid the husband will come and say the document was forged. The Gemara page 5 side b is a proof  to Tosphot that if the carrier did not say it, then the validity of the document needs to be established by witnesses, or else it is not valid, So outside of Israel we are not lenient because of aguna, and the document needs validation from the law that all documents need validation before any action can be taken by them, not just a worry about the husband might come and claim  it is not valid, So the reason for validation is like all document of monetary issues like Tophot, and not like the Ran and Rambam.

I admit that this requires some more thought, however it is what I think Rav Shach is saying,

[If can figure out what Rav Shach is saying any better than this, you are doing better than me. ]

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  רב שך writes in גירושין ז' א'. The issue is why a שליח does not have to say, "It was written and signed before me" in Israel. To תוספות, the חכמים were lenient because of an עגונה. [That is a woman that is still attached to her first husband and thus can't remarry ] To the ר''ן and רמב''ם the reason the שליח does not have to say this in Israel is because it is not like laws of money. The difference is a  שליח קבלה outside of Israel. To the רמב''ם that שליח קבלה would not be required to say "It was written and signed before me"; but to תוספןת that שליח would. The reason being the requirement is we are afraid the husband will come and say the גט was forged. The גמרא גיטין ה' is a proof  to תוספות that if the שליח did not say it, then the validity of the גט needs to be established by witnesses, or else it is not valid, So outside of Israel, we are not lenient  because of עגונה, and the גט needs validation from the law that all documents שנפרעים שלא בפניו need validation before any action can be taken by them, not just a חשש THAT the husband might come and claim  it is not valid, So the reason for קיום is like all document of monetary issues like תוספות, and not like the ר''ן and רמב''ם

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רב שך כותב בגירושין ז' א'. העניין הוא מדוע שליח לא צריך לומר "נכתב ונחתם לפני" בישראל. לתוספות, החכמים היו מקלים בגלל עגונה. [זאת אישה שעדיין קשורה לבעלה הראשון ולכן אינה יכולה להתחתן בשנית] לר"ן ולרמב"ם הסיבה שהשליח לא צריך לומר זאת בישראל היא כי זה לא כמו הלכות של כסף. ההבדל הוא שליח קבלה מחוץ לישראל. לרמב''ם לא יידרש שליח קבלה לומר "נכתב ונחתם לפני"; אלא לתוספות כן צריך. הסיבה היא הדרישה היא שאנו חוששים שהבעל יבוא ויגיד שהגט מזויף. הגמרא גיטין ה' הוכחה לתוספות שאם לא אמר השליח אז צריך לקבוע את תוקפו של הגט ע"י עדים, או אינו תקף. אז מחוץ לישראל אין אנו מקילים מחמת עגונה, והגט צריך אישור מהחוק כמו כל המסמכים שנפרעים שלא בפניו שצריכים תוקף לפני שניתן יהיה לבצע כל פעולה על ידם, לא רק חשש שהבעל עלול לבוא ולטעון שזה לא תקף. אז הסיבה לקיום היא כמו כל מסמך של נושאים כספיים כמו תוספות, ולא כמו הר''ן והרמב''ם


fear of religious leaders

 I have a horrible fear of religious leaders having any say in government or in law. as you might have seen in this blog -- my reason is that I do not think they  understand the Torah and teach it, but rather use it as a cover for their own profit and pleasure. However one can claim against me that maybe they understand Torah better. I answer that might be so, but that does not help their position since in any case I have the stronger claim of experience  --knowing by experience that religious leaders are creeps. However, I do admit to rare exceptions like the roshei yeshiva of Litvak yeshivot who definitely know Torah better than anyone else, and also that life in those great yeshivot is in fact whole some and decent.

21.1.24

It is hard to see any core principle in Israel's legal system or political system.

 I realized that the problem in Israel in both the political sense and legal sense is an idea in the Talmud. that is a middle position between two opposing opinions does not count if it is just make shift [pollyanna--ad hoc.] you need a middle position that has a reason to it for taking one opinion in one case and the opposite in another case. 

The first case is legal. The original Israeli Supreme Court was a mixture of some who took the English law of the time of the English Mandate-alone. Some tempered that with the law of the Gemara. [Some went more in the direction of Code Napoleon or Roman Law. One of the secularists was both shomer mitzvot [kept the commandments] and a member of Mapai--the Ben Gurion mainly Communistic party.]  Same with government. No uniting line. Likud--straight John Locke. Labor--straight socialism. 

