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6.4.15

Male homo-sexuals are obligated to bring a sin offering.

There really is little comparison between lesbians and male homo-sexuals. Mainly the difference is this: female playing with each other is permissible though not recommended. Male homo-sexuals are obligated to bring a sin offering (note 2) if they do the act of penetration into the anus by accident. If on purpose they can't bring a sin offering even if they want to because you can never bring a sin offering for what is done on purpose.

  If they do the act of penetration in front of two witnesses they get the death penalty if fair warning is given by two witnesses. That means this: the witnesses have to tell them the act they are doing is forbidden, and that if they do it they will get the death penalty. [If they admit it then you don't need  witnesses.]

Besides that there is a kind of spiritual penalty called Karet  כרת being cut off from ones people involved. And that applies to all the types of forbidden sexual relationships that are called עריות incest. Incest is actually only an approximate translation because it also refers to sex with a woman who has seen blood within seven days of her seeing blood. Also one can't have sex with her unless she has gone to a natural body of water (note 1) like a river or sea and dipped in completely from head to toe.
Actually, stoning is not the penalty for homosexuals. I think is is burning. But I am not sure. I would have to look it up. That means you take lead [It does not have  a high boiling point] and heat it up until it flows and then you pour it down their throats.

Appendix: If the two male homo-sexuals think the act is allowed, that counts as being accidental and they can bring a sin offering. [I mean to say that an accident can be either thinking something is permissible or in making a mistake about material facts.] That means they have to bring either a sheep or goat to the Temple in Jerusalem and have the priests sacrifice it as a sin offering. They can't eat any of it as a barbecue. The part of the animals that are not burned are eaten by the priests. This is always the rule for sin offerings. If you want a barbecue in Jerusalem together with the mitzvah of bringing a sacrifice, you have to bring a peace offering or a thanksgiving offering.

Bibliography.
Mishna  Zevachim chapter 5.
Rambam Laws of Sin Offerings. [That is located in the book on General Sacrifices.]
Tractate Macot concerning fair warning that must be given.

I should mention that there is no prohibition to bake cakes for homosexuals. On the contrary, it is a mitzvah to be nice to them and to tell them that what they are doing is terrible, horrific sin.
Now this seems to be a subject of a debate. Sometimes it seems like you are supposed to tell people that they are sinning even if you know they won't listen. And sometimes it seems not. I really can't tell. My own approach to this varies according to the situation.

(note 1) If no natural body of water is available, she can make her own mikvah. The mikvah has to be attached to the ground, and cannot be a vessel. And it can't be such that if lifted that it stays intact.
There has to be about 1^3 meters of water. [This amount I forget. I would have to look it up. I think it is about 1^1^1.33 meters.]
(note 2) If there is no Temple, they are still legally required to bring a sacrifice. They would have to build the Temple according to the proper specification in the Mishna Tractate Midot  and hire a few priests and find  red hefer. They can do it but it would be expensive. Besides all of that there is some doubt about the proper location of the Temple. Some archeologist have apparently discovered the remains of the First Temple in the area when you leave the Western Wall to go back to the New City you pass on the left. This whole project is so hard that it makes more sense not to sin in the first place.






But in essence this idea is not that different from the Gra that the only source of halacha is the gemara itself. דינא דגמרא the law of the gemara is what determines halacha not any posek even rishonim.



In fact most authorities thought little of books of halacha. The Maharsha said people that decide from the Shulchan Aruch are making a terrible mistake and it is proper to rebuke them.  Shlomo Luria [the author of the yam shel shelomo printed in every shas ]even went to far as to critique the Rambam for even writing a halacha book.

The method of Torah--reading fast and going on.

The method of Torah--reading fast and going on. And the basic idea I had seen in a Musar book called Orchot Tzadikim {also Biynan Olam} about the importance of learning Torah and in the book.
What I am thinking is that I would like to have a separate session for fast learning and slow and in depth learning. And this is in fat what is done in every Lithuanian yeshiva. The morning is for the slow and in depth type and the afternoon for the fast type.


