D=8 the lattice

Is there a connection between the result that in D=8 the lattice gives the best packing and the fact that D=8 gives the right number of fermions and gives the right triviality relation between a vector and two spinors?

For the general public let me just expand a drop. The lattice gives the best packing in D=8 [E(8)]. And  also there are other important things about D=8. We get the right relationships between vector particles and spinors. We get the right number of fermions.


And plus that E(8) is reducible to d=3 and that is nice for a 3d world.



See this paragraph written by Warren Siegel:



From Warren Siegel:


However, these spinors can have the usual commutation relations and conformal weights only for D=8. This is significant for two reasons: (1) D=8 is the number of physical (i.e., transverse) fermions for the RNS superstring, and (2) SO(8) is the only simple Lie group with the property of “triality”, a symmetry between the vector and two spinor representations. In fact, if we start out by defining the basis for one of the spinors with the same a we used above to define the vector, and rewrite the above a’s for the vector and other spinor in terms of that new basis, we see that we have just permuted the 3 a’s. [Fields pg 776]

Bava Kama 19b and the Rambam

Just a fast introduction. The Rambam about that page of the Gemara is hard to understand That is he does not fit the Gemara at all. What I had to do was to suggest the Rambam had a different version.
 But furthermore I think there is this coming conclusion that is partly based on my own reading of the Rambam. That is I am suggesting anyway that this halacha goes along with Rabbi Nathan on page 53 that- "This and that causes the damage, then each pays a half." And what seems to me to be clear in any case no matter why the Rambam says what he says, but at least we do know he does not mention the chicken flying. And that is the sole situation when the Gemara says it is חצי נזק. This much we know. Furthermore we know the Rambam holds with Rabbi Nathan. So regardless of what I wrote we can conclude this chicken with the string is a case of full נזק. And thus if the chicken and the string each have an owner then each pays a half. And if it is a case of flying, then the largest amount possible is half, so there too each pays a half, but it comes out to be that each pays a fourth. And now we know why the Rambam did not write the law about the flying chicken. Because it can be easily understood from the law he did write.

_______________________________________________________________________________


Just a fast introduction. The רמב''ם about that page of the גמרא is hard to understand That is he does not fit the Gemara at all. What I had to do was to suggest the רמב''ם had a different version.
 But furthermore I think there is this coming conclusion that is partly based on my own reading of the רמב''ם. That is I am suggesting anyway that this הלכה goes along with רבי נתן on page נ''ג that זה וזה גורם   the נזק then  each pays a חצי. And what seems to me to be clear in any case no matter why the רמב''ם says what he says. But at least we do know he does not mention the chicken flying. And that is the sole situation when the גמרא says it is חצי נזק. This much we know. Furthermore we know the רמב''ם holds with רבי נתן. So regardless of what I wrote, we can conclude this chicken with the חוט is a case of full נזק. And thus if the chicken and the חוט each have an owner, then each pays a half. And if it is a case of flying, then the largest amount possible is half, so there too each pays a half; but comes out to be that each pays a fourth. And now we know why the רמב''ם did not write the law about the flying chicken. Because it can be easily understood from the law he did write.

 כלומר אני מציע בכל מקרה הלכה זו הולכת יחד עם רבי נתן בעמוד נ''ג כי זה וזה גורם נזק שלם, כל אחד משלם חצי. ומה נראה לי להיות ברור בכל מקרה לא משנה מדוע רמב''ם אומר את מה שהוא אומר. אבל לפחות אנחנו יודעים שהוא אינו מזכיר את עפיפת העוף. וזה המצב היחיד שהגמרא אמרה שהיא חצי נזק. זה ידוע לנו. יתר על כן אנו יודעים שהרמב''ם מחזיק עם רבי נתן. אז  אנו יכולים להסיק עוף זה עם חוט הוא מקרה של נזק מלא. וכך אם העוף ואת החוט אחד יש להם בעלים אז כל אחד משלם חצי. ואם זה מקרה של טיסה, הסכום הגדול היותר האפשרי הוא חצי, אז גם שם כל אחד משלם חצי, אבל זה יוצא להיות שכל אחד משלם רבע. ועכשיו אנחנו יודעים מדוע הרמב''ם לא כתב את החוק על עוף מעופף. כי זה יכול בקלות להיות מובן מהחוק שהוא כן  כתב.