The problem with all this is the lack of a unifying line--core principle. England had common law, belief in Christianity, the importance of one monarch, the Magna Carta and Provisions of Oxford. The USA had a similar set of core principles. The USSR for better or worse had a core principle-Marxism.  It is hard to see any core principle in Israel's legal system or political system.-  or even if there could be.

One thing that is curious is that in Torah law a judge who gets monetary reward for making a decision-all his decisions are null and void. דיין שנוטל שכר לדון כל דיניו בטלים that means a beit din of rabanim is automatically null and void by the law of the Torah. If you add to that the fact that one is not allowed to get paid for learning Torah as it says in Pirkei Avot, nor get paid for teaching Torah as it say in the gemara in reference to teaching TORAH that GOD says  מה אני בחימם אף אתם בחינם "Just like I taught Torah for free , you also must teach Torah for free"--adding all that together it is hard to see how anyone could make money off of Torah.  [Or maybe that is the very idea in the first place? ] 

So you could have a government but you could no have anything like religious judges or teachers getting paid by anyone- not the state--nor individuals.

and  that is a good thing. as for getting rid religious teachers, all i have to say is good riddance. as rav nahman o eloquently termed them '' Torah scholars that are demons'' LeM I:12

20.1.24

 The basic approach to the ARI [R. Isaac Luria] that I hold with is the Reshash--Sar Shalom Sharabi. In fact I prayed with the small sidur of the Reshash for years, and later I found the larger one.  But at some point I decided to go on the path of R. Akiva who according to the gemara ''entered into the higher worlds in peace and left in peace.''--Not that I have anything against being in a state of ''devekut'' [attachment to the infinite light''], but rather I felt one needs the proper ''vessels'' to be able to hold the light-or risk breaking of the vessels. 

[I Also agree with the approach to the Ari of Rav Yaakov Abuchazeira and the Ramchal. Rav Yaakov is the simple ''peshat'' [explanation], while the Reshash is Tosphot. The Ramchal fills in some detail and provides a wider context]

The Litvak Yeshiva World certainly learns TORAH pretty well. There are however a few flaws that i would like to point out. (1) THERE is a lot of seeking ''chumrot'' extra restrictions that often have no basis in halacha at all or little basis. And that leads [as it always must] to ignoring actual requirements of TORAH. (2) THERE is ignoring or ignorance of the herem of the GRA. And though I might be blamed on this same account -but that does not make it okay. (Beside that in my opinion Rav Nahman of Breslov would not be included in the second herem in which the actual signature of the GRA appears at the head of the page.) (3) But it still is a nice fact about the Litvak world that there is an emphasis on not adding and not subtracting from the commandments. That much I have to admit 

When a person thinks about things where reason by its very nature is incapable, these same people go nuts.

It is easy for smart people to see the mistakes of the dumb. But they can also fall into mistakes by being too smart. --It is like the parable of the tortoise and the hare. The swiftness of the tortoise was its own cause of being too slow. So in the Midrash we find the mother of Samuel the Prophet praying that her son should not be too smart nor too dumb. Philosophers have at the disadvantage of being too smart==as Kant himself pointed out in that when the mind ventures into areas of things in themselves self  contradictions arise. and Kant applied that insight to the human personality--when a person thinks about things where reason by its very nature is incapable, these same people go nuts.  

You can see this limitation in Hegel where his system does not recognize the limits of reason. [His system can be likened to PLOTINUS, HEGEL starts from the material world and by the dialectic rises to the Absolute  Spirit. But his system ends with what Plotinus would call THE LOGOS. But plotinus did not stop there. There is something higher than logos, i.e. THE ONE.]

19.1.24

Daddy's little princess becomes the grown lying bitch. .If one is willing to give up one's values because of what a woman says, then he never had any values in the first place.

 KING SOLOMON wrote in Proverbs: ''One man in a thousand I have found (that I can depend on), but even one woman in all that I have not found.'' Does that mean that there is no woman you can depend on, or that the number of women that you can depend on is less than 1/1000? AT any rate, it is clear that Solomon-the wisest of all men [as mentioned twice in the Bible-the Book of Kings and Chronicles], did not think that depending on women is a good idea. Then why are marriage laws in the West deigned to ruin men and their children? It must be because people that make the laws do not learn the Old Testament.

