To Ibn Pakuda and the Rambam there is an aspect of math and physics which come under the category of "Learning Torah."

 To me it seems that the IUT Inter- Universal Teichmuller Theory and also the Scholze Langland's Program connection between Geometry and Algebra are important advances.  But I do not have anything to say about either since I am involved in trying to study both.  [That is even though recently I decided to quit the study of the Langland's program in order to have a bit more time to look into IUT.

Why is this important? u might ask. Answer: To Ibn Pakuda and the Rambam there is an aspect of math and physics which come under the category of "Learning Torah."

This is seen in Chovot Levavot Gate of Behina chapter 3, and in the Mishna Torah concerning the idea of dividing one's learning time into three parts. And right there the Rambam says "the things called Pardes [ field of fruit trees] are included in Gemara" and he defined "Pardes" in the first four chapters of Mishna Torah as Physics and Metaphysics. There however, it is possible to mistake his intension. But In the Guide for the Perplexed his intension is much more clear.

[I am starting to see that Shinichi Mochizuki's IUT is built on a lot of previous results that I need to work through.]]

a decree that is not accepted by all Israel has not validity

Ezra made a decree not to give the first tithe to the tribe of Levi (but rather to the kohanim priests) because they did not come with him to Jerusalem. This decree was ignored as there are plenty of places in the Gemara where maasar [tithe] was given to a Levi. That includes the famous event of Rabban Gamliel and his friends were on a ship and he separated the first tithe to give to R. Yehoshua who was a Levi.

This fits well with the law stated in the Gemara that a decree that is not accepted by all Israel has not validity. Even is so even though at first it was thought that the decree was accepted, and then the courts went out and checked and saw that people did not in fact accept it.

The implication for us nowadays is that we ought to concentrate on keeping the laws of the Torah which are divine, and be aware that much of what people think are obligatory decrees from the later sages are no longer applicable since most of Israel do not abide by them.  [That is the case even though the religious imagine that only they are Israel and everyone else is a goy.]

But even though Forward to Kant looks like a very good development, still I would be more happy if Hegel was included

 There is a movement in Philosophy to get back to basics. Back to Kant. Or "Forward to Kant" as Robert Hanna puts it. Very different from the Post Kantians. But also not taking Fries and Leonard Nelson into account. But at least the destitute Analytic Philosophy about words is over. The sooner the better.

Still there is still the tendency to see Kant as being all about the human mind, not about access to the ground of Being-as a way to get beyond us humans into what is actually the basis of actual reality.

But even though Forward to Kant looks like a very good development, still I would be more happy if Hegel was included. (And why is it that there are no more Right Hegelians? To me this looks odd since the simple reading of Hegel I think is a kind of modification of Plotinus.

the vaccine is concerned I think it intends to reduce world population

 As far as the vaccine is concerned I think it intends to reduce world population from seven billion to five billion. And probably much lower. I do not see it (or them) as having any medical value at all. All Covid is is a mild cold. And the vaccines do nothing to reduce it except to make people sick from the vaccine.

Gemara in Zevachim pg 6a. גמרא בזבחים ו ע''א.

 There seems to be some sort of inherent difficulty in the We say the inheritors of a sacrificial animal can do exchange only if they own it. But they can not own it in its monetary value because we know the flour offering can only be brought if it is owned by one person and not two, and the inheritors can bring the flour offering that they have inherited. So we say they own the sacrifice only in so far as forgiveness of sin. This looks like the opinion ''light sacrifices are the money of Heaven.'' But the Gemara also brings the same kind of verse for the second tithe and there the inheritors can do "hilul" to have the value of the tithe settle on money, and that has to be because of a special verse that includes them, but not because they own it in terms of forgiveness of sin.

[This is a question that Rav Shach asks on the Raavad but it seems to fall on the Gemara itself.]

The only answer I can see is maasar sheni is secular while light sacrifices are the money of Heaven.

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 There seems to be some sort of inherent difficulty in the גמרא in זבחים ו ע''א. We say the יורשים of a בהמה המקודשת לשם קרבן can do תמורה only if they own it. But they can not own it in its monetary value because we know the מנחה can only be brought if it is owned by one person and not two, and the inheritors can bring the flour offering that they have inherited. So we say they own the קרבן only in כפרה. This looks like the opinionקדשים קלים הם ממון גבוה.'' But the גמרא also brings the same kind of verse גאול יגאל for the מעשר שני and there the יורשים can do "חילול" to have the value of the tithe settle on money, and that has to be because of a special verse המיר ימיר  that includes them, but not because they own it in terms of כפרה. This is a question that רב שך asks on the ראב''ד but it seems to fall on the גמרא itself. The only answer I can see is מעשר שני is ממון הדיוט  while קדשים קלים ממון גבוה.

נראה שיש איזה קושי מובנה בגמרא בזבחים ו ע''א. אנחנו אומרים שהיורשים של בהמה המקודשת לשם קרבן יכולים לעשות תמורה רק אם הם הבעלים שלה. אבל הם לא יכולים להחזיק אותו בערכו הכספי כי אנחנו יודעים שאפשר להביא את המנחה רק אם הוא בבעלותו של אדם אחד ולא שניים, והיורשים יכולים להביא את מנחת הקמח שהם ירשו. אז אנחנו אומרים שהם הבעלים של הקרבן רק בכפרה. זה נראה כמו הדעה שקדשים קלים הם ממון גבוה. אבל הגמרא מביא גם את אותו סוג של פסוק גאול יגאל עבור מעשר שני ושם היורשים יכולים לעשות חילול [כדי שערך המעשר ייקבע בכסף], וזה חייב להיות בגלל פסוק מיוחד המיר ימיר שכולל אותם, אבל לא בגלל שהם הבעלים שלו מבחינת כפרה. זו שאלה שרב שך שואל על הרב''ד, אבל נראה שהיא נופלת על הגמרא עצמו. התשובה היחידה שאני יכול לראות היא מעשר שני זה ממון הדיוט בעוד קדשים קלים ממון גבוה.

Ukraine-Russia

 There is some aspect of the Ukraine-Russia subject that is inherently ambiguous.

When I first got to the Ukraine I was more than shocked to discover that no one was happy about the fall of the USSR. No one. They may have not liked totalitarianism [which the USSR was], but they liked chaos even less. The West however turned a deaf ear to the attempts of the Ukraine to join the West. Probably because of the well known tendencies. Even after being there for some period [that I think was long enough for me to gain some familiarity with the situation], I still have little idea of what the West should do. And besides that, as David Bronson [my learning partner] mentioned to me once, it seems that Russia is becoming more of a  bastion of Western Values even more than the USA. 

But still it is hard to know, since the political part of Ukraine still openly is trying to integrate with Europe and the USA.

One thing is clear, the people and the politics are two very different things. 

The situation in most Ukrainian cities was such that after the USSR, and you asked people when was better, they almost always said things were better in the time of the USSR. But like the time of the civil war of the Whites against the Reds, neighbors would kill each other when they thought their neighbor was on the other side. {I knew the people this happened to.} So even if people would prefer to be back to the way things were during the USSR, they dare not say so openly. --Except to someone like me that they knew would not tell their neighbors about their feelings. There however were exceptions--people that told me if Russia would show up there, they would take a rifle and shoot them.