Ideas in Shas It also seems to me to add an important point in this book. That is the Rambam does not mention flying in Bava Kama 19b.   My thesis is this: The Rambam held flying is a difference [an unusual type of damage as in "half damages of pebbles"]  and thus can only be obligated 1/2 damages. Therefore if there are two owners they both pay at the most 1/2/ If it is not flying, they both pay 1/2 each to get to full damages.

_________________________________________________


It also seems to me to add an important point. That is the רמב''ם does not mention flying in בבא קמא י''ט ע''ב.   My thesis is this: The רמב''ם held flying is a שינוי  כחצי נזק צרורות  and thus can only be obligated חצי נזק. Therefore if there are two owners they both pay ביחד at the most חצי.  If it is not flying, they both pay חצי each to get to נזק שלם.

גם נראה לי להוסיף נקודה חשובה.  הרמב''ם אינו מזכיר מצב שהתרנגול עף בבבא קמא י''ט ע''ב. התזה שלי היא זו:  לרמב''ם עפיפה נערכת  כשינוי (היינו כחצי נזק צרורות) ולכן יכולים להיות מחויבים רק חצי נזק. לכן אם יש שני בעלים אחד לתרנגול ואחד לחוט, שניהם מחוייבים לשלם ביחד לכל היותר חצי. אם התרנגול לא עף, שניהם מחוייבים לשלם כל אחד חצי להגיע לנזק שלם.

So while it is admirable the attempt of Rabbi Avigdor Miller to defend Torah, still his books are not good arguments

World view issues and ethics are hard subjects to address.  The best books that deal with these as far as I can tell are from the Middle Ages. That is there is a set of books from the Middle Ages that deal with world view issues. Mainly that is Saadia Gaon, Maimonides, Crescas, Joseph Albo, and Abravenal. There are also books that deal with ethics. That started with the Obligations of the Heart (Chovot Levavot). After that there were  a few more. Shaari Teshuva by Rabbainu Yona, Orchot Tzadikim, and a few others. These all seem to me to be the best. 

After the Middle Ages logical thinking in these subjects went out the window. People that were good at logic then went into math and physics and the natural sciences. 

So while the natural sciences benefited, ethics and world view issues suffered.

So while it is admirable the attempt of  Avigdor Miller to defend Torah, still his books are not good arguments. If you want to defend Torah you really have to go to the Middle Ages when people were thinking clearly in these matters.

With due respect, Rav Miller did not understand evolution. Genesis and the Big Bang is full of errors in both Torah and Physics. [But in terms of presenting the idea that Torah and Physics are complementary it is an inspiring book. He gets a A for effort.]  No book that has been written in the frum world about ethics or world view rises above comic book level. The mystics are even worse.
 Not one of them has the slightest idea of what the Ari was talking about.

So while defending Torah is a noble and worthwhile task, it does not help the cause to have idiots and schizos doing the work. They damage the cause by means of their support. And they change the Torah to fit their delusions. 

However I should mention the Chafetz Chaim and the Musar books of the disciples of Israel Salanter are excellent.
Shimshon Refael Hisrch is excellent and so are Rav Cook's books.

universals as modes of necessity.morality is a kind of modes of necessity-not the normal type of F=ma. But "ought"

The point is this related to Maimonides. To see universals as modes of necessity hails back to Aristotle. It is a tantalizing prospect to think if there is a Rambam connection with this idea of modes of necessity. It is known the Rambam was neo Platonic leaning towards Aristotle --but not completely.

Music for the glory of God

r25 r22

authentic Torah

There is little idea of authentic Torah nowadays. People think authentic Torah is rituals. This gives power to schizo personalities to dominate. After all if Torah is mainly about rituals, then who better to be  a leader that someone who does long hard rituals? That is the nature of the schizo personality.
They love love hard rituals.