My own thought about this is along the lines of Rav Israel Salanter about the importance of learning Musar [books on Morality from the Middle Ages]-for when men or women concentrate on their responsibilities, they are able to overcome their natural evil inclinations. 

The trouble nowadays is daddy's little princess becomes the grown lying bitch. And whose fault is that? The fact that every man will always support what ever is perceived as a benefit to women, or more accurately any woman.     For men's loyalty one to another disappears as soon as a woman is involved.

And the religious world is no different. The religious bit is just a nice disguise. All Torah values go out the window as long as the approval of a woman is involved 

What I recommend is to learn Torah, Math and Physics [as per the opinions of the medieval authorities that held these last two part of the mitzvah of learning Torah] and not give it up because of a wife that demands one to stop. One's values have to be more important than the puzzy pass. If one is willing to give up one's values because of what a woman says. then he never had any values in the first place.  



18.1.24

It is hard to get philosophy right--I mean the big picture. Plato, Aristotle, KANT are certainly on top and I would have to add Leonard Nelson --of the new Friesian School. BUT even Nelson needs a good deal of clarification as per the friesian.com  of Kelley Ross. However it is a huge mistake in philosophy to have run into the vast array of 20th century ridiculous vacuous pseudo philosophies. [However, I still think that Hegel is a worthy rival of even this Friesian modification of Kant.]  

I think it is too easy to be impressed with 20th century Analytic Philosophy-so as a cure for that disease i recommend Robert Hanna's  book on Analytic Philosophy's fall into the trash bin of history along with existentialism, Post Modernism, The Frankfurt School's neo Marxism. i do not claim to have studied all this thoroughly but i did read a lot of it. The flaws in all of it can take time to see but some are more obvious. It does become to people that are interested in ''big picture'' philosophy--to go back to the serious thinkers--not the superficial ones that sound profound.

 The issue with Hamas is simple. They started the war. so war it is --like Sherman's March through Georgia to the sea. Grind the enemy into the dust. [Why did Eisenhauer not send humanitarian aid to German civilians during WWII?  Why Stalin did not send humanitarian aid to the German civilians in the cities who were starving even though they were not at the front line battles? Japan's civilians were literally starving in all the major cities. WHY did MacArthur not send them humanitarian  aid? Or PERHAPS suggest to relocate them?]

17.1.24

destroy the enemies of Israel

 I appreciate that the U.S.A is helping and I certainly agree that is owed because of that, but I do not think Israel should be limited by the goals and policies of the U.S.A..There is no serious difference between Hamas and the rest of the population of Gaza. You can't have a neighbor  who is saying the first chance he gets he will kill you in your bed as you sleep at night. You would complain to the police; and if they refuse to do anything, you would do what ever you could to protect yourself. The enemies of Israel have decided to drive the Jews into the sea, and Israel has the right to refuse them that privilege, --and to put them in a position in which they can not accomplish that goal. Gaza is too close to be able to defend against. Therefore, there is no choice but to destroy the enemies of Israel 

16.1.24

Ketubot page 18b and 19 a דעת הרמב''ם, לא ראב''ד הלכות גירושין י''ב ה''ג] Rambam Laws of Divorce 12 law 3.

A wife who has her document of divorce does not need to establish it [by asking the witnesses]  unless the husband says it was forged. [This is the opinion of the Rambam, not Raavad Laws of Gitin 12-3.] But if he says it he lost it and she found it, he is not believed. Losing a document of divorce is not common. But for a document of a loan where the borrower claims a similar weak plea, he is believed. The later authorities question, "Why the difference?" Rav Shach writes the the loan needs establishing and so it it a case the same person that establishes that he wrote it is the same mouth that establishes that he never borrowed anything. The divorce however is valid with the husband not saying anything. The question I have here is that the only time you need to establish a document of a loan is when one is collecting it not in the presence of the borrower. But in our case the borrower is here.  He is saying he wrote it, but he lost it. [i know this seems way to obvious for it to be a simple mistake. i am just writing it down as it is until hopefully i get some answer ]

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A wife who has her doc of divorce does not need to establish it [by asking the witnesses]  unless the husband says it was forged. [This is the opinion of the רמב''ם, not ראב''ד  Laws of גירושין ] But if he says it he lost it, and she found it, he is not believed. Losing a document of divorce is not common. But for a שטר of a loan where the borrower claims a similar weak plea, he is believed. אחרונים are puzzled by the difference. רב שך writes the the loan needs establishing, and so it it a case the הפה שאסר הוא הפה שהיתיר. (The same person that establishes that he wrote it is the same person that says that he never borrowed anything.) The divorce however is valid without the husband saying anything. The question I have here is that the only time you need to establish a שטר of a loan is when one is collecting it not in the presence of the borrower. But in our case the borrower is here.  He is saying he wrote it, but he lost it. 

