Rav Avraham Abulafia was a figure shrouded in mystery.

Rav Avraham Abulafia was a figure shrouded in mystery.  He was one of the most famous mystics of the Middle Ages and he had a definite positive attitude towards Yeshua (Jesus of Nazeret). But that is not what made him subject to scrutiny. It was rather his mystic approach. 

The Rashba definitely was against him and also Yehuda the Tailor. [Yehuda Hahayat]. Yehuda Hahayat was the one who collected all the writings that were  thought to be part of the Zohar that were scattered in his time.[The way the Zohar was a originally published by Moshe De Leon was that he would sell page by page of it for a high price. So it was never put together until much later by Yehuda the Tailor.

These two people were very much against Rav Abulafia.

The major reason that Rav Abulafia got to be considered important and kosher was that the later mystics like Rav Moshe of Cordoba quotes him extensively in his Pardas and also Rav Haim Vital quotes him at length in his שערי קדושה חלק רביעי
The Chida [Rav Haim David Azulay] brings this whole controversy. He wrote a book listing all the great sages [Shem Hagedolim], and he brings Rav Abulafia. And there he says "The Rashba was against him, but I do not know why because he as in fact a great man."

Now I can say what I think Rav Abulafia was thinking. It is clear he held Yeshua [Jesus] was what is called in the Talmud, "messiah son of Joseph." But that does not mean anything like the Trinity. Rather the idea is more along the lines that you find in Rav Nahman's books [of Breslov] about the ideal of "believing in a true tzadik." That is he would be thinking of Jesus more than what we would call a saint, but less than what Christians think about the Trinity.  That is a "tzadik emet" a true tzadik is one whom by means of believing in him-there is imparted to one's soul a certain amount of the holiness of that tzadik.

I might mention that the Ari clearly held the same opinion as Rav Abulafia as you can see in the end of Genesis where he discusses Joseph [HaTzadik] ben Jacob. [There are three books from the Ari which discuss the verses of Torah, and in all three of them he mentions this. However it is well known that the Ari himself did not do the actual writing, but it was Rav Haim Vital who wrote, and then Rav Shmuel Vital (his son) who organized the whole thing into the famous Eight Gates שמנה שערים


What makes this such an emotional issue to people is beyond me. It seems to me simple that once Rav Abulafia and the Ari have expressed their opinion concerning this matter, that would be the end of the discussion.


The reason I ought to add why this does not imply the Trinity is well explained in the Obligations of the Hearts about the difference between אחד האמת The true One and something that is one  by accident--very Aristotelian concepts.
Simply that means God is not a composite, and that he is the true One in that his essence is oneness.

Learning Torah requires saying the words-not just reading them

Learning Torah by saying the words is brought in the Talmud as the only legit way of learning. Just reading is not thought to be in the category of learning Torah at all. אין התורה מתקיימת אלא למוצאיהם בפה

Once I got the idea from Maimonides [Rambam] about the importance of learning Physics and Metaphysics as these subjects were understood by the ancient Greeks, I began to apply the same idea to learning Physics.

Furthermore I saw in the אורחות צדיקים [a mediaeval book of Ethics/ Musar] the importance of just saying the words and going on and not to worry if I understand or not. [But combined with this one should also have a separate time to review --ten times every paragraph.]

Not that this takes the place of learning regular Torah. So what I think is that one ought to divide his time in such a way that he gets through the two Talmuds, the Midrashim, Rif, Rosh, Tur, the Avi Ezri of Rav Shach -- plus the basic set of Physics and Math up until and including String Theory.

[The importance of Rav Shach's Avi Ezri is that it is the best representation of a kind of learning that was implicit since the commentaries on the Rambam but began to be more explicit in Rav Haim Soloveitchik's Hidushei HaRambam.] That is to bring to light the reasoning of the Rambam and its place among the other Rishonim [mediaeval writers especially Tosphot.] This approach of Rav Haim of Brisk is now the golden standard in all Lithuanian type of yeshivas



[I think the idea of learning fast by just saying the words and going further was also brought down in בנין עולם  a book printed in Bnei Brak a few years ago that brought this idea from a lot of great people in Torah thought.]

In the Obligations of the Hearts,  [Hovot Halevavot], Rav Ibn Pakua brings the obligation to learn Aristotle's Metaphysics as necessary for Torah in his introduction [on the very first page]. But at that point he does not sound like he thinks the same about Aristotle's Physics or Biology. But later in שער הבחינה it is clear that he is thinking of the natural sciences as brought in Aristotle's also as obligations but for a different reason.  The first--the Metaphysics he understands as being necessary in order to understand Torah properly. The second--the natural sciences-he understands as the way to fulfill
 coming to love and fear of God.
[The fact that the Hovot Levavot and the Rambam have the same opinion here is I think because they are both depending on Saadia Gaon . ]

[If the Obligations of the Heart had been written in Christian Spain, we would not know what he was talking about. For Christian Europe only had limited books of Aristotle. But the fact that he was writing in Muslim Spain makes it clear. Also he does not mention specifically Aristotle because these subjects had been developed by later people like Al Kindi and Farabi--so Ibn Pakuda wanted to make clear he meant the whole subject matter, not just the actual writings of Aristotle.]

Two arrows of time and two arrows of entropy.

Feynman thought his diagrams reflected an actual reality. So what are the particles that travel backwards in time? Are they not tachyons? Is that not what Relativity implies? The faster a particles goes, the slower it goes in time. So going faster than light means going backwards in time. And now we see in String Theory that the structure of D-branes of dimension 24 are made of tachyons.

[I would imagine that eventually there will be found a dimension in which entropy also goes backwards because for some reason or other the equations of motion with just backwards time do not reveal anything of interest as Feynman noticed in his 1948 paper. But putting negative entropy along with time going backwards does result in very interesting things.

But outside of a small circle of legitimate things most of what passes for Kabala is pure Sitra Achra [powers of darkness.]Especially people known kabalistic expertise are certainly all from the Dark Side sent to make innocent people unclean

The main place where the Sitra Achra [Dark Side] gets it façade of legitimacy from is Kabalah.
But there are some authors there that  are legitimate, and even worthwhile to learn like Shalom Sharabi's Nahar Shalom, Rav Yaakov Abuchatzeira, Issac Luria and the books of the Gra on Kabalah.[Also Rav Luzato. the author of the Mesilat Yesharim on Kabala are very good.] But outside of a small circle of legitimate things, most of what passes for Kabala is pure Sitra Achra [powers of darkness.] Especially people of known kabalistic expertise are certainly all from the Dark Side sent to make innocent people unclean. This is the reason one ought to run from the religious world as far away as possible since the whole shebang was taken over  long time ago, and they use their supposed religiosity to hide their inner rot and fungus revelations


[I ought to add that Rav Nahman's ideas were from the realm of holiness, but when taken without the straight Litvak context, tend to get people off track.]

In any case, to actually see and learn the wonders of God in his creation , I think it makes more sense to do Physics and Math. This idea is certainly that of the Rishonim [mediaeval authorities]before the Zohar was published as you can see in all books of Musar that were written before the Zohar was made known.

Even before the Sitra Achra became totally entwined with kabalah, it was still hard not to get sidetracked. All the more so nowadays, it just is not worth it to endanger one's soul for the sake of the delusional "high" that Kabala gives one.

To make yeshivas on the name of the Gra and Rav Shach would be in the category of "bringing merit to many."