So what you have is a sort of Hidden Civil War--hidden because it is unknown and hidden from public view. And the Russians were well aware of this from at least back to around 2012.

אהיה אשר אהיה. I will be that I will be. (In King James it is "I Am")

 אהיה אשר אהיה.  "I will be that I will be" is future tense. (In King James, it is "I Am") Unfortunately, this is thought to be present tense. If Being would be God, then this would make sense. But we see in Plotinus that Being is only the last Emanation of God. God is far above Being.

אהיה אצלו שעשועים is not a counter example. It means "I will be by Him delight daily." There is no reason to say it is present tense.  Not that it is wrong to concentrate on Being. But that is not the same as God. It is the lowest manifestation of God.

Gemara Zevachim pg 6. זבחים ו 'ע''א

 I was contemplating that difficult piece in Rav Shach that I mentioned a few days ago.

It occurs to me what the problem is. Let me first bring the gemara. We want to know why one inheritor can do exchange and two can not. And we bring a verse to show that. Then we ask from masar sheni (the second tithe) where we have the same sort of verse and yet two inheritors can do exchange the fruit for money and then when they get to Jerusalem they exchange the money for local fruit and eat it there.. We show that the inheritors of the animal dedicated for sacrifice are joint owners in terms of forgiveness of sin but not monetary value. That can not apply to maasar sheni where there is no relevance to forgiveness so they both can do hilul. 

The question of Rav Shach is from Torat Kohanim [which is something like the Tosephta--a book of tenaim but not included in the Mishna]. There the same idea about maasar sheni is brought and the Raavad explains it in two ways. One that maasar sheni is owned by the owners. The other is that i is owned by heaven. 

So the question Rav Shach is asking is clear. If that teaching [braita] in Torat Kohanim is like the opinion maasar sheni is secular  then that Gemara in zevachim which is apparently going like the opinion light sacrifices are the money of heaven is asking according to a different opinion.

At least the question is clear. The answer? I think Rav Shach is saying that this Gemara hold light sacrifices are the money of heaven and maasar sheni is secular. This does no appear openly in Rav Shach but it is the only way I can make sense of his answer.

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זבחים ו 'ע''א

 We want to know why one יורש can do תמורה and two can not. And we bring a verse to show that.המיר ימיר. Then we ask from מעשר שני where we have the same sort of verse גאול יגאל, and yet two יורשים can do חילול. We show that the יורשים of the בהמה dedicated for sacrifice are joint owners in terms of כפרה but not ממון. That can not apply to מעשר שני where there is no relevance to forgiveness so they both can do חילול. The question of רב שך is from תורת כהנים. There the same idea about מעשר שני is brought and the הראב''ד explains it in two ways. One that מעשר שני is ממון הדיוט. The other is that  is ממון גבוה. So the question רב שך is asking is clear. If that teaching  in תורת כהנים is like the opinion מעשר שני is ממון הדיוט  then that גמרא זבחים ו ע''א which is apparently going like the opinion קדשים קלים ממון גבוה is asking according to a different opinion. At least the question is clear. The answer? I think רב שך is saying that this גמרא מחזיקה קדשים קלים ממון גבוה and מעשר שני is ממון הדיוט. This does no appear openly in רב שך but it is the only way I can make sense of his answer.

זבחים ו'ע''א

 אנחנו רוצים לדעת למה יורש אחד יכול לעשות תמורה ושניים לא. ואנחנו מביאים פסוק להראות את זה .המיר ימיר. אחר כך אנחנו שואלים את מעשר שני איפה יש לנו אותו סוג של פסוק גאול יגאל, ובכל זאת שני יורשים יכולים לעשות חילול. אנו מראים כי היורשים של הבהמה המוקדשים להקרבה הם בעלים משותפים מבחינת כפרה אך לא ממון. זה לא יכול לחול על מעשר שני שבו אין רלוונטיות לסליחה אז שניהם יכולים לעשות חילול. שאלת רב שך היא מתורת כהנים. שם מובא אותו רעיון על מעשר שני והראב''ד מסביר אותו בשני אופנים. אחד שמעשר שני הוא ממון הדיוט. השני הוא ממון גבוה. אז השאלה שרב שך שואל ברורה. אם ההוראה ההיא בתורת כוהנים היא כדעת מעשר שני הוא ממון הדיוט אזי שגמרא זבחים ו' ע''א שהולך לכאורה כדעת קדשים קלים ממון גבוה שואל לפי דעה אחרת. לפחות השאלה ברורה. התשובה? אני חושב שרב שך אומר שהגמרא מחזיקה קדשים קלים ממון גבוה ומשר שני זה ממון הדיוט. זה לא מופיע בגלוי ברב שך אבל זו הדרך היחידה שבה אני יכול להבין את התשובה שלו.

  

  

one is not supposed to intend to be connected with dead people.

You can see in the Mishna Seder Purity that there is a certain kind of uncleanliness that emanates from a dead body. This is called father of fathers of uncleanliness. In fact you can see in the Book of Numbers  that this is the most severe type of uncleanliness that there is. All other types are fathers of uncleanliness or the derivates.

[I spent a lot of time on this while at Shar Yashuv and the Mir in NY but I have forgotten most of it.] But even though I have forgotten most of this subject, it does occur to me to mention that there really is no reason to go to graves of the righteous. 

In Torah, one is not supposed to intend to be connected with dead people. This is well explained in the Nefesh HaChaim of Rav Chaim of Voloshin [a major disciple of the Gra.]] Rather, one is supposed to intend to be connected with God. To intend to be connected with the dead is an extremely disgusting sort of idolatry. 

Rav Avraham Abulafia from the Middle Ages

If one looks at Rav Avraham Abulafia from the Middle Ages you will see he held that Jesus was "the seal of the sixth day." [Clearly a reference to the idea of messiah the son of Joseph.] 

However, this does not imply much along the lines of Christian theology. Already Saadia Gaon noted the two basic issues in which Christians got the whole thing wrong. One is that one can be a great tzadik and still not be God. But there are many levels of tzadikim. The greatest are thought to be the patriarchs, Moshe [Moses], Aaron Joseph and David. These are all thought to be souls of Emanation. [But not the only ones. ]And Emanation is something like a cup of water flowing forth and down. That is the Light of God flows forth from him in Adam Kadmon, Akudim, Brudim Nekudim until Emanation. So all these worlds are pure Godliness--in that there is no division between them and God Himself. Even though they are all very far from God and not God himself. So souls of Emanation also are pure godliness but not God.

This applies to Jesus also.

And clearly there are plenty people who have souls whose root is much lower. They might be from Creation, Foundation or Action.[Asiah].

Another issue is "bitul HaMitzvot"--i.e. that Christians think Jesus came to say that the commandments of the Torah no longer are applicable-which contradicts what Jesus said openly about this very issue.