Or perhaps an idiot savant who can memorize  a whole library of books without understanding a word? Or who can write tons of religious fanaticism? Hyper-graphia  also being a characteristic of schizo personalities.

Believe me these are all examples of what is considered an authentic Tzadik {saint} nowadays.

Authentic Torah is found only in Litvak yeshivas. And what is that. It is a hybrid. The original idea of a yeshiva was begun by Reb Chaim from Voloshin [disciple of the Gra] . This was a radical departure from anything that had come before. It was an institution independent of the city it was located in. It was in no way subject to the home owners nor the Rav of the city. Its job was to learn Talmud , the Oral Law.
Independently  began the Musar movement [Ethics movement]. The idea there was to learn Musar Ethics. That idea did not take off at all for home owners. But it was by certain yeshivas. Thus certain yeshivas became all about ethics. So at that point we have two kinds of yeshivas. The Gra type for Talmud alone and the Musar type for mainly Ethics and some Talmud. The Modern Litvak Yeshiva is a hybrid of these two types.  Good examples are Ponovitch, Brisk, Mirrer in NY, Chaim Berlin, Torah VeDaat.

If you are near a Litvak place, then learn there. It does not have to be all day. In fact, when I was in Netivot I went to Rav Montag's place for an hour in the morning and an hour at night and Thanks to God made some good progress even in that short time. [Rav Montag is a disciple of Issachar Meir the friend of Bava Sali]
If you are an organized person you could learn a fast session for one hour  and another slow in depth session another hour and that would only take two hours per day and the rest of the day you could go surfing.
[If I had not gone to yeshiva in NY would not know how to learn. It would not make any difference how smart I am. I would have thought all the false paths were OK. ]

The typical spoiled brats of the cult that the Gra signed the excommunication on

Schizo type personalities. Meta magical thinking. Appropriate context. Hearing voices at the right time makes one  a "tzadik" (saint); hearing them at the wrong type one gets called "insane."
Cleanliness over done.
All human societies have great need for schizo type personality. They need the shaman. The basis for Torah to the Rambam is objective morality. The cult that the Gra signed the  excommunication on turns it into the main thing being ritual;-- especially ritual cleanliness.

Obsessive rituals is the core of the cult that the Gra signed the  excommunication on. But what makes the leaders "tzadikim" is the do it at the "right" times. They have enough control over it to make sure it conforms to the social norms that will get them accepted as true tzadikm, and thus get reproductive success and financial security.

Hyper-graphia. Reb Natan was a classic case of  the need to write obsessively and an uncontrollable interest in religious matters.


The problem is that every area of value has an opposite area of value that mimics it. So talent can take one only half way. For example; for every science where good work is being done, there is pseudo science. But people in pseudo science are easily able to fool the public because they are talented. But they can't fool the experts. So it is in every area of value,- including Torah. That is why  some people emphasize the rituals. That is  to be able to fool the public.


So it is important to come to authentic Torah and to avoid fake Torah which mimics it. The schizo personality types of hasidut are never good people. They are not decent people. They are rather good at doing the rituals. That is not authentic Torah.

Hasidim generally are Pre-schizoid personalities. These individuals have visions at the appropriate place and time. The visions are especially effective in the time of uncertainty and crisis. Mild form of OCD. These people follow rituals (in cleaning, eating to allay anxiety.    Epilepsy (temporal lobes). These people have keen interest in philosophy and in writing. They also have little or no sense of humor (hm...), stern. Hypocampus damage/development. These people are hypersensitive to dopamine spikes due to random rewards; prone to see agency behind random events.  Humans are social apes. Peer pressure, group thinking, and sense of belonging all contribute to development of religiosity.

WE LOVE GUYS THAT LEARN TORAH

Every area of value has close to it an area of opposite value that looks externally like a part of the area of positive value. You can see this in science where there is good work being done but also you can see crackpots that know enough to sound credible to fool the layman, but are just confused. So this is the case in every area of value.--including Torah. That is why it is important to use common sense to discern. 