There is a yeshiva in the old city of Jerusalem that goes by the Gra totally. That is the Aderet Eliyahu of the Zilverman's. But it seems to me that to start study halls in other places in the world especially Israel makes sense. The reason is that the regular Litvak path, while fairly decent, still lacks that emphasis on the Gra that would save a lot of people from the Sitra Achra (Dark Side).
this is not meant to disparage the great ideas of Rav Nahman of Breslov, but rather to help people come to straight authentic Torah. With the context of straight Torah, many of Rav Nahman's ideas can be very helpful. But when taken outside that context, it usually gets people off track.


[The idea here is that sometimes it happens that one is not able to learn Torah as much as he should. if at least he or she could help contribute the creating places of study that go by the Gra specifically, this would at least be a step in the right direction.]


Besides that it would be good for me if there was a study hall or yeshiva in my area on the name of the Gra so that I would be able to learn a little bit of Torah. As things stand today I am afraid of walking into any religious place because the Sitra Achra has taken over most of them. But places on the name of the Gra or which go by the straight Litvak path are safe. 

I also noticed the Obligations of the Heart says all you can use reason for about God is that he exists and is One and eternal; but after that, we can only know Him by his works. All other questions about God are not knowable to Rav Ibn Pakuda [the author.] (note 1) But even more so. He says thinking about God any further that those three facts makes one insane. And that it clearly why the religious world is in fact insane in a collective way.

(note 1) The concept of location does not apply to God. Rav Ibn Pakuda makes a point of this fact. Asking, "Where is God?" is like talking about the color of air. He is not in space or time at all but also space and time are not empty of Him. Place is simply not applicable.

But this is really just one example of the problem that Rav Nahman of Breslov goes into concerning the issue of Torah scholars that are demons that falsify the teachings of Torah. Thus it came about that the entire religious world is built on false Torah [ Or as Rav Nahman puts it "Torah of the Sitra Achra."] because of this problem with Torah scholar demons.

To find authentic Torah is not easy unless you just want to get the basic books yourself and learn at home. Obviously the great Litvak yeshivas of NY and also Ponovitch get the closest to the real authentic light of Torah.

The problem is that it is almost impossible to find any place to study Torah that has not been infiltrated by the Dark Side.

I met one fellow who had blue threads on his garment [tzitzis]  and and asked if that was of the Gra or Breslov. He said of the Gra. How was I surprised! [That is to say the blue thread they make in Efrat is different from the one they use in Breslov. This led to a short conversation and he suggested that it would be  a good idea to make study halls or yeshivas on the name of the Gra and Rav Shach in Israel.[That means places that would specifically go by the path of the Gra with no compromises.]
I was pleased to hear that there are people interested in the Gra besides the Silvermans in the Old City of Jerusalem.

From my point of view, it would be great to have a study hall nearby that would be going by the Gra so that I could start to learn authentic Torah. The problem is that it is almost impossible to find any place to study Torah that has not been infiltrated by the Dark Side. So to have a place nearby that would go by the Gra and Rav Shach would be for me a great joy.


[The type of blue that is use in Breslov seems to me to be not from the original Khilazon [the kind of creature that was used to make the dye], but rather the kind used by the people that go with the Gra. I had looked into this some years ago and that was my conclusion.] The Gra kind of blue thread is made from a fish. The Breslov one is not from a fish but a kin of small octopus. 

There are some commandments that are ignored.

There are some commandments that are ignored. One is honor of one's parents. Though there are plenty of cases where reason dictates that one's parents are not worthy of honor or respect because they are crazy, still there are lots of cases in which one's parents are good people and still the commandment  is ignored.

Living in Israel is another one.  The Ramban' (Nachmanides) counts it as one of the 613.
The Rambam (Maimonides) does not count it, but it might still be a branch of the command to conquer the Land of Canaan.

Bitul Torah [not learning Torah when one is able] is certainly one of the most wide spread problems.

But one that I would like to include is Physics and Metaphysics as brought by Maimonides. Somehow that opinion of the Rambam is ignored even thought it is more or less repeated by many other Rishonim.

I also have an ambition to start a place to learn Torah on the name of the Gra and Rav Shach for I feel that there is no place where one can learn Torah nowadays that is not a den of the Sitra Achra [Dark Side] .[Unless there are already places that make it their business to walk specifically in the straight path of the Gra and Rav Shach with no compromise what so ever.] The trouble is that immediately when people want to start walking on the path of Torah, that is when the Sitra Achra gets them. And gets them for keeps.

So there is a lot of things that people do that they think are mitzvot that they actually will have to repent on.

Music for the Glory of God [These are all in midi format since i could not access mp3 when they were written.]

V-54 A major

V-53 (F Major)  [New version of v-53]

V-49 F Major

V-48 E Minor

V-50 A Minor

[I apologize for the fact that i can not put this into mp3 or into orchestral form. Even the amount of time I have to write this is limited nowadays.] 

People are disappointed with Post Modern Philosophy

Some people are so disappointed with Post Modern Philosophy that they decided to go back to the Middle Ages. I am thinking mainly of Dr. Feser. And to some degree this already the approach of the Litvak Yeshiva World that recognized the superiority of thought of the Rishonim. [Mediaeval sages].
And even outside of Gemara thought the whole Musar movement was based on the idea of the superiority of the Ethic of the Rishonim.

Francis Bacon paved the way for more rigorous thought in the Natural Sciences.

Faith is knowledge that is not implanted, but recognized.

The 'Rambam (Maimonides) has a very favorable attitude towards Aristotle. The Ramban' (Nachmanides) just the opposite.
The Reason with Revelation approach of the Rambam ((Maimonides)) stems mainly I think from Saadia Gaon. The approach of the Ramban  (Nachmanides) however is at least based on Rav Hai Gaon-as far as I  recall.
The fact that both approaches are considered legitimate is mainly due to the efforts of the Ramban  (Nachmanides) himself who defended the Rambam (Maimonides) rigorously and intensely, even though he did not agree with him on major points. This was pointed out to me by David Bronson who was deeply involved in learning all the writings of the Ramban (Nachmanides).

David also pointed out the mystical approach is a direct descendant of the Rambam.

I guess I have to say I go more with the Reason with Revelation approach which to me seems more sturdy. But that is not to say I ignore the importance of the Ramban and the Ari. The Gra also (I should mention) combined both approaches. He saw no contradiction between them. The reason is that there is a limit to reason as the Critique of Pure Reason makes a point of. This point ought to be expanded I think along the lines of Leonard Nelson. But at any rate the point is clear. There are areas where pure reason can not penetrate: the "ding an sich"/thing in itself. And that is where faith takes over--immediate non intuitive knowledge. Things that you know, but not by reason nor by sense perception. (Or to put it better things that you recognize as true, but not by means of manipulating definitions nor by the senses.) [That is knowledge that is not implanted, but recognized.]

There is a difference in approach towards Aristotle between the Rambam (Maimonides) and the Ramban (Nachmanides).

The Obligations of the Heart [חובות לבבות] brings in his introduction the obligation to learn a kind of science that he considers not to be Torah but to be necessary for Torah that is what was called in Arabic אלעלם אלהאהי which to my mind surely means the metaphysics of Aristotle. He was not referring to  mysticism which the Muslims in Spain in his time were not learning.
Clearly this meant to him not just the Metaphysics of Aristotle and Plotinus but also the later commentaries of Al Farabi. []

The Hovot Levavot/Obligations of the Heart also mentions this idea in the section of Service of God where he says people that know Torah but not logic [Aristotelian] will be fooled by the evil inclination to misinterpret Torah since they are not good at logical reasoning. [So we see that both Aristotle's  Logic and Metaphysics are necessary for the service of God.  This would be according to the basic approach of the Obligations of the Heart, Saadia Gaon and Rambam. The Ramban (Nachmanides) obviously would disagree.]

This is also reflected in the Rambam who holds for Torah one needs to know both Aristotelian Physics and Metaphysics.