And further, they think Jesus came to disagree with the Oral Law. That also contradicts what Jesus said openly in Mathew chapter 23. "The Scribes sit on the seat of Moses and so everything they say to do that you must obey and do..." And then he goes on to say a very clear fact that the religious tend to be hypocrites. But there were some of the Pharisees that were evil and hypocrites just like today. That does not mean all. Nor does it imply a lack in Torah, not the Oral or Written Law. 

Most of what passes for "Torah" is false.

 Most of what passes for "Torah" is false. The way you know this is by the Mishna in Sanhedrin [perek Chelek] where it lists those who have no portion in the next world. Then there is added to this category "he who reads outside books." The Rif and Rosh both explain "outside books"  as books that give explanations of Torah  that are not from the sages of the Mishna and Gemara.

[What are books of Chazal (the Sages) that explain verses of the Old Testament? The Midrash. e.g. Midrash Raba. Tanchuma, Sifrei Sifra, Mechilta, etc.]

Therefore most of what passes as "Torah" nowadays thus comes under the category of "outside books". 

So outside books do not refer to Natural Sciences. Rather this refers specially to books that claim to be books of Torah but give different explanations from what is brought in the Midrash and Gemara.

"devakut" [attachment with God]

There is an aspect of attachment with God that is not understood in  philosophy. This is the advantage of the Friesian School of thought that has an approach that sees that attachment with God is in the node of value that is all content but no form.

It is a lack in philosophy that does not see "devakut" [attachment with God] this as a legitimate area of value. However a lot of religious inspiration is from the Dark Side.

So I can see the point of avoiding the issue. However I would like to suggest that devekut is a valid area of value.  

[There is an area of value that is all form, no content like logic. Another that has less form and more content. Math which can not be reduced to logic as per Godel. Other areas like music have more content and less for. You can go on until devekut which is all content and no for,

most of what passes today as "Torah "is in fact Torah of the Dark Side.

 You can see in the LeM of Rav Nahman of Breslov [vol I .perek 33] that there is such a thing as "Torah of the Sitra Achra (Evil Realm.)" And most of what passes today as "Torah "is in fact Torah of the Dark Side.  And even further, you can see in the LeM that there are many teachers of Torah who are demons. תלמידי חכמים שדיים יהודאיים. So to me it makes no sense to listen to the idiots that spout out what they think is "Torah".

Either you get the real thing--learn authentic Torah at a Litvak Yeshiva based on the Gra, or nothing at all.

my earnest hope to merit to walk in his holy ways of learning and keeping Torah and trust in God.

 Gra. I thought to take away the name of the Gra from my blog because I can not really claim to be representing his approach or walking in his ways. But that does not mean I do not want to. So I think just to put the name back to show my earnest hope to merit to walk in his holy ways of learning and keeping Torah and trust in God.

I mean, after all I am not exactly walking in the ways of my parents either- I never went to Cal Tech, nor the USAF, nor invented the infrared telescope, nor was I much of a father, brother, husband. In all these things my dad excelled, but not me. But still I mention my parents as the title of this blog because I want to walk in the ways of my parents.

Mathematics and Physics are not ""Secular Learning"

 To learn Mathematics and Physics one has to have an awareness that there is in this a sort of service towards God. It is not ""Secular Learning" [man-made abstractions ], but rather the wisdom of God as revealed in His Creation. This is  an opinion that you can see in the Obligations of the Hearts in Shar HaBechina cha. 3 where he distinguishes between the wisdom of God that is revealed in the physical objects of Creation, and the Spiritual aspect of them. The Spiritual aspects are what the Ari {Rav Isaac Luria} brings in the Eitz Chaim about the Divine names of the physical universe. [listed in order in vol 4 of the large sidur of the Reshash ] But that is not the same thing as the Divine wisdom that is revealed in them.

 And "to speak out and proclaim the Wisdom of God" is brought in Psalms 77, and 105 [and other places] as being a great mitzvah. שיחו בכל נפלאותיו "Speak of his wonderous works." Psalm 105

This is well accepted by many of the medieval authorities, but not all. The one that would be for learning Mathematics and Physics and Chemistry would be mainly Saadia Gaon, Ibn Pakuda of the Chovot Levavot and Rav Moshe ben Maimon and the many authors that go with their approach. Even though Nahmanides did not agree with Aristotle, that does not seem to indicate that he disagreed with the Rambam. He might have thought that Physics and Metaphysics are important to learn, but that they are not contained in Aristotle. Maybe Physics and Math  are a bit different from what you might find in Aristotle. And that seems to be the case,- as we can see there are more elements than the four elements. The four elements seem to be able to broken down into more basic components. So they can not be .unreducible. For example, water can be broken down into hydrogen and oxygen. So water is not an element.

Of course it is always possible to see the true ideas in Aristotle in somewhat different form as I have noticed. One example that I saw recently is the idea that the Earth stays in the center of the universe of the ancients. Aristotle disagreed and came up with the idea of spontaneous symmetry breaking--showing that a hungry person sitting in the center of bread will at some point decide to break the symmetry to go and pick one piece of bread.

But I can see that the Wisdom of God is deep and hard to understand. So people can be discouraged and go off into other pseudo sciences that are false. To reach the real thing can be hard. But I ask: Why give up? If it is hard, is that a reason to give up? and turn to pseudo sciences? They might pay well, but does that make them legitimate.  Rather, it is better to grit one's teeth and go through the Mathematics and Physics textbooks word by word, from start to end. Say the words in order. Do not worry if you understand because you will eventually understand if you persevere.

Gemara in Zevachim pg 6.

  The book called "Torat Kohanim" [behukatai 12 perek 5] [which is from the sages of the Mishna but not included in the Mishna. Written around 160 A.D.] asks how do you know one the receives the second tithe as an inheritance can redeem it? Answer: הכתוב אומר גאול יגאל he will surely redeem it. [The extra word comes to include not just the owner but also one that inherits from him. ]

This has a  difficulty in getting it to correspond to the Gemara in Zevachim  pg 6.

The Raavad there explains that Braita in two ways. One way is that it is going according to "the second tithe is the money of the owner". The other is "the second tithe is the money of heaven"

The second way seems  fine. But the first way --which works in its place does not seem to fit that Gemara. Rav Shach has an answer for this difficulty in Laws of Temura,

The Gemara in Zevachim says How do we know that one who inherits an animal that has been dedicated as a sacrifice can do Temura [An illegal exchange which nonetheless puts holiness on the second animal]? Because the verse says "he shall surely exchange". המיר ימיר. [And that should work for the second tithe also.] But in terms of temura, only one inheritor can make an exchange, not two. That is they are not partners in ownership. Rather they own as far as "forgiveness of sin" is concerned. That is: they bring the animal that their father or mother left to them as an inheritance But not as joint owners but as far as accomplishing the sacrifice. 

This Gemara does not seem like the opinion of light sacrifices and or the second tithe are property of their owners, not of heaven.

Rav Shach says that is only in the very end of that Gemara does that conclusion arise, not in the middle discussion. But I can not see how even the end of that Gemara can be in accordance with "light sacrifices are the property of their owners." 

Later I saw what Rav Shach says. It is this: the end part of that Gemara means that light sacrifices are the property of their owners means property as far as forgiveness for sin goes. Not monetary ownership. This answers my question completely.