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אשה שיש לה מסמך גירושין אינה צריכה להעמידו [בשאילת העדים] אלא אם כן הבעל אומר שזויף. [זו דעת הרמב''ם, לא ראב''ד הלכות גירושין י''ב ה''ג] אבל אם אמר הפסיד, והיא מצאה, אינו נאמן. אובדן מסמך גירושין אינו שכיח. אבל על שטר של הלוואה שבה הלווה טוען טענה חלשה דומה, הוא נאמן. אחרונים שואלים מההבדל. רב שך כותב את ההלוואה צריכה להקים ולכן זה מקרה הפה שאסר הוא הפה שהיתיר. (אותו אדם שקובע שכתב את זה הוא אותו אדם שאומר שמעולם לא שאל כלום.) הגירושין לעומת זאת תקפים מבלי שהבעל אמר דבר. השאלה שיש לי כאן היא שהפעם היחידה שאתה צריך להקים שטר של הלוואה היא כאשר גובים אותה לא בנוכחות הלווה. אבל במקרה שלנו הלווה כאן. הוא אומר שהוא כתב את זה אבל הוא איבד את זה



 סביב רשעים יתהלכון ''Around and go the wicked''. [That is from Psalms.] It is hard enough to find a true area of value, but even when you do, the wicked surround it and it is too easy to get caught in the consciousness traps that they set for you. Even if you have found your way into the center of an authentic area of value, the Dark Side still never gives up trying to get you.

[Sometimes the way itself is  lost.]

What I mean by areas of value--I am referring to Dr. Kelley Ross's Approach: Foundations of Value 

This is based on Jacob Fries's modification of Kant and Leonard Nelson. Fries modified Kant's Transcendental Deduction with the new idea of immediate non intuitive knowledge. 

15.1.24

I was at the beach and noticed a few people that looked ''yeshivish'', and asked from where they come. A Litvak yeshiva in Jerusalem. We discussed some of what I am learning nowadays, and I mentioned the sugia [subect] I am in at present--trying to figure out and argument between Rav Shach and Reb Chaim [The Brisker Rav] in the first mishna in Gitin. They asked why I am not in a yeshiva myself, and I made some excuses--while in fact it is my own fault. If I had stuck with the straight Litvak path of the Gra from the beginning, then in fact things would have been different. But once out --always out. So at least I try to hold on to learning and keeping the straight and narrow Torah path--the path of the Gra as best I can on my own.

[Part of the problem is women and men that do not value learning TORAH. Men that do not value LEARNING TORAH might very well be in yeshivot themselves and even kollel-leit--people that learn Torah and have found it a lucrative way to make a quick buck. Or you have most of the women in the world that grew up without valuing learning TORAH. It makes no difference if they are religious or not. they are nightmares.  In fact, if they are religious they are worse --self righteous hags.]

14.1.24

herem [excommunication] signed by the GRA

I am not sure why the herem [excommunication] signed by the GRA is universally ignored. It seems to me to valid from the stand point of halacha. I once was in the old city of Jerusalem in a small public library which had in it a book that contained the actual language  of the five different herems that were declared. [The one the Gra signed was the second. ] I looked to see if I could gain any clarity, and the best I could come up with was that Rav Nahman would not be under that herem, but other than that, it seemed to be applicable now just as much as it was then.

Besides that in noticed that the laws of herem stem from nedarim/oaths and have that same category as when someone says ''my bread is a karban [sacrifice] to you.'' This being the case, transgressing the herem of the Gra is deUraita--a prohibition of the Torah.

i might mention that the herem was to warn people from what would injure them, not just to find things to forbid.  