That is why I am thrilled when I see people  that can discern the great authentic Torah quality in the Chafetz Chaim and Musar [ethics].

In "lumdanut" or "Lumdus" [learning deeply] there is also this aspect. But here it is harder for people to tell the real thing from the fake  when they are not themselves good learners. Concerning Rav Shach's book the Avi Ezri, of all books that introduce one to the idea of how to learn, I found it the most powerful and deep.  

WE LOVE GUYS THAT LEARN TORAH

Kelley Ross

Modes of possibility follow modes of necessity 

Modes of possibility and modes of necessity. This seems to me to be central to metaphysics. 

It seems to me there are different levels of unconditioned reality. 

What I mean to say in plain English is that I think the Kant Fries modification of Platonic thought really includes a very important ingredient from Aristotle. And to me this shows an important result that the Rambam was right all along in his combined metaphysics that made a synthesis between Aristotle and Plato. 
Sometimes the Rambam  says outrageous things  that seem utterly silly on the surface, but if you think deeply about what it, you can see how on a deeper level he was right.


What I am saying is here in Dr Kelley Ross's essay 

"tzadikim" [ religious leaders]

The problem with "tzadikim" [ religious leaders] or the cult that worships tzadikim is the problem that goes along with the wider range of problems associated with the cult of celebrity. The wider problem is easier to define. Mainly it is that people with no knowledge of justice or goodness or expertise of any kind suddenly become considered experts in all these matters and all matters relating to human life.  In the context of Torah it means people that have no knowledge of Torah nor are good or decent people in any sense, but are very good at doing long hard rituals, suddenly are considered to be experts in Torah and goodness. [That is the person chosen to be the head of the cult is usually a schizo type personality that has enough control over his voices and delusions to hear them only at the right times- the times that are socially accepted.]



"Everyone worships something. William Penn once said: men not ruled by God will be ruled by tyrants."



This topic is related to the larger problem of charismatic leadership. When the Torah itself is not considered obligatory then people go after a charismatic leader who then defines the Torah as to mean that everyone who serves the noble leader comes to human perfection. That is not what the Torah says but people believe this because they are no longer following the Torah.

Then next step is to make a pretense of bring people to Torah while in fact trying to get them into the cult in order to worship their Satanic leader.

[No offense intended to true tzadikim like  Reb Nahman. It was not their fault that their "thing" collapsed into idolatry.]

 I want to mention that it is often a very good thing to have good people to admire like the Chafetz Chaim. This is important because we humans tend to model our behavior after people we admire.

Still we need good judgment to decide whom to admire and we need not to fall for cults that are not at all related to the idea of admiration for great people but an approach which Reb Haim from Voloshin says is pure idolatry--spiritual connection with tzadikim.

Most people could be great in Torah even without being very smart.

I love Avraham because Avraham teaches the whole world how to learn Torah.

Most people could be great in Torah  even without being very smart.
At least that is what Reb Elchanan Wasserman said. He mentioned how he was not at all smart, but somehow being committed to Torah helped he gain in intelligence.

I think we would have to admit seeing his book, the Koveitz Shiurim that this is in fact true.  

How to become a gadol BaTorah. How? I The basic path is being interested in the Chafetz Chaim. Thi is a very important thing. It shows great promise.  Interest in not speaking Lashon Harah slander is an important step. 


But how to bring this to fruition? The truth is to learn and understand Torah takes time. I really did not even start to get it for a long time. Even all my years in yeshiva I was just absorbing it subconsciously but I really did not know what was going on. It helps a lot to be in a Torah environment. If you can't be in an authentic Lithuanian yeshiva which is the Noah's ark of this generation then perhaps you getting good learning partners like Rav Shach, Reb Chaim Soloveitchik, Reb Baruch Ber would help.