Now I wanted to describe what fast learning in a Torah sense means. The ideal way is to have a set of the basic books next to you in a pile. Tenach, Mishna, Talmud, Midrash, Arizal. And have a place marker in every book. And do a page of Tenach [read the words out loud or in a whisper and go on. No repeats. Put in your place marker after one page and close the book until tomorrow. Then do the same with the Mishna. Go through a few chapters of Mishna every day. The Talmud. Try to do about seven pages per day. And then with the Ari-- [Isaac Luria]. On the second reading you add a commentary.

5.4.15

I have some familiarity with Litvak [Lithuanian] yeshivas which stem from the path of the Gra and the Aderet Eliyahu yeshiva which goes with the actual path of the Gra in Jerusalem.
And then there are study halls on the name of the Gra. All seem very good to me, but I see one advantage to having an actual yeshiva named after the Gra--it tends to exclude cults.
This is the type of institution I would like to see world wide-- Yeshivat HaGra.
But I would also add the study of ethics [Musar].


And I was never in a actual yeshiva of the Gra though I associated with Rav Zilverman for years who is the rosh yeshiva of Aderet Eliyahu.

What we really need to some kind of certification on a yeshiva "cult free" just like they have "preservatives free" labels on food.


The pollution of the Torah world by  cults  has already corroded the credibility real Torah scholars. Yet  those who learn and keep  Torah are not sounding the alarm loudly or moving to fix the problem with appropriate energy. 


 It difficult for those involved in the assessment and promotion of true Torah scholars to discern value from junk.



When something at the core of Torah begins to rot, the smell of corruption quickly spreads to all areas.  

If they want to be part of Russia, fine let them!

I have wondered for a while what strategic interest Russia has in the Ukraine?
I think I discovered the answer. The most successful part of the Russian space industry and military production was in the Ukraine.  Even though the place where the Russians send stuff into space in in the east of Russia [Kazakhstan] but major part of production for the rockets has been done in the Ukraine. There are hundreds or more parts of helicopters and weapons and rockets that are manufactured in the regions bordering on the two breakaway republics. It is not just one area but a whole strip of land. 
That is Dnipropetrovsk, Karkiv, Zaprozia--that whole semi circle left (west) of the perimeter of the two breakaway republics.
That means that Russia has an interest in getting back these areas. Or at least having this area of the Ukraine in its sphere of influence.
[Also it just so happens that Russia can't build the super aircraft carrier they were planing on without the Ukraine. There is no dry dock. This all goes to show that Russia has to do serious rebooting of their industry unless they can get back the Ukraine.]  The reason the weapons and space industry was divided up in this way was Stalin. As was explained to me (by a grandson of his) that by dividing up these major industries in this way he was assured that the USSR could not break up--because if it did, then each part would have factories that produced only one part of a car or an airplane which was useless without the other parts.
In any case, this was no problem until recently. The Ukraine simply made the parts, and sent them off to Russia. This has stopped recently, and this is the reason Russia is now looking to redo its military and space production industries. 

In any case, it would seem the Russians feel they are just taking back what belongs to them. I think it is understandable that the Ukrainains don't feel the same way.
Certainly most of the infrastructure of the Ukraine was built by Russians. This really is one people. 
Or maybe just let those two republics go over to Russia? Why fight about borders that have been fluid anyway over the centuries? If they want to be part of Russia, fine let them!

3.4.15

Better to go to the beach or make a barbecue than to a cult.




The Zohar brings the verse ''towards evening" to discuss when the beginning of the rule of the erev rav [the mixed multitude] over the Jewish people would begin. And according to the way the Gra understands it it is referring to 1990 A.D. or about 15 years ago. [This Gra is on Tikunai Chadashim on the Hazohar page 34  by the standard numbering on the verse about Isaac going to mediate in the field which the Tikunim interprets as meaning to get rid of the mixed multitude.]
"Evening" in Hebrew is the same word as  "the mixed (multitude)."