So from the side of 'light sacrifices are the property of heaven" it all makes sense: one inheritor can do exchange because to do exchange one does not need to own the animal but rather to be the one that is receiving forgiveness for sin.[Just two inheritors are excluded by means of the verse.] And two inheritors can bring the flour offering because they do not own it at all. And maasar sheni they can do"hilul" make a valid exchange because of the verse that includes inheritors and it can not include them as owners because maasar sheni is the property of heaven, so it must include them as being able to make exchange.

But from the side of "light sacrifices are the property of the owners" the way I think Rav Shach is explain this is that the owners only own the animal in so far as forgiveness of sin is concerned. But maasar sheni comes out well. But what about the flour offering that can be brought only by one individua;? So I am still pondering what Rav Shach means here.

But in the meantime I just want to add a bit of info. the first tithe everyone knows about. You have a field of grain. You take 1/10 and give it to a Levi. The next tithe is in years 1,2,4,5 of the Sabatical cycle. That means to take the next 1/10  of what is left and take it to Jerusalem and eat it within the walls of the city.

But if that is too much to take there you can redeem it. You take a coin and say the holiness of these fruits and or grains of maasar sheni the second tithe is by this declaration now upon this coin. Then you take the coin to Jerusalem and there you buy fruit or grain and eat there. [That is called redeeming the second tithe maasar sheni][You can find this procedure in the Bible in the Book of Deuteronomy.]

Religious fanaticism takes up too much bandwidth. The Evil Inclination is dressed in mitzvot.

religious fantasticism takes up too much bandwidth. [note 1] Even if one manages to get to authentic Torah, still religious obsession tends to sidetrack.[note 2]

That is the reason for Torah with the way of the Earth. Torah with Derech Eretz.

{All the more so that religious fanaticism is not coupled to truth. It is an epiphenomenon of a schizoid personality as Robert Sapolsky mentions in one of his lectures.) 

[note 1] What I mean is it leaves no room for other positive areas of value. You might be concentrating on Tosphot, which is great and important, but then you might find you have no mental energy to concentrate on anything else.

[note 2] See  the LeM vol I, perek1 of Rav Nahman of Breslov and Uman,"The Evil Inclination  is dressed in mitzvot." The evil inclination does not come and says to do evil for its own sake. 

For I do not trust any totalitarian system.

 A lot of people in Ukraine were pro USSR. I was very surprised by this since I thought that everyone would have been happy to be free of the yoke of Communism. But most people were unhappy with the chaos that came after that. [Areas in each city became subject to some mafioso]. Still if the orientation is towards the West, that ought to be embraced.

For I do not trust any totalitarian system. So when England handed Hong Kong over to China, I never thought for one minute that would end up in anything but disaster and tragedy. I never had any illusions when Venezuela became socialist that that would end up in anything but mass famine. 

I just do not trust any totalitarian system, no matter if it comes from the Left or the Right. I can see on one hand, when there is chaos, that you need some sort of rule of law to impose order. So instead of chaos, I can see why in the Ukraine people would always say the USSR was better. But that does not mean they would not rather have the rule of law and a Western sort of Democracy --as long as there is order and peace. So I do not trust China at all, and do not for  second believe in any of her intentions in the South China Sea nor in Taiwan.

[Even in High School when I read the Communist Manifesto I was totally unimpressed. Not everything that someone owns was gained by theft. Is the computer you are reading this on was gained by theft? Did you exploit someone to get it? Probably not.] So why think all private property is theft?

[I believe that there should be order just enough for people to be safe and proper, but not more. After there is peace and rule of law, people must be free.

the Divine Chariot and the Work of Creation are the subjects that the Greeks called Physics and Metaphysics

 In the book (Nefesh Hachaim by Rav Haim of Voloshin) of the disciple of the Gra  we find [volume 4] the importance of learning Torah. He brings this from many statements of the Chazal [Sages]. So the idea you find in the Litvak yeshiva world about the prime importance of learning Torah is not made up or pulled out of a hat. It is a basic axiom of the Sages. 

The only thing in which I differ is Mathematics and Physics which you find are thought to be  part of the commandment of learning Torah in some rishonim. Mainly Ibn Pakuda and the Rambam but hints to this opinion exist in other rishonim as well.

The in Guide for the Perplexed you find the Rambam saying that the work of the Divine Chariot and the Work of Creation are the subjects that the Greeks called Physics and Metaphysics. [He repeats this same idea in the Mishna Torah--so it is not just something he decided towards the end of his life.]

[Not that I can do any learning myself anymore. So I figure even if I can not do what is best and good, why should I not want my friend to know and do what is right? And who knows if perhaps someday God may grant to me to get back to learning?] 

The American Civil War.

I figure that the Supreme Court could have been appealed to if the South had not seceded from the Union. But even if they did, the North did not recognize that as being valid. So the South always had a right to appeal to the Supreme Court. And what could the North have said? That it was legal for some states to wage war on other states because they did not like some of their practices?

I guess the role of the Supreme Court as being the arbitrator of Constitutional issues had not been firmly established by that point. 

[Besides I can not figure out what the North was thinking. If the Southern States were still part of the Union, then how could one state make war on another? Is not that a  violation of the Constitution? (And so what if the president orders it? So what? That does not make it legal.) So the North must have thought the South had legally seceded. Okay. Then they had seceded. Fine. End of Story. [I am not ignoring Fort Sumter. True that it had been attacked, but the North was not fighting the South to take back Fort Sumter!!]

(As General R.E. Lee put it ironically in one of his letters (I forget which one), the issue of secession had been "decided by arms."---i.e., it had not been decided at all.] 

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Zevachim page 6 side A.

I apologize for not writing on Torah for awhile. At any rate, I wish now to share an issue that I have still not worked out but just as a beginning I still want to mention.

There are basically two issues which I have not worked out. One is that light sacrifices are the money of the owner. (קדשים קלים ממון בעלים לפי ר' יוסי הגלילי)Plus if one is not able to inherit a sacrifice then it should be the same with maasar sheni (I imagine). And we know that two inheritors can redeem maasar sheni.

What I mean to say is Zevachim page 6 side A. A inheritor can make exchange but not two inheritors. (יורש ממיר. אחד ממיר ולא שנים ממירים ) Not because of owning  jointly, but because they do not own the animal at all. Proof: R. Yochanan said a two inheritors of a flour offering can bring it. Why is this so? Is it not the case that only an individual can ring a flour offering? Answer: they do not own it at all. But if so then why can one inheritor make exchange? Because while in terms of monetary value, the inheritors do not own the sacrifice, but in terms of forgiveness of sin, they do.

So my first question is obvious. The second one maybe not so much Still I am mulling these issues over. I imagine Rav Shach must have an answer for these difficulties, if I can get around to seeing what he says.

[I might mention here that exchange of an animal dedicated to be a sacrifice is not allowed. But if one does it anyway, the second animal becomes holy--in so far that it is not sacrificed but is not allowed to be used for work or shearing.

The second maasar can be redeemed by two inheritors even though the same  kind of verse applies אם גאול יגאל

אם המיר ימיר

Robert Hanna wants to get back to Kant and to me that makes some sense.