Music file r23 cmajor r23 nwc

r23 cmajor       r23 nwc
r23 in midi 

I think outside of an "in depth" session in learning, that one should have also one session in which he goes through one half page of Talmud per day. That is to do this in the way of what is called "Girsah".  girsah means to say the words and go on. So what I suggest is to say one half page of Gemara Rashi Tosphot Mahrasha and Maharam from Lublin. Tomorrow to do the next page.

This way to get through the Talmud Bavli [Babylonian Talmud] and Yerushalmi [Jerusalem Talmud].
This should not take more than 40 minutes per day.


My suggestion is to do the same with Math and Physics. Even though these last two subjects do not have an established cannon, still there are a few basic books that go through the basic material. For example there are a few comprehensive texts which go through Abstract Algebra {Nathan Jacobson}, and another one that goes through Algebraic Topology (Allen Hatcher).  One could get the basic set and just plow through them.



I recommend also to do the book of Rav Shach on the Rambam in the same way.


The Chazal (sages) have told us to learn from the world how to serve God. Also I should mention that Rav Miller's books were very popular in the Mir Yeshiva in Brooklyn and he uses this idea in his books.. The original idea that he expands on of learning how to serve God from the ways of the world comes from the Musar book, חובות לבבות  [The Chovot Levavot]. That was the first place I saw that the Rambam is not alone in his opinion to learn Physics and MetaPhysics. I was in a shul in Jerusalem and picked up the חובות לבבות [Chovot Levavot] and saw in chap 3 of Shar HaBitachon that learning Physics and Metaphysics is the way to come to love and fear of God. The reason is there he makes a distinction between learning what is the spirituality in things which people would call Kabalah and learning the physical nature of the world. And he says it is this later thing that brings one to true love and fear of God.

[I do not really care much if you think you do not understand the Gemara if you learn it fast in this way.  You pick up much more unconsciously than you are aware of. See the Musar book The אורחות צדיקים that goes into this in length.

excellent at doing the rituals

The cult that the Gra signed the  excommunication on is organized schizophrenia, organized around a schizo personality.
In history the religious leaders are often those that are best at doing the rituals in the most compulsive way --at the right times. (That is: in the times that are socially acceptable.) If they do it at the wrong times, they get labeled as crazy. If they do it as the right time, they get thousands of followers.

Mainly what people want is someone who is excellent at doing the rituals and especially the hard ones. The harder the better.

The reason they learn psychology is in order to be able to credibly accuse people of that know about their secret evil. It is not curiously to understand human nature but rather as a weapon.
Schizo  type people have plenty of reproductive success. That does not make them right. It is just a good evolutionary strategy.

Concerning Lashon Hara if your warn your children form an evil cult that you know by empirical evidence and experience that they are completely evil, and terribly destructive and fraudulent and deceitful  then you do not need to go up to every single member of the group to give them rebuke before you can warn your children of others.

There is a degree that this kelipa has infiltrated all of the rest of Judaism. But here I am just concentrating on the head of the snake.


[I would rather not mention exceptions, but I think I have to so as not to cast aspersions on genuine sincere people like the Baal Shem Tov himself and Reb Nachman who were surely sincere and great people that helped many and certainly did not intend their "thing " to become idolatry as it has. My main point is the cults that pretend to bring people to Torah, but instead use rituals of Torah to bring people to the Devil that is embodied in their leaders.

Lashon Hara is very important.  What I wrote in my previous blog could be looked at as on the borderline. I have tried to defend my thesis with the idea of "group  behavior." That is: when warning about a group you by the average behavior (which is easy to document and see). If you warn your children about a group, you do not need to see if every single person in the group follows the average pattern. 

  With this idea we can see why the Gra signed the excommunication. His signature was the top signature. 

Still, if this would be a matter of theory I would not say a word. It is from empirical evidence that I warn about the terrible hidden dangers that someone with less experience might not be aware of. I also have had myself and seen what I am writing about.

I am warning about that which I know about all too well and have had devastating and horrible experiences and I see their effects on others. I would be remiss in my obligation as a Jew not to say what I know about this subject.