For he understands 1240 to be the sixth thousand year period. 1740 to be dawn. And the middle of the day is 1990.  That is when the mixed multitude would gain control over the Jewish people. This explains at least to me the problem with cults that have infiltrated and taken control.

Cults have the ironic aspect of fish bait. It tastes good to the fish until it feels the hook. But by that time it is too late. Cults are like classic O' Henry story. The unexpected ending. Or maybe more like Edgar Allen Poe.

What ever you do, don't go near one for Passover, if you value your family, and wife and children. They are not openly hostile  because they need donations. They are as friendly as fish bait.

There is no more Noah's Ark.

I have tried to make my own home or apartment wherever I have been into a kind of Noah's Ark. It just does not seem to work. The kelipot somehow get in.
I urge everyone to leave the cults--Jewish or otherwise. Go home. Find a job. Live like a mench, not  a slave to some charismatic leader. Cults are organized in layers. Everyone can join but only the initiated know the real agenda. Everyone else are just pawns.

And if you are wondering if what you are in is a cult then take my word for it; it is. The facade will eventually evaporate leaving you with the emperor's clothes.

[For authentic Jewish experience learn Torah. That is have in your home an Old Testament and the basic set of the Oral Law, the two Talmuds (Bavli and Yerushalmi), Tosephta, Sifra, Sifri, Mechilta and Midrash Raba. Don't go near the cults--even to learn Torah. Better to go to the beach or make a barbecue than to a cult.] The Divestment from Israel movement is just a direct result of our problem of not divesting in cults in our midst.

Appendix
1) The comment of the Gra is not on the Tikunai HaZohar. That is after the printing and publication of the Zohar and Tikunai Hazohar there was a fellow that found some more writings from the same source material. He printed them and called them Zohar Hadash and Tikunim Hadashim. That was right before Spanish Jewry were kicked out. Nowadays all four books are fairly standard.
That is Zohar, Tikunai HaZohar, Tikunim Hadashim, Zohar Chadash.
 I used to go straight to Isaac Luria and Moshe Kordovaro. [I also spent a lot of time on the Nahar Shalom by the Reshash, Shalom Sharabi  and prayed with the Sidur of the Reshash. First the small one. Then after a few years someone told me that in Mea Shearim someone had printed the large sidur of the Reshash, so I got that --it was very inexpensive. I should mention that the large one is considered more accurate. Mordechai Sharabi said the smaller one has mistakes. In any case I highly recommend the large sidur of the Reshash both for learning and praying. I don't learn this at this point but it is an important part of education. If you do have time for the whole body of literature then I think that at least the Eitz Chaim of the Ari should be learned.








2.4.15

I suggested to my learning partner this same idea I wrote on my blog that cults are the modern idolatry.
And he mentioned a surprising support to this idea from Nachmanides. For we know strictly speaking there are very few ways of being liable for idolatry. Sacrifice, burning, pouring, bowing, service according to it way, and accepting it as ones god. So, in any case, there has to be some kind of physical object. But with the Ramban [Nachmanides] it looks like the definition of idolatry gets expanded to any being besides God, even non corporeal beings. He mentioned that when Nachmanides writes about this it seems amazingly relevant to today's issues.

At any rate, the idea that he is referring to is the idea of "Face." לא יהיה לך אלהים אחרים על פני "You shall have no other gods before me" [lit.,"before my face"].
That is the interface that God chooses to reveal himself to the world. Anything else is idolatry.
So I urge people to avoid cults, not just because of the damage that they do, but also because it might be a sin...[Enough said.]


Appendix:
1) My learning partner has been looking at the Nachmanides for several years and the more he looks at him the more impressed he is. There is a translation by a fellow named Chavel. Though I don't look at the Ramban at all whenever I hear something from him I am very impressed.
2) The 'Rambam and Ramban' are both actually saying the same thing: worship or praise to any being besides God is a problem. But the thing that impresses my learning partner is the coherent system of the Ramban. It  is how he shows the whole Five Books of Moses are one logical, coherent, rigorously exact system.