11.1.24

 I do not hold with institutions in general except in so far as they further their stated goals. Thus, the Litvak yeshiva world does tend to be sitting and learning Torah. But that seems to be evaporating once the great Litvak sages from before WWII are disappearing. The more these great sages like Rav Shach or Rav Israel Kinyevsky disappear, the more the yeshivot become institutions to make money. It might be that nowadays the best one can do is not to depend on anyone else, but to get an Avi Ezri or Chidushei haRambam by Reb Chaim of Brisk and to learn at home, or any corner where one can find a private spot to learn. [There is a problem that comes with trying to mix religion and money. Sincerity goes out the window. Thus learning at home might be the only possibility nowadays.] [My impression is that yeshivot lay out the red carpet for if they think you or your parents have plenty of money, but all that supposed kindness dries up when you are in need. ] 

South Africa, the world leader in genocide

 South Africa has been erasing white people by rape and murder since the 1990's until this very day and they complain about Israel defending it's borders? To me an accusation of genocide coming from South Africa, the world leader in genocide, seems more like a  joke than a serious accusation.

breakdown of American society

 The breakdown of American society, and in particular the breakdown of the relation between the sexes [i.e. the fact that all the women are crazy] is because of the ''meds'' --the medicine that almost all the women are on to supposedly  calm them, but in fact slowly destroys their minds. [The poison of the so called ''mental health'' military complex is at fault. The whole pseudo science of psychology is "Physics Envy".] 

value in the writings of Rabbainu the Ari

 I think that there is value in the writings of Rabbainu the Ari [Izhak Luria], but only if one is prepared by learning and getting through the Talmud twice [the fast way], and also doing a few years in a Litvak yeshiva in order to learn Gemara in depth. Even though there is a lot one can learn by doing it all on one's own, still it is hard to get the idea of understanding the Gemara in depth (''how to learn'') without hearing classes from a Litvak Rosh Yeshiva.  [ Without this preparation, learning Kabalah causes the ''breaking of the vessels'', destroying one's mind.] [Rav Nahman of Breslov pointed this out in the Le.M II, where he explains that the corrections of Rosh Hashanah one also gets by being in a Litvak Yeshiva (being with a rosh yeshiva with his students). Also, he brings the Midrash that we lost ''we will do'',-- so now let us hold on to ''we will listen''. That means learning by yourself is on the level of doing, [''We will do'']. But because of the sin of the Golden Calf, we lost that. I.e., it does not work anymore. The only way learning really gets absorbed is by listening. ]

Without a Litvak yeshiva is is easy to get ide tracked. And every discipline in fact has that danger. In general one needs to learn from an expert in that discipline. However when there is no choice one has to do as well as one can on one' own. Abraham Lincoln was self taught. He probably would have learned more thoroughly if he had had a good teacher, but he did the best that he could.   

10.1.24

 The three morons [presidents] of the ivy league universities in the that did not see any problem with antisemitism crashed and burned-while the morons in charge of the universities in Israel that have ignored the students that support Hamas and welcomed them in are still at their jobs along with the anti-Semitic students --i.e., Betzalel [THE TOP ISRAELI ART SCHOOL], Hebrew university and other supposedly top notch schools. Why is it that the universities in Israel have let back in the students that support Hamas?[you did not hear about it because at first they were expelled in oct, when the universities were not in session but let back in immediately a few days ago when the academic school year began.]

midot tovot good character

 The Chazon Ish pointed out in his small Musar book the importance of being strict in halacha. But what happens when there are conflicts in how to keep the strict law? Then you need an awareness of the order of importance of the laws. In this  learned from Musar books the importance of midot  tovot.in particular the Duties of the Hearts is found help to see what aspects of Torah to emphasize.

Without Musar it is very easy to lose sight of what is important in Torah law. So the aspects of Torah that i think are the most important are monotheism and good midot--''to be a mensch''

[This came up yesterday when I heard one girl is disparaging fanaticism. I did not interject my own two cents at the time, but afterward I mentioned that you have to be fanatic about being in the middle--to seek the middle ground between faith and reason. And in terms of Torah law that means not to add nor subtract. כל המוסיף גורע --ALL that add, end up subtracting.]

9.1.24

 There was tremendous pressure on Israel to leave the Sinai desert from the 1950's until 1967 from both the USA the Soviet Union. [that had been the source of constant raids on Israel until it was taken. ] Israel lost nothing by sticking up for itself. The courts of the Hague which are backed by the U.N. should better investigate the constant calls of the enemies of Israel for final solution of the Jewish problem.