 Robert Hanna wants to get back to Kant and to me that makes some sense. Except that it leaves the problem that I think Kant Kant's argument about against Berkley does not seem to work. The reason is the step of the difference between dreams which are not rule based and the categories which are the rules by which the mind processes data. But this step seems weak. The rules are themselves synthetic a priori. --the very things Kant is setting out to prove. 

Now you could ignore Kant and go like Michael Huemer, but that seems to be a sort of quietism [things are the way they are because that is how they are.] Huemer is based on the Intuitionists [Prichard, Ross, G.E. Moore] but also on the insight of Bryan Caplan who noticed that Hume never proved a very basic point that all philosophers after him assumed to be true. [The pure reason can only tell us what is implied in definitions.] {A idea based on Euclid's Geometry. You start with the axioms and go from there.

I have long thought that Hegel is away to get around the problem in Kant that in similar to Huemer in this: why place arbitrary constraints on Reason?  

There is also Kelley Ross's idea that the categories of Kant [Why When where how--space time causality etc.] are known not by reason nor by sense perception, rather immediate non intuitive knowledge.

(At least that is what I think Dr. Ross is saying. Lack of time and energy has caused the sad fact that I have not read the actual writings of Leonard Nelson. But from what I understand, he uses the idea of non intuitive immediate knowledge to justify the categories.[That is to say they are not based on reason nor the senses.]

[If it is not clear my own view let me just say I see there are three different schools of thought, Kant Hegel and the Intuitionists that each has some aspect of truth and I think they are all pointing in the same direction and I think some kind of synthesis ought to be possible to combine them.

Dr. Huemer is modifying the Intuitionists [GE Moore, Prichard. Ross] in a way that takes account of some odd fact that Hume never proved his point about that reason can only tell us about contradictions. In that way the point of Berkley seems not even to start. So one question that Kant was addressing in the CPR does not even start. However this does not seem to answer the questions exactly.  For I still think that Kant and Hegel were addressing real concerns. Even Thomas Reid saw that Berkley had a point. 

attachment with God

There is an aspect of attachment with God-- that is not emotion, nor reason nor sensory perception. This is why there is a interest in immediate non intuitive knowledge.

That being said, I admit that the religious world tends to lunacy, since every area of value can deteriorate and even become its opposite.

So obviously most of the religious world is insane and in fact highly immoral. But that in itself ought not to reflect on Torah. The way I see things is that Torah is to bring to objective morality. But when Torah becomes a business as is the case nowadays it becomes its opposite --as the sages said סם חיים למימיניים בה וסם מוות למשמאילים בה It [Torah] is the elixir of life to those that walk on its right side for its own sake and a poison of death to those that walk on its left side(learn and keep it for personal benefits)

Being religious and keeping Torah are two opposites.

 Being religious and keeping Torah are two opposites. Being religious is group identification. That is directly opposed to keeping Torah which means to follow the law of the Torah no matter what any one says or believes. 

And in fact we find most practices of the religious are directly opposed to Torah. E.g., honor your father and mother. This is given hypocritical lip service.

But the legalistic aspects of thing is not what is the most pressing issue. Rather there is some deep kelipa of Amalek which infests the religious world. Some real viciousness that is hard to talk about since they use the show of keeping Torah which makes it difficult to see into the hypocrisy. 

the very emphasis on appearance of religiosity ought to give a red light to warning since thenTorah says the opposite--to walk privately with God.

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even though marrying the daughter of a Torah scholar in an important value, I can see that it is more important to marry someone that appreciates learning Torah [for its own sake].

 Human relations are hard to figure out. My wife was absolutely intense on marrying me. This relation had started to some degree in high school. She was a  violinist in the high school orchestra when I first saw her. We got along very well but there was no serious relationship. Then when I went off to Shar Yashuv in NY [a great Litvak yeshiva in NY], she had written a note to God telling him that she thought that I had discovered something important, but I had disappeared. She was hoping I would call her and let her know what I had discovered. Then after a year, I called her. [For the last year in high school and my first year at Shar Yashuv, I had no contact with any of my former friends. Intentionally]. But while I was back home in California, after one year I decided to call her. This is a long story, but she became extremely intent with trying to get me to marry her--which I did.--And I am very happy that I did so. But she was not the daughter of a Torah scholar, so she did not really understand what I was doing in learning Torah. Maybe I myself did not understand this. Learning Torah is after all an area of value that is beyond human reason. 

And the odd thing is that very often daughters of Torah scholars also do not seem to appreciate learning Torah. I began to see that Torah to most people is a means to make money. So even those that learn Torah for its own sake would be at a loss to understand why the religious world cannot see learning Torah for its own sake as a positive value.

So even though marrying the daughter of a Torah scholar in an important value, I can see that it is more important to marry someone that appreciates learning Torah [for its own sake].

The answer of Dr Ross to my letter about the difference between Copenhagen and Everett.

[I was advocating Everett as being a better approach since there is no magical collapse of the wave function. But then Dr. Kelley Ross points out that in in Bohr there must be an observer (somewhere) for Quantum mechanics to work. And this two level of reality is essential to Kant and Plato also.    

[I also want to mention that Everett's many worlds theory does not mean many universes, but can simply be different areas in our universe where the different possibilities of QM come to be.]

I think it is important to mention here that even in Everett, there is an observer. So the two levels of reality are preserved. I.e., in Bohr if u have two and one observes the other then there is a collapse of the wave function. But someone outside of that system can see them both as one system and thus still connected by one wave function. [You can see that even a piece of matter like an electron can have a wave function--because of E=mc^2. So the outer observer sees just these two inner people as a connected wave.]  

When you say "QM just gets larger and larger as far as one wants to go," I take that to mean that there is no "magical collapse" of the wave function, ever.  This "Everett" must be one of the people who doesn't like the dualism implied in quantum mechanics.

He's not alone, although usually it goes the other way, that the reality of the wave is dismissed and particles affirmed.  But it is hard to leave out the particle part, since particles do at times behave like particles:  They have definite location (within Uncertainty) and Dirac's mathematics for them postulates a geometrical point, which a wave is not.

So this doesn't seem right or helpful to me.  The whole idea of a Kantian quantum mechanics is that the dualism is preserved, as in Kant's metaphysics.  You don't like that?

KR

the importance of the Gra

There is on one hand the very great importance of learning Torah. On the other the religious world which makes it money by means of a pretense of keeping Torah is quite corrupt. Even though there are here and there great yeshivot which keep and learn Torah sincerely, the religious word itself is mainly fill with delusions. Thus it is clear that for anyone to keep and learn Torah sincerely he or she must stay away from the corrupting influence of the religious . I have no claim to understand the hearts of men, but I can see clearly that the practices of the religious have nothing to do with Torah at all. It is all a show or the sake of money and power.

However, the general world of the Litvaks is basically OK.--except that they have not and do not realize the importance of the Gra. If they would the signature of the Gra on the letter of excommunication would be listened to.

My question that I asked Dr Kelley Ross and his answer. [He is going with the Friesian sort of modification of Kant.--and frankly I can not see any other way to go with Kant.

