an authentic Lithuanian yeshiva

However for people of yeshiva ages it is best to be in an authentic Lithuanian yeshiva during the year. And it is my impression that it takes a special kind of human being to be a real Rosh Yeshiva. I knew a few of the authentic types--like Reb Shmuel Berenbaum and the other teachers at the Mir in NY. [Avraham Kalmonovitch, and the author of the Sukat David--I forgot his name, But I really liked his book on Ketubot. ]But these types are rare. If you have met, the real thing you can't be fooled anymore. 
It is like the storyabout a merchant that had a servant. He was on a trip and came to an inn and they served to him what they claimed was Hungarian wine--the rarest and best. The servant told the master, "This is not Hungarian wine." 
"How do you know?" he asked.
"Because I was in Hungary and tasted the real thing. Once you have tasted the real thing you can never forget it. And this is not the real thing." 
I say also one you have seen and sat in a class of an authentic Rosh yeshiva, you cant be fooled anymore.

The difference between the Gra and the Duties of the Heart in terms of trust in God is to the Duties of the Heart one is allowed to do effort, but not to the Gra. That is to say we have the verse in Mishlei [Proverbs 3] "Trust in God with all your heart and do not depend on your own intellect." The Gra learns from the end of that verse not to do effort. And in the commentary of Mishlei there is an  note from Menachem Mendel from Shkolov [a famous disciple of the Gra which adds an idea that he heard in the name of the Gra.]

The Duties of the Heart on the other hand says one should trust in God, but do effort. Just that one should trust in God concerning the results of his efforts.
But it can happen that if one accepts on himself the yoke of service of God, and removes from himself the pleasures of this world, then God might take away the need for him to do effort to reach his needs.


The Alter of Navardok brings this opinion of the Gra in the name of the Ramban. He got this from  Israel Salanter who printed a magazine in Vilnius called Tevuna. In that magazine he wrote an article where he brings this opinion of "no effort" in the name of the Ramban.
So your end result is to the Gra you are not supposed to do effort, and to the Duties of the Heart you  are allowed to but it is better not to.

To both of them it is best to sit and learn Torah.
Personally, I should admit I found it hard to learn Torah. And I also find it hard to learn. A lot depends on the kind of synagogue in your area. The insane religious world  are obstacles towards learning Torah. Generally they are dens of the sitra achra [dark side]. Lithuanian yeshivas are clearly going to be places where if you are accepted you can learn Torah. But in general they tend to be picky about whom they let in, [and they should be picky.]  So there is nothing simple about how to answer the question how to go about learning Torah. Learning at home I have also found almost impossible. So while I think learning is important, I have not found a good solution to the question of how to go about it.

The difference between the Gra and the Duties of the Heart in terms of trust in God is to the Duties of the Heart one is allowed to do effort, but not to the Gra. That is to say we have the verse in Mishlei [Proverbs 3] "Trust in God with all your heart and do not depend on your own intellect." The Gra learns from the end of that verse not to do effort. And in the commentary of Mishlei there is an  note from Menachem Mendel from Shkolov [a famous disciple of the Gra which adds an idea that he heard in the name of the Gra.]

The Duties of the Heart on the other hand says one should trust in God, but do effort. Just that one should trust in God concerning the results of his efforts.
But it can happen that if one accepts on himself the yoke of service of God, and removes from himself the pleasures of this world, then God might take away the need for him to do effort to reach his needs.


The Alter of Navardok brings this opinion of the Gra in the name of the Ramban. He got this from his Israel Salanter who printed a magazine in Vilnius called Tevuna. In that magazine he wrote an article where he brings this opinion of "no effort" in the name of the Ramban.
So your end result is to the Gra you are not supposed to do effort, and to the Duties of the Heart you  are allowed to but it is better not to.

To both of them it is best to sit and learn Torah.
Personally, I should admit I found it hard to learn Torah. And I also find it hard to learn. A lot depends on the kind of synagogue in your area. The insane religious world  are obstacles towards learning Torah. Generally they are dens of the sitra achra [dark side]. Lithuanian yeshivas are clearly going to be places where if you are accepted you can learn Torah. But in general they tend to be picky about whom they let in, [and they should be picky.]  So there is nothing simple about how to answer the question how to go about learning Torah. Learning at home I have also found almost impossible. So while I think learning is important, I have not found a good solution to the question of how to go about it.