[However along with Aristotle's Physics I think Modern Physics ought to be added. After all the Rambam did not specifically mention  Aristotle in this connection but rather the subject that the in ancient Athens was called Physics. So he means the subject matter.

The same goes for Metaphysics. I feel along with Aristotle the Rambam must have meant to subject matter.

I was just looking over my notes on Bava Metzia

I was just looking over my notes on Bava Metzia [since I have no sefarim to be able to learn]. It occurred to me that it is possible to understand the Rambam who says the law is המוציא מחבירו עליו הראיה in spite of the fact that all stam mishnas in Shas goes like Sumchos. The reason is the Rambam is going like the opinion in the Gemara in BM pg 100 that Sumchos only said his law in the case that each plaintiff is in doubt.--which the Rambam holds is דררא דממונא. Still this does not satisfy everything. For surely the sages hold even in that case המוציא מחבירו עליו הראיה.
So it simply turns out that the Rambam is going like Sumchos completely. --and that makes a lot of sense because after all it is hard to push off a whole lot of stam mishnas just because of a braita brought just once in Bava Kama.

_________________________________________________________________________________
It is possible to understand the רמב''ם who is פוסק the law is המוציא מחבירו עליו הראיה in spite of the fact that all סתם משניות in ש''ס goes like סומכוס. The reason is the רמב''ם is going like the opinion in the גמרא in ב''מ דף ק' ע''א that סומכוס only said his law in the case that each plaintiff is in doubt. That case the רמב''ם holds is דררא דממונא. Still this does not satisfy everything. For surely the חכמים hold even in that case המוציא מחבירו עליו הראיה.
So it simply turns out that the רמב''ם is going like סומכוס completely. And that makes a lot of sense because after all it is hard to push off a whole lot of סתם משניות just because of a ברייתא brought just once in בבא קמא.



אפשר להבין את הרמב''ם שפוסק החוק הוא המוציא מחבירו עליו הראיה למרות העובדה שכל סתם משניות בש''ס הולכות כמו סומכוס. הסיבה היא רמב''ם הולך כדעה בגמרא בב''מ דף ק" ע''א כי סומכוס רק אמר החוק שלו במקרה שכל תובע מוטל בספק. במקרה זה רמב''ם מחזיק הוא דררא דממונא. אבל ברור שהחכמים מחזיקים גם במקרה כזה המוציא מחבירו עליו הראיה. מתברר כי הרמב''ם הולך כמו סומכוס לחלוטין.  כי אחרי הכל קשה לדחוף את סתם משניות רק בגלל ברייתא המובאת רק פעם אחת בבבא קמא..

It is my impression that one can merit to give charity many times every day even if one has no money. That is by praying for the good of Israel. That is because even if you can not help someone directly but by praying for them you can perhaps help them.

The question I have in the Obligations of the Heart in Trust:3. He holds one should trust in God alone without joining anyone else along with God. Then he brings as a proof the events surrounding the end of the life of King Asa. But the verse there says Asa trusted in the doctors instead of God.--not along with God. וגם בחליו לא דרש את השם כי ברופאים Even in his sickness he did not seek the Lord but rather the doctors.

There must be something I am missing here but i can not imagine what it is.

Is learning Torah a good way to make money???

Some people in kollel believe that learning Torah is a good way to make money. I encountered this opinion myself in many. This seems to fly in the face of the well known rule that one is not allowed to use Torah to make money. The odd thing was that they used that idea to convince my wife to leave me since I was learning Torah not for money but for its own sake.

However we do find that people have cast themselves on God to learn Torah and to believe that parnasa [money] would come to them from Heaven--and they succeed in that. The basic idea in a nutshell is that a guy says to himself "I am going to learn Torah no matter what, and I believe God will take care of my needs".
Even though this is famous for being the practice of the Musar Navardok Yeshivas, still you can see this in the Obligations of the Heart also. [Navardok held no השתדלות/ The Obligations of th Heart held Trust with effort.]

In a practical sense what I think about this is  that the basic idea to sit and learn Torah and to trust in God for a living is a good practice --even though I did not merit to this myself. Obviously after I was divorced I was not only not going to be in any kollel but was also a social pariah.  [persona non grata]. So I have had to make do with what ever scraps of Torah I can learn here and there.
Eventually I started seeing that the fact that I am not part of the religious world is a great blessing.
Even if I do not learn much Torah, but at least the little I can pick up here and there is not in order to make money.

in any case the events that happened to me certainly make me wonder what the point of kollel is if people  there are not so nice. Is it not an important aspect of Torah to have good traits?

There is great importance on Rosh Hashanah of avoiding cults

There is great importance on Rosh Hashanah of avoiding cults. Even if they entice by pretending to keep mitzvot, once they worship human beings, the mitzvot do not count. That is what you find in the Gemara about a shofar of idolatry. מכתת שיעוריה. It is considered to be ground up so one does not fulfill the mtzvah of hearing a shofar from it.
The best idea is to go to a place of genuine Torah like a Litvak yeshiva.

[While it is true than some Litvak yeshivas and kollels are run in a way that is less than desirable, still there is a difference between the surface and the substratum. If the substratum is a spirit of authentic straight Torah that should be enough to outweigh the surface problems. That is in any case what I discovered in Shar Yashuv in Far Rockaway and the Mir in NY,--that the substratum was that of authentic Torah.]

[You would normally hope Sefardi synagogues would be immune to this problem but I have seen than that is not the case. The Sitra Achra has penetrated there too ]

The basic way to blow the shofar is actually an argument. The Tekia is one long blast. the sevarim is three shorter ones that would fill up the tekia. The truah is 18 short ones that each set of three would fill up one of the three sevarim. But some say 9 short ones.(The Gemara itself is on the last two pages of Rosh Hashana and brought own by Rav Joseph Karo.)

Also the way to do the shevarim is the starting low and going high as brought in הגהות מיימוניות

It is rare to hear anyone doing this right. The best idea is to get your own shofar.

Concerning lashon hara [slander] some questions and one answer to an old question I heard at the Mir.

Ketuboth page 46 as brought in the Hafetz Haim says מוציא שם רע (One who brings a evil name on his bride.) (Note 1) gets lashes because of לא תלך רכיל (Thou shalt not go about as a tale bearer among your people.). I wonder why. Is not לאו שבכללות (a prohibition that includes more than one thing.)?(note 2) Also a לאו שאין בו מעשה (a prohibition that is not an act but rather a word.)? In my little booklet on Shas I remember I wrote something about לאו שבכללות (a prohibition that includes more than one thing) that also over there in Sanhedrin was not clear when you say it and when you don't.
The person that noticed that is my learning partner but I did mention his name because he said not to bring up his name

The gemara over there gives the exceptions and certainly lashon hara is not one of them!

I also wanted to mention that in the Mir Yeshiva in NY they asked about באפי תלתא this question: who is asking? One of the three! So just tell him not to spread the lashon hara any further and then there will not be three that are making it known. I think the Hafetz Haim himself meant to avoid this problem when he brings the idea that the whole permission of באפי תלתא does not apply if any one of the three are a ירא שמים

(Note 1 ) One who brings a evil name on his bride. He thinks she was not a virgin.
(Note 2) a prohibition that includes more than one thing does not get lashes. And לא תלך רכיל includes lashon hara and rekilut.

straight Torah

There is not enough awareness in the religious world that revelations can be products of the Sitra Achra [the dark side.] People assume that if they have some dreams or visions that they must come from the Realm of Holiness.  And they assume that about famous people also. For that reason I feel that the signature of the Gra on that letter of excommunication   is simply ignored way too much-because of this exact problem. But because it was ignored that gave the Sitra Achra an entry pass into the religious world. So nowadays it is almost impossible to find anywhere in the religious world that has not be taken over by the Dark Side.
[One basic issue that I think the Gra meant to bring up is that any object or even a person can be made an object of idol worship. And when that happens the object is forbidden to be used. It is clear to me that Rav Shach was also thinking along these lines.]