(Here Dr Ross quotes my question): There was one letter that I sent where I was asking if immediate non intuitive knowledge can help for how intuitions can fit into the basket of the categories and thus become united. 

(Dr Ross's answer:) In Kant, there is confusion about "intuition," since he originally says that it is given to us without any functions of thought, but then he ends up with the argument that to enter consciousness, intuition must be synthesized using the categories of the understanding.

Non-intuitive immediate knowledge is outside that debate.  That is how the categories are available in the first place, but we are not aware of them until we reflect on the products of synthesis, i.e. consciousness and perception.

(Here again is part pf my question): I forget this minute how he puts it but basically I think it is that there is some aspect of the intuitions -their form- that has the possibility of fitting into the categories and then the categories unite them.

(Dr Ross:) This overlooks the existence and activity of synthesis, which leaves out Kant's mature theory.  So I'm not sure what the reference in Kant would be for your citation. [my later note: I will have to look that up.]

(Me again:) Similarly there is some answer on how the categories can process the intuitions.

(Dr Ross:) Synthesis uses the categories to "process" the manifold of sensation so as to produce consciousness and experience.  If "intuition" implies awareness, then the application of the term must be moved from the given manifold to the product of synthesis.  This is a challenge in Kant scholarship.

(Me): It seemed to me that immediate non intuitive knowledge can be the source of this unity [of the intuitions]. That is the deeper source of knowledge that unites both the senses and the categories. 

Dr Ross: Again, there are different issues.  How the categories are available in the first place is different from what they are used for.  Kant's argument "from the possibility of experience" means that the categories must be available in order to be used.   And one thing that must also be available is the "unity of apperception," according to which synthesis constructs consciousness.  That will be "the source of this unity," and it will be, like the categories themselves, non-intuitive.

Note that Kant believed the "availability" of the categories was covered by his "metaphysical deduction," i.e. that the categories are artifacts of the forms of logic.  This was grossly insufficient for what was needed.  To get from the form of conditional propositions in logic to the concept of causality you need, well, the concept of causality.  Kant can't get that rabbit out of that hat.  Modern logic, for all its faults, clarified that -- although the Stoics had done it already.  Kant has similar problems in morality, thinking that moral imperatives will follow from the forms of logic also.  In all of that, even Platonism works better.

Yours truly,

KR

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I think one of the very important aspects of Kelley Ross is that he shows how the Friesian school i not psychologism but rather depends on axioms that are known, but not known infallibly but can be defeated as per the idea of Popper of falsifiability. 

Robert E Lee and the Civil War

 In the letters of Robert E Lee you find the idea that if the whole issue had been to obey the Constitution of the USA there never would have been any conflict. But you find the exact same idea in General Grant. To both of these men the entire issue was this alone. The South held secession was a right. And even if that is not a part of the Constitution , still it was stated openly by the Virginia delegates to the Continental Congress].

However in terms of slavery, I think the welfare system in the USA is slavery forcing white people to work for blacks without compensation. So I do not think that anyone really objects to slaver. Rather slavery of blacks they object to. But slavery of white people is OK.

 But that is how things are in the West--with the newspapers advocating one kind of outrage after the other. First global cooling, then global warming. Then Climate change, then vaccines. One set of outrages after the other. That is the odd sort of mentality of the West. Every ten years or so, the absolute unchangeable morality changes from one thing to the other, and that other is also unchangeable while the first is forgotten and goes back to the regular state.

Rather I think that morality ought to be based on reason, not fads nor just "faith" which is often delusion.

Gravity and Quantum Entanglement

 Lemaitre I think was the first to notice the connection between Gravity and Quantum Entanglement. This later was called ER=EPR and by Susskind you see there is an approach in which there are worm holes between entangled states. But in a paper sometime after 1930 [after Lemaitre predicted the Big Bang] he wrote that only after there were enough quanta round could space time begin to exist.

 This was basically forgotten until Yaakov Beckstein saw that the area of a black hole is the same as its entropy. --suggesting that black holes have entropy which means that there is a connection between curved space and ensembles of entangled states.

[But in 1972, when he showed this, not one knew what the entangled states were.] Only much later did Susskind come along and show that ER [worm holes]= EPR [quantum entangled states]

bitul Torah

In the path of the Litvak yeshivot, you do not find an emphasis on what you would call secular learning. And that is for good reason. Since thee is a sin of "bitul Torah",[which is greatly emphasized in the chazal [sages]. ["bitul Torah" means not learning Torah when one can.]

They do see that learning a secular subject as a means to make a living is OK, but it is better to trust in God.

There is also an approach where wives of very serious learners decide  to help with making money along with the kollel check. 

This is all very admirable. It is good and proper to learn Torah with self sacrifice.

The only place where I differ is that some  subjects I believe are not secular at all but rather God's wisdom as revealed in the work of Creation.[Physics, Chemistry, etc. The natural sciences.]

Incidentally the best Litvak yeshivot I know about are Ponovitch and the places that were started by former students of Ponovitch.

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Litvak Yeshivot

 I wanted to discuss my yeshiva experience along with my thought concerning Litvak Yeshivot.

I think that it would have been very difficult or perhaps impossible for me to come to any conception of what Torah is about without being in Shar Yeshuv [of Rav Friefeld] and at the Mir in NY [where I learned a lot from Rav Shmuel Berenbaum.] 

So you might think I should recommend Litvak yeshivot. However later disappoints somewhat damped my enthusiasm. 

But personal disappointments I figure ought not to dampen the reality that for true and authentic Torah the only possible address is a Litvak yeshiva based on the approach of the Gra and Rav Shach.

[And I should add here that in spite of my disappointments I still try to learn Torah when I can manage to grab a minute. And I still hold from the prime importance of learning Gemara and Tosphot.\

When the modern armies left and the cargo stopped arriving, the "Cargo Cult" was a religious attempt to reproduce the invocations and effect the continued blessing of the gods. Not surprisingly, it didn't work.]

 A lot of religious practice is from a phenomenon  noticed by Robert Sapolsky. He noted that pigeons are among the most superstitious of animals. You do not need to train them for this. They do it automatically. They do some kind of action before getting a piece of bread. They later when they are hungry, they will keep on doing tat same action endlessly until they get another piece of bread. Most of religious practice falls into this category. It is not from the realm of holiness nor from the Sitra Achra [Dark Side].It is just a natural phenomenon among people to think that some rituals will bring them their piece of bread.

But not all religious actions. Some is from the Dark Side. or from group think. They follow the heard thinking they will get the shiduch [match].

And on the opposite end of things, there is such a thing as sincere service of God. Not rituals, Actions and deeds that do truly unite one with the Divine.

The question one must always ask oneself is if his or her actions are really sincere, or or they like the pigeons? or perhaps, Heaven forbid, motivated by the Dark Side.