The Chafetz Chaim, Reb Chaim Soloveitchik, and Reb Israel Salanter.

It is helpful to look at three central people in Europe to understand Torah.

The Chafetz Chaim, Reb Chaim Soloveitchik, and Reb Israel Salanter. Looking at just one alone gives I think a skewed picture. People tend to try to absorb one into the other. And that seems to me to makes things unclear. There is some overlap however.

But to understand the interest and emphasis of one as if they were the same as the other gives a false notion.

The Musar movement was not the same thing as the Chafetz Chaim. It was first and foremost about Musar--mainly the aspect of correction of personality flaws inside the individual by means of intense learning of Musar many hours per day. This was quite definitely not the Chafez Chaim. [And this approach has been almost completely forgotten.] Even after the Musar movement became coupled with the Yeshiva movement and they both became fused together still Musar was not the same as the Chafez Chaim. Musar reveals an important face or aspect of Torah that no one else reveals. The importance of correcting bad character and the importance of the essence of fear of God;- not the manifestations of fear of God as in external rituals-- but the thing in itself.

The Chafetz Chaim is well known. His emphasis was on Laws of Slander and general Jewish Law (Halacha).

Reb Chaim Soloveitchik was not part of the yeshiva movement at all. He became absorbed in it and influenced its direction but his area of interest was something completely different. He wanted to create a revolution in understanding the Rambam. That was to not just believe the Rambam knew what he was talking about, but that it could be shown rigorously. Clearly this process had started with the regular commentaries, especially the Mishhna LaMelech. But Reb Chaim brought this to a whole new level.

I suggest that each of these people revealed an important facet of Torah, not like the other.

Reb Chaim's path was left uncompleted by him, but his close disciples and Rav Shach went a long way in picking up the slack. I have to confess my personal opinion that Rav Shach's book the Avi Ezri goes way beyond anything I have seen thus far. If I can be excused for saying so,-- it is much more clear-- and at least as deep as Reb Chaim's Chidushei HaRambam.

They depend on secrecy so blogs  that make uncomfortable truths public  are slandered in order to make them silent. They depend on the illusion of caring about Torah in order to gain support.  The main problem is religious teachers. But to go into this is not of interest to me. You can look at the blogs that document  their corruption if you can stomach it. I can not look at that blog even though I know most of his reports are accurate. Whatever time I have to spend on Jewish subjects, I would rather concentrate on the positive side. I am so behind anyway on the things I need to do every day. Spending time warning strangers about something the Gra warned about already 250 years ago and is still ignored does not seem like a worthwhile expenditure of time. I had to find out the hard way how infinitely evil religious teachers really are for the message to come home. The one person they hide behind is the Chafetz Chaim because they need deceit and secrecy. They do not want people to warn their children about them.


That is sad because it is easily corrected by simply learning the books Musar, the Chafetz Chaim and Reb Chaim.]

I did some reading on the History of Spain and the Islamic conquest of Spain. I think this is very important reading because to me it shows what is going on today is not new, but an old and well proven procedure how to take over a country. All Muslims are doing is applying the same strategy that has always worked before. Not frontal assault, but rather softening up a population by a combined strategy of: a) partly showing themselves fine up right people; and b) another part making people afraid to speak up; and c) another part by terror tactics.
 In this regard I recommend to people to learn the history of Spain.
{I did this reading years ago. Not recently. It was in relation to the history of Jews in Spain. So I went back to the Roman period and went on from there. This was very instructive and gave me an ability to see how Muslims were able to corrode the Spanish culture and people.]

Ideas in Talmud The only thing I wanted to add to this notebook this minute is just a comment on Sanhedrin 61. I did not mention in my notes there anything about the Maharsha. But I did go into the argument between Tosphot and the Baal HaMaor. What is significant is that this is the only time I remember seeing the Maharsha quote the Baal Hamaor. And I think in my notes we can see why he does this. I do not remember exactly what he says and I have no way to check. But it seems to me the question in my notes on Tosphot almost has to force us to admit the Baal HaMaor was right.