There is almost no longer any concept of what straight Torah means anymore.
 But if anyone would listen to me I would suggest to learn the Avi Ezri of Rav Shach to get an idea of what straight unadulterated Torah from the real of Holiness really means.
[You can get this also from Rav Haim of Brisk's חידושי הרמב''ם also to some degree but I have found Rav Shach explains things a lot more simply an understandably.]

There are a few references to Aristotle in the Musar book Obligations of the Hearts חובות לבבות. Sometimes they are hidden inside hints. One such place is in the Gate of Wholehearted Devotion Towards God. פרק ה section five.There he warns that for people that are knowledgeable in Torah can be tricked by the evil inclination if they do not know Aristotelian Logic because the evil inclination can come and use faulty logic to try to mess up one's understanding of straight Torah.
This idea of the Obligations of the Hearts shows me how and why the religious world got so messed up. They use faulty logic to misinterpret Torah.

Now it is possible to see how important it is to learn Tosphot, and the books of Rav Haim Halevi from Brisk and Rav Shach in order to get to straight Torah.

The first place in the Obligations of the Heart חובות הלבבות  where he says to learn the Meta-Physics of Aristotle in in his introduction. [That would have been well known in Muslim Spain where Rav Behaye ben Joseph Ibn Pakuda was writing but also in Christian Spain where they had the basic works of Aristotle.

The problem of insanity and delusions

In relation to the idea I brought in the previous blog I should add that LM vol I: 25 [ליקוטי מוהר''ן חלק א' סימן כ''ה] [in Rav Nahman's book] deals with the problem of insanity and delusions and I feel it is good to say that section every day for people that are afflicted with these problems.


I think this works a lot better that the pseudo sciences that were created to supposedly help people out of delusions but in fact reinforce them.

What Freud did was to model the human mind on the pattern of the steam engine and to claim that taking about sex helps people out of their mental problems. [Plus the important idea of blaming people's parents for all their mental problems.] Thus he could make a lot of money by doing nothing helpful. And this fraud continues today as a multi billion dollar industry.

At least saying over that short Torah Lesson in Rav Nahman's book does not cost a billion dollars nor much time. And from what i can tell, it actually works. Plus doing what he says there as a cure for delusions--to give charity to good recipients. [Or as the Boy Scouts have it--to do a good deed every day.] [Charity means not to give to any institution but to people you know are deserving.]

Rav Isaac Luria , to find one's proper spouse.

In the Ari, [Rav Isaac Luria] there are intentions which refer to each month. That means for each month of the year different names of God shine forth and are revealed. The names for Elul are אלף הי יוד הי יוד הי יוד הי. [with vowels thus: Eh Le  Fe - He Ye- Ye We De- He Ye.  Yi Wi Di Hi Yi Wi Ei Yi Hi Yi. (The "i" here is to be said in a way that rhymes with "me". )

These names are usually called by their numerical value 161 and 63.

To intend these names, Rav Nahman says is a correction for sexual sin and also helps to find one's proper spouse.

While the four letter name of God is not allowed to be said and it is a terrible sin to say the four letter name, still I think these expansions are OK to utter or even to sing. That seems to be the approach of Rav Avraham Abulafia when he brings his unifications of the name 72

When I did not have my proper spouse, I said over the two parts of Rav Nahman's book that discusses to intentions of Elul every day [ל''ם חלק א' סימן ו' חלק ב' סימן פ''ז] (LM vol I:6 an vol II:87) plus the two sections of the Torah that he also said were good for that same purpose שירת הים וקרבנות הנשיאים [Song at the Red Sea and the Sacrifices of the Princes in Numbers].
That in fact helped me to find my proper spouse but only after I had been doing that daily for almost a year.



In the Ari also there happens to be a long section on the intentions of the Song at the Sea which I would have gone over every day if I had the time. But since my time was limited I simply said over those four things daily. [That did not start in Elul. In fact I think it was around Hanuka that I began that. I figured that not only could I not find my spouse, but also there seems to be obstacles places in that direction that were not natural. So I figured the whole subject needed some kind of spiritual correction.]

[This idea was based on the idea of finding in Rav Nahman's book the section that deals with one's particular problem and saying that section over every day.]

Genesis and the Big Bang

There is a book Genesis and the Big Bang which did a nice job of showing how Genesis and the Big Bang do not contradict. However I generally think of Genesis more in terms of how Rav Isaac Luria looked at it in which case it is not meant כפשוטו in the literal sense at all. [Most people think Genesis is meant literally but certainly not the Ari nor the Rambam. The Rambam said the whole thing is an allegory.And he used that specific word. It is not just not literal but also it is like Aesops stories. They do not refer to the things in the story at all. [No lion or a fox or a horse,  nor even the tortoise can talk — but through them children may learn the business of life.]

There is  on one hand certain difficulties with Genesis and the Big Bang, so I tend to think that the approach of the Ari makes more sense. [If you are well versed in Torah, the book looks great in physics but weak in Torah. If you are a physicist, the book looks great in Torah and weak in Physics. Still it has done a tremendous service in the task of reconciling Torah with Reason.]

Obviously the Ari [Rav Isaac Luria] is not saying the same thing as the Rambam, but in any case he understands the entire Torah in a mystical fashion. That mystical way of understanding the Torah is the Ari's פשוט פשט (simple and literal understanding of the text.)
In his view the literal sense refers to the sepherot of Creation, but I can imagine that there is a sense of the verses that applies in each of worlds of Emanation, Creation, Formation, and the Physical universe.  In fact , come to think of it, would it not be simpler to say the very first verses of genesis refer to the Condensation צמצום and then to God's saying "Let there be light", referring to the קו וחוט דאור אין סוף? 

Though it is considered well known that Hillel II set up the calendar, still there is no record in the Gemara of his having done so. The Gemara would not have left this important fact out if it was so.]

There are dates brought in the responsa of the Geonim before Saadia Gaon that have days that come out not like the modern day Jewish calendar. Therefore the calendar that is in use is not halacha leMoshe MiSinai. [From Moses at Mount Sinai]  It was not in use until sometime right before Saadia Gaon.[It can not be tradition if the early geonim were not using it.]]
But when Saadia Gaon wrote about it, he used the Arabic word that means tradition. The Rambam thought he meant a law to Moses at Mount Sinai when all Saadia Gaon really meant was it was accepted. So the calendar seem to me to be not valid. Thus in figuring out when Rosh Hashana comes out I think it is better to go with Tosphot in Sanhedrin page 10b that says you go by the "molad" [conjunction]. [That means Rosh Hashana comes out the night on Sept 9. [That is Sept 10 is Rosh Hashana.]
[This will depend on your time zone. You have to see when the molad come out in your area. In Israel it turns out to be the night of Sept 9 which makes Sept 10 Rosh Hashana. It all depends on the actual conjunction.

