(1) I did not realize that excommunication was   very serious until recently I saw the Mishna Lamelech say it has a halachic category of an oath.
This opens up a few interesting questions. For example what about the excommunication of the Gra? What about people that I know had done something wrong and were really under need to be excommunicated? Even if no one pays attention to these legal issue they remain valid halacha questions. This is just like any other halacha question. If no one pays attention to it does it become invalid? Certainly not.

(2 )So just as an introduction let me say that the idea of an oath is thus. One says, "This loaf of bread is forbidden to me like a sacrifice." The loaf becomes forbidden to him as if it was a sacrifice.  If he says to someone this loaf of mine is forbidden to you like  sacrifice  then also the other person is not allowed to eat it. A person can forbid his object to others.
The Mishna LaMelech says an excommunication gets its strength from this law. It is a type of Isur Neder. That means that one that transgresses it is transgressing a prohibition of the Torah.
(3) It applies to coming generations.
(4) It is not just for the 24 specific list but for anyone who transgress a prohibition for the Torah or a rabbinical prohibition on purpose.
(5) You don't need actual testimony When the facts of the case are public knowledge.

What this seems to mean is that the excommunication of the Gra was in fact according to halacha and was valid and still is. This helps us understand why when people join the groups he banned, they become crazy.

Music for the glory of God

k36


k114


j38 



j7

Trust in God without effort was the major idea of Navardok. I mentioned the Ramban from Leviticus 26:11 which holds this way. And there is the Gra also that says the same. It is known that the Duties of the Heart had the opinion that one should do some effort.
Navardok however went with the opinion of the Ramban. The person that started Navardok was Joseph Horvitz and he had been a businessman until one day he got into a conversation with Isaac Blazer a disciple of Israel Salanter. The conversation centered on doing business instead of learning Torah. Joseph asked "If I don't  work, the what will happen?" And Isaac Blazer repeated that phrase "What will happen?" meaning what will happen in the next world. And that lite a fuse. From then on Joseph devoted himself to Torah and to this idea that one can just learn Torah and does not have to worry about money.

This does not mean using Torah to ask people for money. That is not what trust in God means. There was a time in fact that accepting charity was considered despicable and asking for it even worse.
The idea of Navardok was different. It was that of trust.

Learning fast

Learning fast was suggested by the Musar book the אורחות צדיקים. And that was the first place I saw it. Later when I got to yeshiva in NY I saw this idea in a different book called בנין עולם.  It was a general method of learning recommended by Jewish sages from the time of the Talmud and onward. לעולם לגרוס אינש אף על גב ידע מאי קאמר. I am the first person (I think) to apply it to math and physics.
The first time I ever did that was when I was in Beverly Hills High School, and applied this idea to my chemistry book. I just read through the chapter saying the words in order and not doing any review. I recall doing well on the test on that chapter. I  got the idea from that Musar book, Paths of the Righteous
However for a long time after that I did not learn any math. I began looking at math again only very recently when it was too late to make much progress. Still based on "faith in the sages" that the Rambam knew what he was talking about when he considered physics and metaphysics as part of the Oral Law I began again. [With encouragement of the students and librarians at Hebrew University.] [The people there were very helpful in many ways.]
[So my basic advice to use this approach to get through the entire Oral Law, the Talmud at least once, even without any Rashi or Tosphot, the whole written Law (Tenach),  Physics up until String Theory and Math up to Abstract Algebra,  Algebraic Topology, and Calculus with the Lebesgue Integral which are important for Physics.]

Music for the glory of God

n96 n96 midi  n96 in nwc


b28 (14) b28 nwc


b33 b33 midi



b44 b44 midi b44 nwc


l94 l94 midi  l94 nwc
  
l86 l86 midi  l86 nwc


l82 l82 midi  l82 nwc

(3) The excommunication of the Gra still applies.

I suggest learning fast.
Also from the Ari [Isaac Luria, the Ari].

From the Ari: to learn every day "מקרא, משנה, גמרא, קבלה". One session in the Old Testament, Mishna, Talmud and Midrash in order.



What this means for me is  have a certain amount of books on the table to my left. Pick up one, and go through a few pages in order. Just say the words and go on. The major thing is not to repeat. No repetition allowed.
Then put it down on your right, and then pick up the next book, and go through a few pages of that one.

But besides this you need and in depth session also. That is called עיון.  For that type of learning I don't have anything to say. I did find a learning partner. But in subjects where could not find a learning partner I just went through things in the old fashioned way. In Physics and Math I did lots of problems. And when I finished the problem exercises, then I went back and did them again. That is how I did Trig., Algebra and Calculus. Since then I have mainly concentrated on fast learning in the Natural Sciences.

_________________________________________________________________________

Appendix

(1)In Torah learning I am not suggesting that the only things to do are מקרא משנה גמרא מדרש. That is more like an introduction. I think Musar is important also. That is to go through the basic set of Musar. That is only about five books from the Middle Ages and the books from the direct disciples of Israel Salanter.

(2) If you do  Kabbalah, it is best just to plow through the writings of Isaac Luria and the Remak. The rest of it is pseudo Kabbalah and not worth the paper it is written on.


(3) The excommunication of the Gra still applies.  Also see the Mishna LaMelech about the general status of ban as akin to what we call איסור נדר. So you can't just ignore it. That is the Mishna LaMelech  in laws of oaths. When the Rambam begins laws of נדרים  that is where you find this discussion. What he says is that we know a person can forbid his object to himself and to others. All he needs to do is to say חפץ זה קרבן עלי or to others to say חפצי זה קרבן לך or any other language like that. And even if he does not mention anything else but just this object is forbidden to me or to you that object becomes forbidden. He does however have to own the object if he is forbidding it to others. The Rashbatz and the Mishna LaMelch says the same applies to a שמתא and excommunication even of the most minor type. All the more so the an actual חרם. So the חרם  of the Gra is nothing to fool around with. This means that one that transgress this חרם is transgressing a prohibition of the Torah.


אני מציע   שיטה של למידה במהירות, ועוד דבר של האריז''ל
: ללמוד כל יום "מקרא, משנה, גמרא, קבלה".. מה זה אומר עבורי היא יש כמות מסוימת של ספרים על השולחן לשמאלי. להרים את אחד, ולעבור כמה עמודים. רק לומר את המילים וללכת הלאה. הדבר העיקרי הוא לא לחזור.  חזרה אינה מותרת.. ואז לשים אותו בצד ימין, ואז להרים את הספר הבא, ולעבור כמה עמודים.

Music link for the glory of God

l77


l83