How can I put this? Clearly what Tosphot was thinking was that when the Gemara limited the scope of השתחוויה השתטחות it meant only quadrant III not its way and not honor. And I guess that it is true that that is all the Gemara says explicitly about what is limited by השתחווייה. But it also adds that unique phrase מה השתחוויה דרך כבוד אף כל דרך כבוד which I think surely must mean that all that can be forbidden by השתחוויה is only the way of honor. So I think we are forced to admit that quadrant IV is left open [its way, but not a way of honor]. And thus there is something for איכה יעבדו  to forbid--that is quadrant IV. So we can see why the Maharsha would have pointed us in the direction of the Baal Hamaor.
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 The only thing I wanted to add to this notebook this minute is just a comment on סנהדרין ס''א ע''א. I did not mention in my notes there anything about the מהרש''א. But I did go into the argument between תוספות and the בעל המאור. What is significant is that this is the only time I remember seeing the מהרש''א quote the בעל המאור. And I think in my notes we can see why he does this. I do not remember exactly what he says and I have no way to check. But it seems to me the question in my notes on תוספות almost has to force us to admit the בעל המאור was right.

How can I put this? Clearly what תוספות was thinking was that when the גמרא limited the scope of השתחוויה השתטחות it meant only רביע השלישי not its way and not honor. And I guess that it is true that that is all the גמרא says explicitly about what is limited by השתחווייה. But it also adds that unique phrase מה השתחוויה דרך כבוד אף כל דרך כבוד which I think surely must mean that all that can be forbidden by השתחוויה is only the way of honor. So I think we are forced to admit that רביע רביעית  is left open כדרכה, but לא דרך כבוד. And thus there is something for איכה יעבדו  to forbid, that is רביע רביעית. So we can see why the מהרש''א would have pointed us in the direction of the בעל המאור.

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It also seems to me to add an important point in this book. That is the Rambam does not mention flying in Bava Kama 19b.   My thesis is this: The Rambam held flying is a difference [an unusual type of damage as in "half damages of pebbles"]  and thus can only be obligated 1/2 damages. Therefore if there are two owners they both pay at the most 1/2/ If it is not flying, they both pay 1/2 each to get to full damages.


גם נראה לי להוסיף נקודה חשובה.  הרמב''ם אינו מזכיר מצב שהתרנגול עף בבבא קמא י''ט ע''ב. התזה שלי היא זו:  לרמב''ם עפיפה נערכת  כשינוי (היינו כחצי נזק צרורות) ולכן יכולים להיות מחויבים רק חצי נזק. לכן אם יש שני בעלים אחד לתרנגול ואחד לחוט, שניהם מחוייבים לשלם ביחד לכל היותר חצי. אם התרנגול לא עף, שניהם מחוייבים לשלם כל אחד חצי להגיע לנזק שלם.


 רמב''ם כלומר אני מציע בכל מקרה הלכה זו הולכת יחד עם רבי נתן בעמוד נ''ג כי זה וזה גורם נזק שלם, כל אחד משלם חצי. ומה נראה לי להיות ברור בכל מקרה לא משנה מדוע רמב''ם אומר את מה שהוא אומר. אבל לפחות אנחנו יודעים שהוא אינו מזכיר את עפיפת העוף. וזה המצב היחיד שהגמרא אמרה שהיא חצי נזק. זה ידוע לנו. יתר על כן אנו יודעים שהרמב''ם מחזיק עם רבי נתן. אז  אנו יכולים להסיק עוף זה עם חוט הוא מקרה של נזק מלא. וכך אם העוף ואת החוט אחד יש להם בעלים אז כל אחד משלם חצי. ואם זה מקרה של טיסה, הסכום הגדול היותר האפשרי הוא חצי, אז גם שם כל אחד משלם חצי, אבל זה יוצא להיות שכל אחד משלם רבע. ועכשיו אנחנו יודעים מדוע הרמב''ם לא כתב את החוק על עוף מעופף. כי זה יכול בקלות להיות מובן מהחוק שהוא כן  כתב.