[Though it is considered well known that Hillel II set up the calendar, still there is no record in the Gemara  of his having done so. The Gemara would not have left this important fact out if it was so.]
[The whole thing is just a misunderstanding of what Saadia Gaon meant when he wrote the calendar of his time  was traditional (using the Arabic word).  People though he meant Halacha to Moses from Sinai when all he meant that by his time it was the accepted practice to use it, 

Create new yeshivas that go specifically according to the Gra

There is yeshiva in the old city of Jerusalem that is on the name of the Gra. It occurs to me that to run a yeshiva and create new yeshivas that go specifically according to the Gra makes a lot of sense.
I have been writing about the great Litvak yeshivas in NY and Ponoviz but the Litvak yeshiva path is different from the straight Gra approach.
And I have seen enough of the Litvak world to realize that there is room for improvement. I think the major problems that exist are a result of not following the path of the Gra in more detail. Because of not following the path of the Gra there is lots of room for not nice energies [Sitra Achra energy] to enter.
And the greatness of the Litvak Torah world is anyway from the devotion to learning and keeping Torah with no frills --no additions nor subtractions, so why not just go all the way and simply declare once and for all that: "This yeshiva goes by the path of the Gra. Period. Here in our yeshiva we do not judge others or try to evaluate their paths. But here we go by the Gra. that is our path with no compromise."


[I have had my own share of troubles in the Litvak world, but it seems to me that these troubles were a case of the Litvak world not following the path of the Gra with enough conviction and consistency.]

[I knew the founder of the Yeshiva on the name of the Gra, Rav Zilverman  and his son Eliyahu Zilverman who was the rosh yeshiva for many years. It seems to me they were on the right track. In fact once when the older Rav Zilverman had one son son who was sick -very sick and people said he ought to go to get a blessing from the Gerer Rav, he refused and prayed to God instead.--and was answered.

Sitra Achra yeshivas

The most essential principle of the religious world is: "Use Torah to make money, but do not say that that is what you are doing." It is rare to find authentic Litvak yeshivas that learn Torah for its own sake and only accept money as a last resort in order to be able to learn Torah without interruptions.

It is not hard to tell the difference between the authentic Litvak yeshivas and the Sitra Achra yeshivas that use Torah to make make money or gain power and influence.

I think the main reason why religious leaders are so against Math and Physics is because they are afraid they will exposed as idiots. The stereotype of the dull stupid religious leaders has a real element of truth. Far more than people know.

Even though there is some debate (in the Rishonim) about secular wisdoms, I do not think that there is any debate about learning Physics and Mathematics. Obviously Nahmanides did not share the same high opinion of Aristotle as Maimonides did. But natural sciences I think everyone would agree are important. [In most Rishonim this is implied, but not stated openly. However in the Rambam Maimonides it is stated openly.]]

The way to go about this I think is to start the day with Musar [works on Ethics from the Middle Ages or the disciples of Rav Israel Salanter. And then to plunge into Physics and Mathematics right away in the morning.

[I confess that I do not know how to learn Physics. My education in Shar Yashuv and the Mir was about "how to learn" Gemara which I have already written about. But Physics I have no idea about. Some people are talented in that area and need no advice from me. Others feel if they have no talent they why waste the time? But I feel for those without the natural talent it is still important. And thus to go about it in דרך גירסה saying the words in order from the beginning of the book until the end and then to start again.]

[I think the main reason why religious leaders are so against Math and Physics is because they are afraid they will exposed as idiots. If STEM subjects were a part of Torah learning as the rishonim held it ought to be, then the fact that religious leaders would be known for what they really are. The reason is that it is easy to fake Torah knowledge. But it is impossible to fake Math knowledge.

The stereotype of the dull stupid religious leaders has a real element of truth. Far more than people know. 

One must not accept lashon hara [slander]

Even though one must not accept lashon hara [slander] still one is obligate to be careful that "perhaps it is true." The Hafetz Haim [Rav Meir Hakohen] goes into this in detail but in any case the surprising thing is that being חושש [being careful on the side of caution] is an obligation. He brings this from Tractate Nida [page 61] with the verse "the people that were killed by Gedaliah". The Gemara explains that Gedaliah should be been careful on the side that perhaps it was true that Ishmael ben Korah wanted to kill him.

There is an argument over there in Nida between Tosphot [in the name of Rav  Ahai Gaon] and the Maharshal about this law.
In any case, one must be careful on the side that the Gra was correct for signing the letter of excommunication, even if one thinks it was mistaken.
[That is nowadays it has become clear that it was not a mistake; and everyone that thought the Gra was wrong were the ones who were mistaken.]

In the laws of חרם excommunication we  find not to learn from the person who has been excommunicated. So why are they still quoted?

[Incidentally, according to the actual phrasing of the letter, Rav Nahman of Breslov is not included in the excommunication.]

The question is how not follow charismatic leaders. How to tell when in spite of everyone saying that such and such a leader knows Shas baal pe [the whole Talmud by heart] that in fact he is a fraud?
How can one be safe from charismatic leaders who are frauds and yet you have no way of telling.
Not that there is no difference between them.
How to be safe from charisma?
There probably is no way. There is no safeguard.this applies to the larger secular world and also in the world of Torah.
Learning Torah does not seem to do it since most of the Torah world follows scam artists. Prayer alos seem not to work well.

What is presented nowadays as Torah is usually just Sitra Achra Torah

It occurs to me that to learn Torah at the minimum limit which is to get through the entire Oral and Written Law on my own is an impossible task. And furthermore this same thought probably occurred to Rav Zilverman the founder of the Yeshiva on the name of the Gra in the old city [of Jerusalem]. In other words, people that found at a certain point that it was unlikely for them to fulfill the minimum obligation in terms of Torah learning may very well have thought that at least if they could found a straight Litvak yeshiva that would learn authentic Torah [not Torah of the Dark Side (Sitra Achra)], that that merit would go to their credit.
The obstacles towards learning might be different in each case. But the solution that some people settled on was to make yeshivas that would learn Authentic Torah. --not what is presented nowadays as Torah which is usually just Sitra Achra Torah.

[More or less it is almost as if everyone decided they they are better judges of what is authentic Torah than the Gra or Rav Shach.]

[This is not meant as a critique on Rav Nahman from Breslov whose Torah lessons I believe are authentic Torah from the Realm of Holiness.]

[The major issue here seems to be that the Dark Side has completely taken over the Torah world- so to find the real thing is more or less impossible. That is impossible unless there were yeshivot that walked in the path of the Gra and Rav Shach. ]

'

המעפילים לעלות Those that dared to defy the Divine decree not to come up to the Land of Israel.

המעפילים לעלות Those that dared to  defy the Divine decree not to come up to Israel.

There is no question that when the children of Israel listened to the spies and did not come to Israel , they did a sin. But then, the time passed, and there was a Divine decree not to come to the Land, and rather to spend 40 years in the wilderness.
There is a deep lesson for me in this. Once, I walked out of the world of the straight Litvak Torah, there is no way to get back in;-- and even the attempt to try to get back is accounted as a sin.

This seems to be a deep lesson for others as well. You can not force your way in. Everyone has a place and a specific task in this world. As the Bahavagad Gita says it so eloquently, "You have got to do what you have got to do."

[The basic story there was there was a warrior who right before battle was worried that he would have to kill people. Krishna appeared to him and told him, "A man has got to do what he has got to do." But it is important to note that in that battle, Krishna was telling this to the fellow on the side of right and justice. He was fighting those that had usurped the crown. It is important to note that Krishna did not appear to the opposite side and tell them to fight. In fact, if Arjuna [that warrior] had in fact been on the wrong side, then it is likely that Krishna would have told him his obligation was to run away, and not fight.

Uman is no longer safe. There is no question in my mind that it is forbidden to go there nowadays since it is a place of danger.

  My impression is that it is worthwhile warning people that Uman is no longer safe. It took some time for the terror instilled by the USSR wear off. But since the thaw, the real traits of the local population have been rising to the surface.  There are still people around with Russian ancestry, but the basic population has some really evil, violent traits embedded in their DNA. [You could tell a long time ago that it was the Russians that made things stable.]