As concerning the general situation in Israel, take the advice of my learning partner-[David Bronson from Uman]-people are just born one side of the issue or the other, and all the arguing in the world will not change anyone's mind. I have a lot of respect for that advice and for him. It is kind of like when you were in your high school algebra class, and the teacher asked  a question that you were sure of the answer. But before you could answer, the smart kid in the class was called on and gave a different answer. How confident are you now about your answer? Not very much. YOU go back and check it again and again before you feel prepared to answer,--or by that time you have discovered your miscalculation. That is the same way people ought to check and recheck their ''facts'' before having an opinion about what they really know next to nothing about. 

 

7.1.24

All Torah institutions should be dropped except Litvak yeshivot that follow the Gra , Reb Israel Salanter and Rav Shach.

 I can understand the  great LITVAK YESHIVOT who just want to sit and learn Torah, but I can't understand the religious world  that makes Torah into a shovel to dig their means of making a living. The whole religious world looks  like a private club that uses the money of secular Jews to make it run. The whole enterprise seems like fraud. They want to be an exclusive private club? Then let them pay for it themselves. To me it seems that anyone wants to support a worthy cause, they ought to volunteer for IDF or the friends of IDF. 

All Torah institutions should be dropped except Litvak yeshivot that follow the Gra , Reb Israel Salanter and Rav Shach. All the rest are pure garbage. 

[The yeshivot that I think are worthy are Ponovitch, Mir, Shar Yashuv,] 

6.1.24

reform in Israel

 My opinion about the the attempt at reform in Israel is mainly based on my little knowledge about the Constitution of the USA  in which James Madison and the other founding fathers made sure that no branch of government would be totally independent of the people.  So judges could not appoint themselves;--they needed to go through people that had been elected by the people. That is why in the  US, there is no such thing as a judge appointing his underlings. So I think judicial reform was quite in order in  Israel. Judges appointing themselves  to me seems like straight tyranny. And all the more so that now that same Israeli Supreme Court has voted itself the right to annul any law they do not like [for not being constitutional when there is no constitution!], and to also remove any member of parliament that they do not like,-- including the prime minister.  Even in Rome where the Senate and most public positions could be held only by the Patrician class, still no public office (including judges) could be held without a vote from the people of Rome. [I mean physical voting in Rome itself.] [Thus the signature  of Rome was SQPR. The Senate and the People of Rome.] There is a lesson from this that extends beyond just the confines of Rome or the USA.

 Politics I think got mixed up with philosophy in a way that tends to blur the lines. I feel that here is a great insight of the Chatam Sopher [Sorry that I forgot his name. That is the name of his book.] He felt that in learning he made sure to make a clear divide between each discipline.  When it comes to politics I think John Locke provides the greatest insights, but I would not say as much when it comes to his philosophy. And even though Kant and Leonard Nelson provide the greatest insights in philosophy, I think their ideas in politics are way too high in the clouds. [THE mix-up between philosophy and politics began with Plato. The road to clarity IN POLITICS began  when Rome by force of necessity [not from philosophy] made a compromise between the plebeians (--the people), and the SENATE. --The story was that the plebeians ran away and the patricians in instead of war offered them the office of the tribune and equal representation and authority for their  elected bodies of the commons [one for each tribe.]] I would be amiss if I did not mention Marx. The flaw that I have held about any system of government from my early youth is the principle that no matter how logical system is , if when put to empirical testing, it does not hold up, then it is wrong. Marxism predicts material abundance way beyond anything that the free market can provide. It does not pass its own test.

5.1.24

 According to the Talmud there is a point in learning fast even if one understands not a single word. it says ''forever a person should be ''gores'' (which means saying the words in order and going on" even though he forgets and even though he does not even know what he is saying.'' And in fact it seems impossible to get through the  Oral Law without doing this. The Oral Law  refers to the parts of the law which were no written until the Mishna and Talmud. [It means the two Talmuds and the midrashei halacha and midrashei agada] It does not refer to any commentaries that were written after the completion of the Talmud. but the many commentaries come under the category of learning the Oral Law. [In depth learning also is important. SO one needs both a fast session and a fast session.]

Some Rishonim that hold learning Physics and Metaphysics are also included in the mitzvah of learning the Oral Law as the Rambam says in the third chapter of Laws of Talmud Torah that ''the things called     Pardes are in the category of Gemara'' and he [the Rambam] defined those things called Pardes in the first four chapters of the Yad haHazaka, and at the end of those four chapters writes ''the subjects explained in these four chapters are what the sages called Pardes. 