Rav Nachman wrote [LeM I I thinking [perek 25] דע כי האדם צריך להוציא את עצמו מן המדמה (Know that one must take oneself out of delusion) For too much religious rituals are from delusions. Cargo cult rituals. [The original Cargo Cult developed in New Guinea after World War II. During the war, the Melanesian locals, who lived at a mesolithic or neolithic level of culture, saw airplanes arrive and disgorge vast quantities of "cargo." They did not understand that these things had to be manufactured and that the airplanes themselves were artifacts. They believed that the planes and the cargo were gifts from the gods, brought down to earth by ritual invocations. There were incidents where the crew members of aircraft were murdered because the locals thought they were no more than supernumeraries to the divine operation. When the modern armies left and the cargo stopped arriving, the "Cargo Cult" was a religious attempt to reproduce the invocations and effect the continued blessing of the gods. Not surprisingly, it didn't work.]

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That is to say a woman who is married is the person with whom adultery is possible. Both for her and the adulterer. But it is not possible to have adultery with an unmarried woman. See Chronicles I in the second perek, verse 46

 Adultery means not to have sex with a married woman , but does not mean a man can not have many wives [or even girl friends.] For example in Chronicles I in the second perek, verse 46 we find Caleb ben Yefuna had a few wives and a few girl friends. And most rishonim go with this. [See the Ramban/Nahmanides and the Raavad.] The Rambam however forbids a girl friend but only as an isur asey איסור עשה [a negative command derived from a positive.] But all other Rishonim go with the Ramban that it is allowed.

[

by saying the words one can come to understanding.

There is a way to learn Physics and Mathematics even if one is not talented. See the LeM of Rav Nahman volume I perek 12. על ידי אמצעות הדיבור יכולים לבא  לתבונות התורה לעומקה. "By means of the word, one can come to the understanding of Torah to its very depths." That means that by saying the words one can  come to understanding. Even if very talented people in these subjects do not need that approach, still this method can help everyone get better. 

[Similar to Conversations of Rav Nahman 76. This idea is also mentioned in the Sefer HaMidot of Rav Nahman in the perek on Learning.]

Izhak bn Avraham empasized review along with just saying the words aand going on. That is that one sould review after finishing a whole chapter or book. To listen and learn from an expert from someone who knows the subject well is important as mentioned in the book of Rav Nachman that since we have lost the doing, at least we should hang on to the hearing.

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Wisdom of the Greeks

 Wisdom of the Greeks is disparaged in the Gemara. One fellow asked R. Ishmael when to learn it [after he had already gone through the whole Torah.] Answer: when it is neither day nor night as it says "You shall think in the Law day and night."

So for Ibn Pakuda and the Rambam to hold that learning Physics and Metaphysics is important and even a part of Torah, it takes a jump of faith in the Rishonim [mediaeval authors].

Otherwise looking at the face value definition of "wisdom of the Greeks" would seem to refer to these very same subjects.

But I must add here that it has never been a problem for me to go with the rishonim [mediaeval authors] even when they seem to differ from the simple explanation of the Gemara. 

[I was thinking to show why the Rishonim diverge from the simple explanation of the Gemara. But first I would like to say that it is best to have simple faith. After having faith, it is good to have support for faith. Reasons are also good for understanding in what direction you want your faith to follow. After all one has control over what he believes to some degree. After all you can not  believe that you can skip and jump to the moon. But there are many other cases where you can rationally choose your beliefs.[when evidence is not conclusive and you can choose where the weight of the evidence goes.]

Ibn Pakuda and other rishonim hold Physics and Metaphysics are part of Torah. Why? Because they explain the "Work of the Divine Chariot and the Work of Creation"  as referring to these two subjects.

(The "Work of the Divine Chariot and the Work of Creation" are called "great things" and "the discussions of Abyee and Rava" are called small things. [R. Yochanan ben Zakai was praised for knowing these things ]) 

Dr. Kelley Ross shows that all one needs to reconcile Friesian philosophy with Relativity is Kant's Empirical Realism.

In terms of Relativity, I have to think this over but right now it seems to me that it is sad that the New Friesian School of Leonard Nelson seems to have diverged from Fries. [On the other hand Nelson wanted to be safe from accusations of ‘psychologism’ [note 1] that were thrown at Fries. So he kept the Friesian structure but held the categories are a priori as being not sense based and not reason based (immediate non intuitive) in a strictly axiomatic way.[And that fact of not being based on the senses is what makes it a priori thus in keeping with Kant] So you can see the motivation of Nelson. But it seems to have led to wrong conclusions. Dr. Kelley Ross shows that all one needs to reconcile Friesian philosophy with Relativity is Kant's Empirical Realism.

After all, Fries held that the categories of Kant do not have to be a priori. [Contra Kant]. Rather they can be justified in away that is not by reason nor by  the senses. but by "immediate non intuitive knowledge.". And this point seems to have been missed by Nelson who held that Relativity and especially GR (General Relativity) were just not right. And in a very ironic way it was Reichenbach who held strongly of Relativity and defended it by means of dividing Kant's apriori into two. One is the normal necessary apriori not based on observation. The other is subject to modification by empirical evidence.--Isn't that exactly Fries's approach exactly?!

.

[note 1] the mistake of identifying non-psychological with psychological entities. For instance, philosophers who think that logical laws are not psychological laws would view it as psychologism to identify the two] 

Matisyahu [the father of Judah the Maccabi] broke the statue of Antiochus because of the problem of idolatry. And in the world of Reform Judaism there is a remarkable lack of idolatry.

The major reason that Matisyahu [the father of Judah the Maccabi] broke the statue of Antiochus was the problem of idolatry. Not national identity. Not religious freedom.

For some reason this problem of idolatry does not seem to be much of a problem to most people--even though it is the most fundamental principle in the Torah. You can certainly see plenty of idolatry in the religious world [which is certainly the reason the Gra signed the famous letter of excommunication]. At least in the world of Reform Judaism there is a remarkable lack of idolatry [even though  I can see other problems there.]

Robert E Lee

 Robert E Lee was in Washington D.C. to testify at Congress. During that time one of his former slaves, Amanda Parks, came to visit him, but just missed him since he had just left for Virginia. So she wrote to him. She asked him if he is angry with her. He answered, "I do not know  why you should ask if I am angry with you. I am not aware of your having done anything which would give me offence. And I hope you would not say or  do anything what was wrong .While you lived at Arlington\ you behaved very well..."That letter says volumes about the amazing character of Robert E Lee. It is tragic that people step on his memory that do not nor ever could measure up to his boot  straps.

I might mention here that Arlington was owned by Robert E Lee, but during the war it was confiscated by the Northern authorities to make it into a graveyard.

My question and the answer of Dr. Kelley Ross. [His answer is that synthesis is not a function of non intuitive immediate knowledge. But I guess my thought was "Who is the user?" Who is doing the synthesis?" {The person who has this knowledge and who does the synthesis.] }

Dear Dr. Ross, ..... Immediate non-intuitive knowledge does the job of unification. But I would like to ask if you agree with this. ... Kant wants to show that our intuitions [things that we see or hear] can only have unity if the categories (where, how, when) unite them. But the doubt is how does this work? If I go into a field and collect flowers and put them into a basket, the basket puts them together-- but does not make them a unity.

Kant answers this question by showing that intuitions have to have the capability to be able to be united by the categories. And he shows that the categories can only unite concepts and intuitions but not make them out of scratch. So he shows that both require the other. The categories and the intuitions are dependent one on the other.