  A better way to say this is  ונשמרתם לנפשותיכם "guard your souls" which is a verse in Deuteronomy that refers to the idea that one is supposed to guard one's own life and health and not do things which put himself or herself in danger.

[The Na Nach group has been saying this for a long time.]


There is no question in my mind that it is forbidden to go there nowadays since it is a place of danger.

When Rav Nahman warns people about Torah scholars that are demons, clearly he is following the strict letter of the Law. One can and must warn people about possible danger to their physical, mental, or spiritual well-being. 

[In ליקוטי מוהר''ן I:8 RN goes into detail about the Rav of the Kelipa [the Rav of the Dark Side]

Later in I:12 Rav Nahman  goes more in depth about the problem of the תלמיד חכם שד יהודי the Torah scholar that is a demon. And it is clear there that he is talking about people that learn and know the Talmud well. The only problem is that their learning Torah is for the sake of honor or money.

Love and marriage are not well managed nowadays. Nor character development.

Love and marriage are not well managed nowadays. Nor character development.

You can see this be the sheer mass of the pretenders to this kind of knowledge.

Psychology is pure pseudo science. But people still fall for it because there is no where else for them to go [as far as they can see].


My own education and thinking about these matters began when I saw the amazing relationship of my parents. Later in the public library I stumbled upon the Symposium of Plato.
So I have a feeling that some aspect of these matters is deep and almost completely unknown
But at least I know to avoid people that pretend to know what they do not know.

Often Torah leaders are actual agents of the Sitra Achra [Dark Side]

I do quote Rav Nahman, but that is not to say that I am in agreement with everything in Breslov. Sometimes I think Rav Nahman is misinterpreted or interpreted in ways that take one off on tangents.[The Torah in Deut. 18:10-11 and Isaiah 19:3 condemns conjuring up the dead. I seem to recall also Isaiah circa 65:4 ] In any case he is very insightful.

  One of his remarkable insights is that often Torah leaders are actual agents of the Sitra Achra  [Dark Side]  which many people have discovered the hard way. But warnings about this problem are rare. It is something that Rav Nahman had the courage to bring attention to this very serious  matter. So many lives would have been saved, so many homes and families would have been saved if people had just be aware of this amazing piece of information.

  He does not give a lot of signs on how to tell who is who,- but even so, the simple warning is already a useful and important bit of information.
[Actually the Talmud itself brings this very same idea yet in the context of the Talmud it is easy to miss. But when Rav Nahman says it at the very beginning of his lessons it is impossible to miss.
[That is ליקוטי מוהר''ן חלק א' סימן י''ב and also סימן כ''ח]

It seems clear to me that I ought to at least here mention the place like Ponoviz where Rav Shach was the Rosh Yeshiva and similar kinds of places that are devoted to straight authentic Torah that I see in a very positive light. But I do not have any kinds of proof or even signs of how to tell.

Two aspects of learning. One is  learning fast--to say the words in order and go on. And sessions in order.That is to start at the beginning of Shas, Yerushalmi, the Tur with the Beit Yoseph , the Avi Ezri of Rav Shach. \
To these two aspects I want to mention a third--to concentrate on one subject for a month or more. I o not mean to cancel the other sessions, but rather to make the major learning for one month in one  book or one subject alone.
At least I must say that that kind of learning helped me gain a lot more understanding that I had before that.
This may not seem like earth shattering news but I thought to share it anyway. To give an example Rav Haim Soloveitchik [on any given law] --I found is good for me to go over daily for a month until it starts to make sense.Same with Quantum Mechanics. To get any understanding at all I found it good to concentrate on that one thing alone for a month or more. Similar with Rav Shach's Avi Ezri.

[One age with Tosphot I usually find takes me about a month to make sense of.  The sections of Rav Shach's Avi Ezri usually take me less time but do require a lot of review.]

There is a teacher of Torah that comes from the Dark Side

Rav Nahman brings this idea: אך דע שיש רב דקליפה והוא בחינת עשו כמו שכתוב בעשו  יש לי רב..ומהם מקבלים הרשעים רוח הטומאה.
"There is a teacher of Torah that comes from the Dark Side. And that is the essence of Esau. And from him the wicked receive the spirit of uncleanliness and evil."
ליקוטי מוהר''ן חלק א' סימן ח

You do not see there that many signs of how to tell the difference.

But in that particular lesson of Rav Nahman you can see he distinguishes between authentic Torah as opposed to Torah from the Dark Side.
And he does go into the phenomenon that you generally feel and tremendous spirit of Life and holiness the instant you walk into an authentic Litvak yeshiva because in the Torah is the spirit of Life. That is what gives you the ability to tell what to avoid--places that do not have that spirit of Life you find in Litvak yeshivas.
Other places have spirit but not from the realm of holiness. And the way you can tell is simple- they do not have the desire to learn Torah. They might learn for money or for show, but that does not count.
This is related to the Hafetz Haim klal 4 law 11 concerning laws of lason hara. There the Hafetz Haim goes into the need  to check out a business partner--to ask around-before you join him in business. all the more so when it comes to supposed teachers of Torah, one should not trust that automatically since they have a good reputation that they are trust worthy. Usually the good reputation is a result of good PR and and in fact usually indicates the person is in fact from the Dark Side.

Famous Torah leaders that are a lie.

The problem with מפורסמים של שקר (famous Torah leaders that are a lie.) come up in the writings of Rav Nahman from Breslov in ליקוטי מוהר''ן חלק ב' סימן א
 It comes up when Rav Nahman is emphasizing the importance of finding good teachers
And then he says this: אך צריך לידע ולהכיר את המפורסמים כי יש כמה מפורסמים שהם בשקר והם רק על ידי עזות כמו שאמרו חז''ל עזות מלכותא בלא תגא

"One must recognize and know the famous people because there are many famous people that are famous and thought to be righteous tzadikm because of lies and fraud."

[Sometimes it is not at all by fraud, but rather great powers and spiritual insights are given to them from the Dark Side in order to create formations of evil.]

The Na Nach groups are more aware of this kind of problem than any other group I have seen or heard of. Still as much as they are aware of this and careful to avoid these kind of  Torah scholars that are demons, I still think they are not as careful as one ought to be.
They also tend to include in that category than I think is fitting.
What I mean to say is that most Litvak Roshei yeshiva that I have known were great people, and certainly not the kinds of demons that Rav Nahman was warning about. [The Litvak Roshei Yeshiva that I knew were Rav Freifeld of Shar Yashuv, and Rav Shmuel Berenbaum of the Mir in NY. Those two I knew fairly well. Almost all Litvak Roshie Yeshiva I knew were very sincere and loved Torah for its own sake, and ran from fame and publicity.]

You can warn someone about a whole group and it is not lashon hara [slander]

You can warn someone about  a whole group and it is not lashon hara [slander]. As the Hafetz Haim himself brings from the Gemara that R. Yehuda HaNasi warned his son: "Stay away from people from the town of Shekenziv because they are לצנים [jokers] and draw in others into their joking."

The reason for this is that there is such a thing as group characteristics.That is not stereotyping. It s simple Game Theory.
The odd thing about this however is that the Hafetz Haim in another place brings that to speak about a whole group, you have to know that every single individual in that group shares those character traits.

We also see in the Hafetz Haim that he brings from Nida pg 61 that even though one can not accept Lashon Hara still he must be wary that it might be true.

So it makes little sense to me that the warning of the Gra is ignored. Especially nowadays when it has become clear [at least in Israel] that he was 100% correct for signing the letter of excommunication.

[That is to say there is such a thing as group dynamics. You can say a group of birds is flying north even if there might be individual birds that are flying sometimes north west and sometimes north east.]

