The Sages of the Talmud said that every group of people has a very specific evil inclination that applies to that group much more than other groups. When you are part of some particular group it is hard to see this in your own group, but it is easy to see in other groups.
These are not stereotypes, but actual patterns of behaviors that are easily predicative. (See the hidden diaries of Karl Jung about the shadow side of women, and you will understand why a woman will chase after you one day, and then when you are down and out, she will dump you like yesterday’s trash.) A certain group I know has theft embedded deep into its DNA. It is not that they don't see anything wrong with theft. It is that they cant have a good day without it. Another group I know of are bullies. They can't think in any other way but that they ought to control everyone else. Another group I am all too familiar with are insane. Everyone has a different kind of insanity but you can't be part of that group unless you have some kind of mental problem. I could go on and on.
The truth is we are all social creatures and need to be part of some group, and then when we join some group the evil inclination of that group invariably affects us.



See review of lucifer principle by bloom

See also Lucifer Principle

I have trouble reading things on line. If you can buy Howard Blooms Lucifer Principle and Allen Bloom's Closing of the American Mind and that is the best option. Both these books are worth their weight in gold.


the-closing-of-the-american-mind


What I am saying here is built upon the idea of Howard Bloom's super organism. I am saying not just that the super-organism is built upon  units of social information [memes] as he says but that in each group there is a hidden יצר הרע evil inclination.
And I agree with him that not all groups are equal in value. some groups have more than a hidden evil inclination. Their basic social meme is founded on some evil principle.
To make this more concrete:
There are yeshivas where people learn Musar [Classical Jewish Ethics]. That is a good social meme. But there is still a hidden evil inclination as I mentioned in other essays. But in itself learning Musar is a great idea. [These yeshivas go by a nickname of "Litvak Yeshivas" or more properly Lithuania Yeshivas.] They are in general good groups and  in fact it is almost impossible to get an idea of what Torah is about without going to one for at least some period.]

On teh other hand there are social groups that are founded on  social meme of murder. That is their core thesis is that it is good to murder infidels. This group might also have hidden evil inclination but it is more likely that the evil is apparent and the good is hidden.

Music for the glory of God,

j6

j2 mp3    j2 midi  j2nwc

i95 in mp3   [i95 in midi format]

Sin is a great subject

Sin is a great subject. But a confusing one also.
When people are careful in minor rituals, it is usually at the expense major law principles.
So even though terms like "sin" are thrown around, it usually has little to do with what the Torah actually consider to be sin.
The insane religious world  are the worst offenders in this regard, but not the only ones. The trouble is they confuse the whole concept of what it means to keep Torah. Because they erase the Ten Commandments, people get the idea that the Ten Commandments are not a part of keeping Torah.
Is there any concept of honor of your parents in the insane religious world? ? Not at all. All the honor goes solely to religious leaders. Stealing? They might not kidnap your wife and children, but they will try to convince your wife to leave you. [But they do kidnap your children.] In short, there is nothing in the Ten Commandments they consider binding.

Worshipers of Corpses

The major obstacles to keeping Torah are the the insane religious world , those that make a display of keeping Torah..

I will not hide the fact that I consider  the the insane religious world  to be mainly idolaters because of their worship of corpses.

What the the insane religious world  call repentance is horizontal repentance. It is moving over from one group to join their group. It has nothing to do with repentance of the Torah which is vertical repentance.

So to keep Torah I think you can either go to   Reform temple or Conservative one--though that is really not the best option. [Reform and conservative have been hijacked by principles not like the Torah.] The better option I think is Mizrachi or what is called religious Zionist. There is a complaint about the Mizrachi that they got too much into nationalism and have become a part of the establishment, still their basic approach is about as close to Torah as I think is feasible.

Or you could join a Lithuanian yeshiva which is perhaps even better than Mizrachi [religious Zionist] because of the level of Torah study. Mizrachi tends to be a little weaker in that area. Though I have met people that are associated with religious Zionism who do learn Torah on a high level but the Mizrachi just don't have people of the stature of Rav Elazar Menachem Shach or other Litvak Gedolim.

Though I was at two Lithuanian yeshivas both of which were great places, I think the anti Zionist stance is a poison which is like slowly acting acid which decays the foundations. Today there are no Litvak gedolim. Why not? I say it is the antisemitism embedded in their anti Israel stance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1382&v=7y2KsU_dhwI

This is an interesting film about abortion. It has a kind of Christian slant to it, but still I think it deserves a look.
My critique is that the idea of repentance according to the Torah is to stop sinning. And it also has to do with belief and trust in God. But according to the Rambam the Torah is against the idea of an  mediator. That is in the fifth of the 13 principles of faith. Other than that I think this video is very interesting.

Not to quibble but  the Ten Commandments have a more narrow definition than what he was saying on the video. But that is because they are commandments that contain sub commandments. Even so I think he had some good points.