I don't have the book but I saw just one line from the book of the son of the Rambam that a tzadik saint is one who keeps all the commandments of God and a rasha [wicked person] is one who keeps none of them. I thought that this is amazingly clear. [The book is called מספיק לעובדי השם Enough for the servants of God. ]
What that means that there are no moral dilemmas. Everything is crystal clear. There is no hierarchy of  mitzvot. There is no set of commandments to emphasize beyond any others.[That is questions of dilemmas are already dealt with thoroughly in the Talmud and Mishna Torah. All there is is a personal decision whether to keep the Law of God or not. If it is unclear to  a person what the Law requires of him he can open up a Mishna Torah of the Rambam and if there is some question about world view he can open up a Guide for the Perplexed. That is the son of the Rambam refuses to see any ambiguity about what the Torah says or means. The implication is anyone who says or implies that there is an ambiguity is simply trying to get out of keeping some law that he finds inconvenient.

Music link for the glory of the God of Israel

q35 edited   [q35 in midi format]  q35 nwc

The insane religious world tries to pervert the Torah to be pantheistic. At a certain point I tired of seeing this and feel it is time to object.

I am not very happy with any make things in this world to be divine.  In the Torah only God is Divine and not people and not things. One major aspect of Torah is that God is One. This is in fact maybe the most famous aspect of Torah. As the Rambam explains this it means not just that he is not more than one but also he is not a composite.. He has no ingredients on the label..   He is not composed some kind of divine substance. And since he is not made of any Divine substance, nothing can be the same substance as God.

So it is not just pantheism that I am not happy with. Though pantheism might be the most extreme example of trying to make things out to be divine. But even more limited attempts  I am un-pleased with. For example claiming people's souls are Divine. This blurring of the boundary between God and Man annoys me.  We are not God and are unlikely ever to be God at any future date.
I don't know about you but I see this being attempted in all kinds of sneaky ways, all the time.

It is very often attempted with some group of people. If you are part of some group, then you can see how there is is an attempt to claim that that group is Divine. The leaders might use different terminology than how I am putting it here. But once you are aware of this, you can see through the cloud of words to see their major point. Maybe it is good for some people's self esteem to think they are God.
Often the insane religious world   say the "Jewish soul is a portion of God." [חלק אלוה ממעל] This is a kind of idolatry.

Others may pervert the Torah in different ways to make it more in accord with what they want it to say. But this issue seems to me to be worthy of attention.



It started with a loop hole. Kabalah. Whilst the kabalah of the Zohar, the Ari and the Remak is monotheistic, still the basic approach of condensation of the light, people have tried to claim implies pantheism.  When you confront people with this mistake they start to play word games.

When considering what yeshiva to join one can get deflected.

This is not all that different than if one is considering whether to go to Harvard for a business degree or some hick town, no name, liberal arts collage.

Why should this make a difference when all one wants is to learn Torah? The difference is in ones children.

This is because while in the secular world the difference between Harvard or a liberal arts collage is mainly about career, in the yeshiva world the difference is in terms of the "Shiduch."

You go to the Mir Yeshiva in Brooklyn , or Chaim Berlin, whether you will get a good shiduch is not the issue, but your children will.

This is because the Shiduch is the hidden fulcrum that everything revolves on in the frum world.
It is the hidden world of Shiduch dynamics that no one yet has mapped out.

But a few major rules are:
(1) Good families look  for good families.
(2) When a good family has a bad apple then they look for a baal teshuva to unload him or her onto.
(3) If you are however a baal teshuva and obey the rules, your children will be offered good shiduchim. [But you won't.]
There are many many more rules but these are  few.
Some of the rules have to do with character. A woman who has been divorced  and spends most of her mental energy on trying to show and prove to everyone that her husband was bad man will give her own children such a bad name that no one in their right mind will every offer to her children a decent shiduch. People associate bad character with bad news.
Some of the rules have to do with names of families. And some rules have to do with what yeshiva one is  apart of.

What is important to know here and why i bring this up is simply this. If you are part of  a good yeshiva--don't walk out. Don't leave the Mir to join some no name kollel.--or any so called kollel for that matter. Better to be part of an authentic yeshiva even as a nobody, than have a big kollel check that takes you away from an authentic Torah institution to some trash bin.

Some of the rules have to do with situation awareness. This is what fighter pilots needs when they go into combat. They need a 3-d image of what is going on around them.
The enemy is other yeshivas that try to convince you that they are top tier. Don't fall for that common trap.