Music for the glory of God

V36 G Major


V-38 F Major

V-31 3/4 time

V-39 A Minor

V-11 D Major

V-40 B minor

V-41

V-43 A


V-45 A Major

V-53

V-54

one Muslim climbed over the small fence that goes around the Yeshuv Adam [a town right outside Jerusalem] [a two minute drive from Jerusalem] and started stabbing people.

A few days ago one Muslim climbed over the small fence that goes around the Yeshuv Adam [a town right outside Jerusalem] [a two minute drive from Jerusalem]  and started stabbing people. One person he was about to stab but the fellow pulled out a gun and shot him.

Ed Feser in his blog has a few proofs for the existence of God. My comment on that is this

1. 
   

   I think Anselm did a good thing with his proof. Things were unclear until Godel put the whole thing into simple logical form. I tried to reinforce it with another theorem of Godel. This is the theorem:  Compactness Theorem). A set of formulas Γ is satisfiable if and only if every finite subset of Γ is satisfiable.] [From the finite to the infinite. Perhaps the simplest use of the Compactness Theorem is to show that if there exist arbitrarily large finite objects of some type, then there must also be an infinite object of this type.] [Mathematical Logic ch 4 and ch 9][http://euclid.trentu.ca/math/sb/pcml/pcml-16.pdf

However I also the alternative Medieval approach based on Aristotle that Ed Feser is recommending makes sense.

1. 
   

King David was being run out of town by his son.

King David was being run out of town by his son. He left Jerusalem with his closest men including Yoav ben Zeruia. Shimi ben Gera came to curse David and to throw dirt at him. So one of David's men said to David "Why should this dog curse the king? let me go and put a sword into him."

It is famous that King David said to him ''No. Let him curse because God told him 'Go and curse David.'" [Samuel II 16:10]

The sages say at that moment King David became the forth foundation of the Divine Chariot.

The thing I noticed was that that was not the first thing that king David had said. The first thing was "Let him curse because after all it makes no difference. It is not as if God told him go and curse David." But then in the middle of that thought it occurred to David that in fact that is exactly what had happened. "God told him to curse David."
That is: at that moment he changed his mind from, "It is not as if God told him to curse me" to "Yes in fact God told him to curse me."

From this event the Hafez Haim learns that one ought to be patient and accepting when people complain about you.

For all English speaking people out there--I have to apologize because I think you really can not see this in the English translation. It is rather in the Hebrew that you see David changing his mind in mid sentence.

המשנה בתרומה

What happens if one takes less that 1/50 of Truma? [Truma is the part of crops of wheat that goes to the priest]. Or less than 1/10 of Maasar? [Maasar is the 1/10 that goes to the levi from wheat or other kinds of  grain and olives and grapes.]
The Mishna says המפריש מקצת תו''ם מוציא ממנו תרומה עליו אבל לא למקום אחר ר' מאיר מוסיף אפילו למקום אחר.
One who separates a little bit of truma and maasar takes truma from it but not for another place.



The Rambam says two things about this that look contradictory. He says in law 6 that it is truma. Then in law 7 he says one needs to separate truma from it [from the little bit he separated].
Rav Shach brings this down in his Avi Ezri and he explains it somewhat along the lines of the R. Shimshon.
I think that the way the Rambam must have been looking at this is that from the Torah one grain exempts the entire wheat stack.  So the entire wheat stack is considered to no longer have truma in it. But the little he took needs itself to be fixed because there is an obligation from the words of the scribes to take at least 1/50.

This is just one small thought I had about this. But there are still a lot of issues.
The main idea I am thinking is that the sages hold אין ברירה and if they would apply that to the whole wheat stack then it would be not fixable. So they did not what the press the point about the whole whet stack.


In any case R. Shimshon brings the Yerushalmi that that whole mishna is referring to a case when the owner is intending to separate the entire amount afterwards.
הר''ש (רבינו שמשון) מביא את הירושלמי שקובע שהמשנה בתרומה בפרק הרביעי היא מקרה שבכוונתו להפריד יותר. הר''ש כותב כשהוא אינו מתכוון להפריד יותר, החלק שהוא הפריד הוא טבל ואינו משתייך לקטגוריה של תרומה בכלל.



) מסכת תרומה פרק ד'. המשנה בתרומה כותבת, המפריש מקצת תרומות ומעשרות מוציא ממנו תרומה עליו אבל לא למקום אחר. לפי ר' מאיר אף מוציא ממנו תרומה על מקום אחר. הרמב''ם ה' תרומות פרק ג' ה''ו  כתב אם הוא מפריד 1/61 מה שהוא הפריד הוא תרומה, ואז הוא הולך לקחת את הסכום הנותר כי הוא צריך להשלים את האחוז הנכון [שני אחוזים, היינו אחת חלקי חמישים].  ובהלכה ז' כאשר אחד מפריד כמות חלקית של התרומה הוא צריך לקחת תרומה ממנה, מן התבואה שהיא מופרדת. אם משנה הזאת רק היתה מדברת על מעשר הכל יהיה פשוט. ואם היא רק היתה מדברת על תרומה, הכל יהיה גם פשוט. מה שמקשה עלי להבין את זו הוא העובדה שהיא מכניסה את שניהם יחד. נניח שדיברנו רק על מעשר. ובמקום שהוא היה צריך להפריד עשירית אחת, הוא הפריד אחד חלקי עשרים. ויש לנו העיקרון אין ברירה [לדעת החכמים]. העיקרון הזה קובע למשל אם שני בנים של עובד אלילים יורשים את עושרו. אבל בן אחד הפך לגר. אם הדין הוא שיש ברירה, אז הוא יכול להגיד לבן השני, "אתה יכול לקחת את האלילים, ואני אקח את הנכס הנשאר." ועל ידי זה היה מתגלה כי גם בהתחלה, האלילים נפלו לחלק של הבן  העובד אלילים והגר יכול לקחת חלק שלו. אבל אם אין ברירה לאחור [שזאת דעת ר' מאיר], אז הוא לא יכול לעשות זאת. הוא יצטרך לקחת חלק שווה עם הבן השני, ואז האלילים הנופלים לחלק שלו הוא יצטרך להרוס. כך גם במקרה שלנו. אם סוברים שיש ברירה, אז זה יהיה פשוט לומר שהוא לוקח עוד אחד חלקי  עשרים, ואת ערימת הדגן הוא מתוקנת. אם אין ברירה אז ברור כי ערימת התבואה מעורבבת עם טבל וחולין. ולא תהיה שום דרך פיזית לתקן אותה אם רק דיברנו על תרומה, אז גם יהיה ברור לגמרי. החוק של התורה הוא חיטה אחת פוטרת כל הכרי. (אפילו גרגר אחד מתקן את הערימה כולה .נראה לי שכוונת הרמב''ם היא זאת. שני ההלכות הן ומן השיעור שמחוייב מדברי סופרים (אחת חלקי חמישים) אבל מן התורה חיטה אחת פוטרת את כל הערימה. ולכן מה שלקח הוא תרומה אבל מדרבנן הוא מחוייב להפריש תרומה על מה שלקח (האחת חלקי ששים אחת). היינו מדרבנן הפרשה של תרומה פחות מן השיעור המחוייב היא דומה להפרשה של מעשר פחות מן השיעור המחוייב. וזה בגלל אין תורמים תרומות ומעשרות לחצאין. היינו שההפרשה אינו חלה בכלל. [במעשר זה דאורייתא ובתרומה זה דרבנן.] וזה אינו תלוי בדין אין ברירה שאם היה תלוי בזה אז אין שום עיצה שהייתה מועילה לתרומה בגלל ש חולין וטבל היו מעורבים בערימה.