The question is this still seems to leave the flowers in the basket. So I am thinking that this must be one of reasons for the principle that there is a deeper source of knowledge, non intuitive immediate knowledge that unites the categories with the intuitions. [That is the idea of the Kant-Friesian School]

 Dear Mr. Rosenblum,

Kant's idea of unity involves the categories, but only because the categories are used in synthesis.  So the unity of consciousness, or the unity of experience, is the result of an activity.  When the activity stops, then consciousness and synthesis stop.  As in sleep.

Sleep is an issue overlooked by all the Rationalists and Empiricists.  Only Locke seems to have noticed, when he answered Descartes by saying that he had not "thought" at all last night.  But even that wasn't enough.  Sleep would stop the flood of sensory input, but neither Locke nor any Empiricist addressed how that would happen.  Indeed, nobody could explain how you could be hearing the refrigerator running all night, but normally not be aware of it.  Even while you're awake.  That the mind choses, preconsciously, what to admit to consciousness is a psychological truth never noticed by philosophers.

Not even by Kant.  But, because of Kant's theory of synthesis, an explanation was ready at hand, if needed.

Non-intuitive immediate knowledge is really a different issue.  To the extent that "categories" like cause or substance are known non-intuitively, then they are in fact available for what Kant wants in synthesis.  But Kant was not very clear how that works.  He was emerging from his earlier thinking that synthesis was a conscious activity, involving concepts.  However, consciousness is produced spontaneously, and the forms that it embodies are used without awareness.  We notice things like time, cause, or the duration of substances on reflection.

"Concepts" and "intuitions" do not on the ground need to be united, because synthesis has united them already.  Further action, consciously, will match further concepts to experience, but that is a fallible process.  

[I should add here that Kant has the imagination is what is causing synthesis. [CPR 78/B103]--I think that is where it is. [Might I suggest that is a round about way to talk about the soul.] (This in Kant is the level that is before or under consciousness]. It is imagination in Kant which produces  consciousness.] 

I also wanted to add that the categories are exactly what Fries thought were not apriori but empirical and subject to revision. And that left him vulnerable to the attack of "psychologism." That attack missed him, Still this accusation continued even up to Leonard Nelson who also was attacked for the same reason.

In the West it is not known that one has a connection with one's parents.

 In the West it is not known that one has a connection with one's parents. But as you can see in Torah that this connection is not determinate of everything.  [that is to say if they command one to disobey  a negative commandment that has karet attached to it they must not be listened to. [You can see this in Naphtali Troup. A great sage in the time of Rav Haim of Brisk that simply did not get to be as well known, but also very deep. חידושי הגרנ''ט.

That is the legal aspect. However in a deeper sense clearly one should get an idea of what kind of parents he or she has. If they are wicked then it makes no sense to obey them. [That is not written into law which makes the only exception as when they are crazy.]

Why do I bring this up? Because I wanted to point out  an important idea of Isaac Luria that one's inner light comes from the mother and outer light from the father. That is to say the connection with one's mother is more felt since it is internal. But it is the light of one's father that provides the outer light which is the protective shield around one. So one simply does not notice it until it is gone.

So my feeling is that people are not as aware as they ought to be about their inner connection and outer shield that they have from their parents.

Reason and Freedom

 In Enlightenment thought Reason and Freedom are always linked. The trajectory of history is always supposed to go towards more freedom. This seems like a mistake. I saw what happens in NY when there is total freedom for everyone and absolutely no government control--during a blackout. This maybe has not happened recently so people forget what total freedom from government means. Even with little government control I saw in the Ukraine. When the police are not motivated and sit in their station relaxing--I got a severe taste of what happens not just when there is no government but little government.

The only reason I can see that people think this is good is they have never had to live through these sort of surrealistic nightmares 

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Rav Shach [Laws of Peah 2:11]

In the Torah there is an obligation to leave the corner of one's field of grain. That is called Peah. The Yerushalmi [The Gemara written in Israel], asks what if the first stalk that is cut was then burned. Rav Shach [Laws of Peah 2:11] explains this question to be based on a previous doubt of the Gemara if the first stalk that was harvested can be made into peah. The Gemara itself answers thus: Since it makes other talks obligated, it itself can not be obligated.

So the order of the Gemara would have to be thus: Can the first stalk be made into peah? And if you say yes then if it is burned then does one have to reap another stalk for the field to be obligated in peah. Then the Gemara answers the first question in the negative. That stalk can not become peah. So automatically we know the answer to the second question.

I can see the idea of the Gemara's question what if the first stalk is burned? You can find something like this in reading the Megilah."One who is obligated can cause others to fulfill their obligation." That is what it  seems the Gemara must mean. but on the other side of thing you can say lets say Grace After Meals for the sake of someone who has eaten bread though you have not.. But at any rate, you can see the question of the Gemara. If that first stalk causes the obligation  then if it is burned you would need to reap a new stalk..

There are definitions here. Poor means someone with no money a period of time. Poor does not mean anyone asking for money. In fact the Rambam has a long essay about the evil of the heads of the yeshivot that ask for charity in Pirkei Avot perek 4 mishna 3. 

deeper source of knowledge that is neither based on reason nor the senses. See: An Enquiry Concerning Hume's Misunderstanding

 Dr Michael Huemer has brought together arguments and added his own to show knowledge can not be based only on sense perception and not only on reason. Thus you would think that knowledge needs both,-- or perhaps a better approach is that of Dr Kelley Ross [the Kant- Fries School of thought] that there is a deeper source of knowledge that is neither based on reason nor the senses.

It occurred to me that this might very well answer a question in the Critique of Pure Reason where Kant shows that there must be a connection between the categories [of pure reason] and the sense perception data that comes in. [That he calls the Transcendental Deduction.] Yet it has been a source of difficulty to see that just because something Must Be So, why should it be so? [I mean that the data from the senses must be ordered by Reason,-- but how?

I think Dr Kelley Ross based on Kant, Fries, and Leonard Nelson shows this well.

[Hegel thinks that  Being leads up to Logos.  That is the structure of his whole system. [like Plotinus] So he surely believes there is this connection, but he has a different answer --that even sense perception is thought. His idea of what "thought" is a wider than the Hume definition that it is only what can be derived by definitions. You can see this approach in Cunningham in his thesis in 1910. But more than that, you might note that Hume's limitation on reason is assumed, but never proved. [as Bryan Caplan noted] (in: An Enquiry Concerning Hume's Misunderstanding ). He just says over and over that reason alone can only tell us about self contradictions of deductions from axioms. Something he learned from Euclid. As Kant showed that is not true. There are apriori truths not based on definitions. It does seem hard to see why it took such a long time for the implications of Fries and Nelson to be put together in a systematic way by Kelley Ross.--but I guess that is just the way things turned out. 

The implication of all this is simple--it gives justification of faith. And it also shows the approach of the mediaevals -that reason tells us what to believe in. [Not that there is just faith and reason in the Middle Ages, but that reason tells us what to believe in. ]

See Maverick Philosopher who hold the same way but not in so many words.