4.1.24

 Rav Kook  held with nationalism while the Rav of Satmer [Reb Yoel] did not. and neither held from radical nationalism. To me, nationalism has always seemed to be weak.  It had a slow start.  Somewhere in English history there came an idea- ''England for the English''. Much later, under Louis IVX, it became much stronger. But for most of history, whatever area was ruled by a king--that was the nation. The king mattered, not the area, nor language, nor any sense of identity what so ever. 


[To me personally, keeping Torah is what mattered and matters. I have never been able to see any case for nationalism. Berkley came up with an idea that makes a lot of sense to me-- a nation is not a good in itself. It has a purpose: creating conditions that make human flourishing possible. Thus when it does not serve that purpose, it ha no legitimacy.][This I noticed in Danny Frederick [a libertarian critic of Michael Huemer  who believes in anarchy]. ]

Hegel is known for his defense of the metaphysical state. Hobhouse wrote a critique on that.--

Hegel [and Howard Bloom] are advocates for the collective while Kant is an advocate for the individual. 


Bava Batra page 22 בבא בתרא כ''ב

On the way back from the sea today, there occurred to me a way to explain the Rishonim on Bava Batra page 22. Thus: the law is like Rava except in yal keyam. Also the law is like the later authority which clearly Ravina is. The Gemara says "Ravina and Rav Ashi are the end of horah"--the ability to make a peak din. If you put these two facts together you are forced into some compromise, some middle position that can contain both. [Otherwise they directly contradict each other.] The Gemara Bava Batra page 22 says Rava says one can't dig a hole next to the borderline and Abyee says he can. The Gemara asks on Rava from the Mishna מרחיקין את המשרה מן הירק  והחרדל מן הדבורים רבי יוסי אומר עד שאתה אומר הרחק חרדלך מדבוראי הרחק דבוריך מן חרדלי שבאות ואוכלות לגלוגי חרדלי ואי לא סמיך היכא  משכחת לה רב פפא אמר בלוקח  But almost all Rishonim say the law is not like Rava except for digging a pit alone because a pit is like shooting arrows. Still once there is something the neighbor has put there that can be damaged, he has to take away what can cause damage.  The Rambam holds  if you have something that could cause damage to one's neighbor on the boundary between oneself and his neighbor, but there is nothing there right now, he has to take it away if the neighbor puts something there that could be damaged. Most other rishonim hold he does not have to take away  his object if he came first.

Thus the main idea of the Rishonim is that Ravina means the person that can be damaged he himself has to keep away (because the law is like R. Yose)  unless the thing that can cause damage causes damage immediately.   Thus that is the case of Rava. Other than that there is a right of who came first can stay. the argument then is how long can he stay? Forever?, or until the neighbor puts something that can be damaged there?

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On the way back from the sea today, there occurred to me a way to explain the ראשונים on בבא בתרא כ''ב ע''ב. Thus: the law is like רבא except in יעל כגם. Also the law is like the later authority which clearly רבינא is. The גמרא says "רבינא and רב אשי are the סוף הוראה"--the ability to make a פסק דין. If you put these two facts together you are forced into some compromise, some middle position that can contain both . [Otherwise they directly contradict each other. ]  רבא says one can't dig a hole next to the borderline and אביי says he can. The גמרא asks on רבא from   מרחיקין את המשרה מן הירק  והחרדל מן הדבורים רבי יוסי אומר עד שאתה אומר הרחק חרדלך מדבוראי הרחק דבוריך מן חרדלי שבאות ואוכלות לגלוגי חרדלי ואי לא סמיך היכא  משכחת לה רב פפא אמר בלוקח  But almost all ראשונים say the law is not like רבא except for digging a בור alone because a בור is like shooting arrows גיריה דיליה. Still once there is something the neighbor has put there that can be damaged, he has to take away what can cause damage.  The רמב''ם holds  if you have something that could cause damage to one's neighbor on the boundary between oneself and his neighbor, but there is nothing there right now, he has to take it away if the neighbor puts something there that could be damaged. Most other ראשונים hold he does not have to take away  his object if he came first. Thus the main idea of the ראשונים is that רבינא means the person that can be damaged he himself has to keep away unless the thing that can cause damage causes damage immediately. Thus that is the case of רבא. Other than that, there is a right of who came first can stay. The argument then is how long can he stay? Forever? or until the neighbor puts something that can be damaged? there._____________________________________________________________________________