I am not anywhere near to any idea how to deal with the approach of R. Shimshon right now. jut off hand I would say it can fit with what i wrote up above--but I have to think about that.

שיעורין כסדרן sessions in order

Once we come to the idea of learning Torah and the seven wisdoms as important then the question is raised how to go about this?
I have mentioned the idea of learning fast as the sages said לעולם ליגרס אף על גב דלא ידע מאי קאמר-one should learn fast even though he does not understand what he is saying. That is brought down in the Muar book אורחות צדיקים
But I wanted to add another idea about שיעורין כסדרן sessions in order. That is to have small sessions in each subject in which one goes through a few pages in order every day. And then the next day to start where one finished. [You keep the place marker in the book, so you know where to start the next day.] [Actually you keep two place markers in the book. One for when you flip the page and the next for when you get to the bottom of the first page before you start the second.]
In this way, you can finish at least once the entire Shas with Tosphot, the Avi Ezri of Rav Shach,  the Talmud Yerushalmi with all the commentaries on the page, all the Midrashim,  all the writings of the Ari, plus Physics and Metaphysics.

[The way to do the Avi Ezri is in order. Same with Shas and the Ari. This kind of learning in order in not the same as the kind of in depth learning that you do in the Mir Yeshiva. In the morning session. What I mean by fast learning I am mainly referring to the afternoon and evening sessions. ]

To avoid Torah of the Dark Side and Pseudo wisdoms like psychology

"The Seven Wisdoms" (שבע חכמות) were considered essential prerequisites by the Gra in order to understand Torah. He said  that lack of knowledge in any one of the seven wisdoms creates lack of knowledge and understanding of Torah by a hundred fold.
This kind of approach is pretty consistent among the Rishonim whether by the מעלות המידות [Importance of Good Traits by Benjamin the doctor], Rav Saadia Gaon, the Obligations of the Heart.

But what exactly is included in the seven wisdoms?


Pseudo wisdoms like psychology [certainly do nor count as wisdom]. Among secular subjects there are subjects that are straight forwards false and contrived like psychology. But still it has a great number of followers because it gives people the chance and opportunity how to manipulate others.


Even in Torah there are plenty of books that are pseudo Torah or Torah of the Dark Side (Sitra Achra), for example, that come from the groups that the Gra warned against.  How they got accepted in the religious world is a mystery to me. [I would have to say that R. Nahman of Breslov is OK and good to learn since after reading the books that brings most of the relevant documents concerning the letter of excommunication signed by the Gra I realized that R. Nahman was not included.]

But there are categories of subjects or authors that I am not sure about if they are included in the list of things one must learn. For example we know from Maimonides the importance of learning Physics and Metaphysics. So he included these two in the list of things one ought to learn. So my question is what does Metaphysics include? Just judging by the Rambam himself it certainly looks to be Plato, Aristotle, and the medieval Ibn Rushd and Farrabi.  . Leonard Nelson  would also have excluded the entire Post Kant Neo Kantians. Cassirer and Nelson had a long and bitter debate about that. My own feeling is that Nelson was right.]

The letter of excommunication the Gra signed.

Is the letter of excommunication  the Gra signed valid? I think so. This is based on the Rambam in laws of oaths where there is some discussion of from where the laws of חרם נידוי (excommunication) come from. In the commentaries there it is explained they come from the Biblical category of איסר נדר [prohibited because of a vow]-that is anyone can forbid his object to another by saying "This object of mine is to you a  sacrifice קרבן."
So at least we see the status of an excommunication has validity. So you can not ignore it even if you think it is based on false premises.

All the more so after it has become obvious that it was not based on false premises.
Clearly the case is much more severe than that letter originally stated.
But the Gra was ignored because the Sitra Achra sometimes is given permission from above to create false structures and formations.
So at least one can be careful about his own self and what he keeps in his home even if he can not tell others about it.

[It is curious why the legal issues involved in this are ignored. I mean even people that seem to strive to uphold the Law still routinely  ignore the חרם (excommunication) and thus come under the חרם (excommunication) themselves.

[That is the general law about excommunication. If one ignores it then he himself comes under it. So I make it my practice not to enter into a place where the letter of the Gra is ignored. ]

Just for further information I ought to mention that I do not think that Rav Nahman from Breslov comes under that excommunication after I saw the actual words of the letter which I found in a book that brought a lot of the original documents.] In fact I think Rav Nahman has some amazing insights. Still the fact that the excommunication in ignored is upsetting.

The fact of ignoring the letter of excommunication means in effect all that ignore it are under the same list of prohibitions which means basically the entire religious world.

The most important point I learned in Shar Yashuv is the importance of learning Torah. But it was not just something that I read about but saw in practice. Later in the Mir was where I learned about trust in God without doing any work.

This came to me more or less in the sense that I became clear to me that learning Torah as a primary goal is, in fact, the world view of authentic Torah--not just made up out of thin air after the Litvak yeshivas made it a central point.
But I do not recall that trust was emphasized in Shar Yashuv. I would have to say that it was specifically at the Mir in NY that the idea of trust in God was emphasized or at least was an undercurrent.

[The idea that learning Torah is the prime goal definitively was not accepted by the secular world. But the idea that work was this great ennobling endeavor made little sense to me.]
[You can see how work became considered the highest goal in life during the revolutionary movements of the 1800's. The peak of that thought was Marxism. The rigorously worked out system. But even after reading Marx's Communist Manifesto and other leftist writings, I still could not see their point. It seemed oddly naive. However I can understand that the revolutionary movements were dealing with a whole different set of problems in which they saw the overthrow of the ruling class and establishing the rule of the proletariat as the highest goal. But growing up in the USA, I simply did not see the same kind of problems that the communists were facing. Maybe if I had grown up in Europe or Eastern Europe in the 1800's I would seen the point of Marx differently.]

It is possible for people to abuse this doctrine of the importance of learning Torah to try to get money from others because of their "supposed learning." But here I am just dealing with the actual doctrine of Torah, not whether it can be abused. Anything in Torah can easily be abused.

In any case the place that you see this idea of learning Torah most directly is in the Nefesh HaHaim. But the Mishna itself is the most obvious source. תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם Learning Torah is equal in itself to all the other commandments. And the Yerushalmi says "even one word"

The essentials of Torah

The essentials of Torah are
(1) Monotheism. God made the world from nothing. And He is one simple being, not a composite. Nor does He have any substance or form. The world is not God, nor is the world godliness.
God did not make the world out of Himself. He made it from nothing. Since this is an essential aspect and belief of Torah it is no wonder the Gra signed the letter of excommunication against people that denied these basic beliefs and yet made a whole show an dance about how Jewish they were.
(2) Midot Tovot =good traits.
(3) Belief that the Torah in divinely inspired.

[The middle point is this: that nothing matters until one has good traits. The good traits are what makes one a mensch [decent human being]. So without good traits, doing any commandments is not all that different from a dog keeping Shabat. This is explained in detail in the Guide of the Rambam and I have mentioned this before.
In short, the Rambam explains  the commandments of reason חוקים שכליים were revealed to Abraham the Patriarch was the for there to be the giving of the Torah to Moses, there first needed to be the level of commandments of reason. Otherwise the commandments of Torah would be indistinguishable from superstitions. The Reshash {Rav Shalom Sharabi} makes a similar point in his Nahar Shalom that the soul of a person is his character traits and the commandments are to food and clothing of the soul. So without good traits, one lacks the very soul which makes the commandments of Torah significant.




[This issue came up on Shabat when I was asked what my opinion about what are the essential aspects of Torah.]