Ideas in Shas

I added a new idea here at the end about the Rambam in Bava Kama 19. I decided there is no way to get him to fit the Gemara and so I came up with an idea that he must have has a different version than our Gemara. I think you have to say this because the Gra said that Rambam is "אינו מובן" ("not understandable."

Also you can see I wrote some of this in Talmudic Hebrew and the more recent things in  modern Hebrew. So if there are mistakes in grammar please forgive me. I in fact assume it still needs a lot of editing. The reason I put it here is because the ideas are sound.

I also edited the middle a little. To me today it seems the Rambam may have understood outside books to mean books of idolatry. And the Rif and Rosh it means books that explain the Torah not in accordance with the Talmud.  The Rif and Rosh here have an opinion that is strict--even more than the Rambam. The reason is that almost all  "Torah" books today explain the Torah in ways not in accordance with the Talmud. They all have use  kabalistic foundations and principles to explain the Torah. That would make the entire body of Torah writings from all the major publishing houses to be ספרים חיצוניים outside books.

Personally I am not against the Kabalah. But still I think it is fair point to take note that every so called Torah book today on issues of "השקפה" [world view] takes its world view from anywhere except Talmud.

Trump policy will be to work with people to get things done,-- like he has done in NY.

Once you can learn even one 1/2 a page of Gemara with Tosphot and the Avi Ezri then you have graduated. You now can be called a person that "knows how to learn." At that point you can take any Gemara and any halacha anywhere and know how to analyze it.

If given a small amount of time for learning Torah, I usually try to learn Tosphot. And this is what I think would be a good idea for others also. There might be several reason for this but one clear benefit is that without Tosphot people don't understand the Gemara itself. That is they imagine they understand. It is not just the Gemara, but halacha also. There are people that think that they can know halacha without understanding  the actual Gemara from where the halachah is derived. This is more common than you would think.
Doing one page of Gemara for a week or two with every Tosphot is in fact a good way to understand what Torah is about.

And if you have done the Gemara well then next step is the learn the Rambam with Rav Shach's Avi Ezri If you have done this thoroughly on even one 1/2 a page of Gemara then you will know how to learn a lot better than those that just skim  and call it "learning."

Also this would help to have good idea of what the Torah is saying about the particular subject you are learning.

Once you can learn one sugia [subject] properly, then you have the ability to do every subject.

What I am saying is in in fact an amazing idea. It is this. Once you can learn even one 1/2 a page of Gemara with Tosphot and the Avi Ezri then you have graduated. You now can be called a person that "knows how to learn."  At that point you can take any Gemara and any halacha anywhere and know how to analyze it.


This works for anything. If you want to know what the Torah says about homosexuality this is simple. You find the Mishna and Gemara that deal with this in כריתות. And then you learn the Avi Ezri of Rav Shach on that Gemara and you will know how the Torah looks at this. Furthermore I would suggest that until you have learned the subject from the standpoint of the Torah then you should withhold an opinion. I have heard people say things in the name of the Torah when it si clear that they had not learned the subject properly.

The Shiduch idea is important for the  people of Israel. That is a marriage offer. Not a forced marriage but not a date either. This goes back a long way. The tribe of Benjamin had done a crime  and murdered a girl friend of some guy. The rest of the Israel decided they were not going to stay by and condone this. They went to the the Urim and Tumim and got word that they should make war on Benjamin. They did so and at the end of the war most of the tribe was wiped out. During the war they had let it be known that anyone that did not join would be considered a traitor. The men of Yabesh Gilad did not join. So Israel went and wiped them out and took their virgin girls and gave them to the tribe of Benjamin. They made sure every single guy got a shiduch. That was not enough. So they told the remaining guys to go to Shiloh and kidnap the virgin girls that went dancing on the 15th of Av.
No matter how you look at this they were serious about the importance of getting a girl for every guy.

And thus you can see how things have changed today--and not for the better.

Music File for the glory of the God of Israel.

CHS 

This needs editing but here it is anyway.

It is Elul and probably a lot of people are thinking about how to repent on their sins. OK may one or two. I have given this some thought and I want to suggest as a first step to learn Musar. These are books of classical ethics  from Middle Ages. And if possible to make houses of Musar so as to help others have a situation where they can also learn Musar. [Repentance of the Sitra Achra--the Dark Side--should be avoided. It happens that most people that repent mainly replace one set of sins with another.]

The idea here is that in the long run we will be held responsible for our actions before God. The grave will not be a refuge. And the one thing that effects our actions more than anything else is our attitudes and world view. If we can correct our world view to be in accord with God's will then we stand a better chance that our deeds and what we say will be correct.

Musar --I have to mention--is two part. One is the Middle Ages. The other is from the time of Israel Salanter and his close disciples. The basic ones were Simcha Zisel of Kelm, Isaac Blazer, Naphtali Amsterdam. A later addition was Joseph Horvitz from Navardok.  There was also the Altar of Slobodka who I know little about. Each wrote and their writings are very important. For Elul I suggest getting all the basic books of Musar and going through them--every last one.

Besides that I have decided for myself to take note of things that I am pretty sure fall into the category of major mistakes--or sins. That is,-- things that I am pretty sure that God [the Will] got mad at me for.
To concentrate on things I know I did wrong I believe is a great way to concentrate on doing repentance. So I suggest that if you can find in your life some things that you are relatively sure that God got mad at you for,  then you have something you can focus your energy on correcting.

If you don't think you have any sins, then your are probably in worse trouble than you think.

The Medieaval books are the Duties of the Heart, The Paths of the Just, Gates of Repentance, and others.

variation on a Hanuka theme

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