כדי להסביר את הראשונים על בבא בתרא כ''ב ע''ב. הלכך: הדין כרבא אלא ביע''ל קג''ם. גם הדין הוא כמו הסמכות המאוחרת שברור שרבינא היא. הגמרא אומרת "רבינא ורב אשי סוף הוראה"--היכולת לעשות פסק דין. אם אתה מחבר את שתי העובדות האלה יחד אתה נאלץ לבצע איזושהי פשרה, איזו עמדה אמצעית שיכולה להכיל את שניהם. רבא אומר שאי אפשר לחפור בור ליד הגבול ואבי אומר שהוא יכול. הגמרא שואלת על רבא מרחיקין את המשרה מן הירק והחרדל מן הדבורים רבי יוסי אומר עד שאתה אומר הרחק חרדלך מדבוראי הרחק דבוריך מן חרדלי שבאות ואוכלות לגלוגי חרדלי ואי לא סמיך היכא משכחת לה רב פפא אמר בלוקח אבל כמעט כל הראשונים אומרים שהחוק אינו כמו רבא חוץ מחפירת בור לבד כי בור הוא כמו ירי חיצים (גיריה דיליה). ובכל זאת ברגע שיש משהו שהשכן שם שם שיכול להינזק, הוא צריך לקחת מה שיכול לגרום לנזק. הרמב''ם אוחז אם יש משהו שעלול לגרום נזק לשכן בגבול שבינו לבין שכנו, אבל אין שם כלום כרגע, הוא צריך לקחת אותו אם השכן שם משהו שעלול להינזק. רוב ראשונים אחרים טוענים שהוא לא צריך לקחת את החפץ אם הוא הגיע ראשון. לפיכך הרעיון המרכזי של הראשונים הוא שרבינא פירושו של האדם שיכול להינזק שהוא עצמו צריך להרחיק (כי הדין הוא כמו ר' יוסי) אלא אם הדבר שיכול לגרום נזק גורם נזק מיד. אז זה המקרה של רבא. מלבד זאת, יש זכות מי בא ראשון יכול להישאר. הטענה אם כן היא כמה זמן הוא יכול להישאר? לָנֶצַח? או עד שהשכן שם משהו שיכול להינזק?


 Rav Nahman of Breslov warned to stay away from doctors [Sichot HaRan. Conversations of the Rav Nahman]. That was at a time 200 years ago when medicine was still based on the four elements. However this advice is still highly relevant. THERE are procedures and medicines that have been around for 50 years and are well established and are okay. But less than that 50 year period  one ought to avoid.

3.1.24

 Michael Huemer says that Bayesian probability can solve the problem of induction. But is that all that different from justified opinion? That last being the flimsy definition of knowledge. Dr. Huemer' opinion is surely better than that, but still does not bridge the gap.  A priori is different in essence from empirical knowledge as Leonard Nelson pointed out.

 The Rambam holds  if you have something that could cause damage to one's neighbor on the boundary between oneself and his neighbor, but there is nothing there right now, he has to take it away if the neighbor puts something there that could be damaged. This is based on the Gemara Bava Batra page 22. Rava says one can't dig a hole next to the borderline and Abyee says he can. The Gemara asks on Rava from the Mishna מרחיקין את המשרה מן הירק  והחרדל מן הדבורים רבי יוסי אומר עד שאתה אומר הרחק חרדלך מדבוראי הרחק דבוריך מן חרדלי שבאות ואוכלות לגלוגי חרדלי ואי לא סמיך היכא  משכחת לה רב פפא אמר בלוקח from this it is clear that even to have anything by the boundary in the first place is forbidden--since the law is always like Rava except for yal kegam. But almost all Rishonim say the law is not like Rava except for digging a pit alone. still once there is something the neighbor has put there, he has to take what can cause damage away. 

The Rishonim are depending on Ravina who is coming to answer either for Rava or Rav Papa and says על המזיק להרחיק את עצמו How this answers any of the above questions is unclear.     But it is the statement of Ravina that makes room for all the opinions that allow one to put something there. and in fact most rihonim hold that it can stay there even after the neighbor has put something there that could be damaged because at that point, the neighbor had to have put his thing farther away.