the philosophy of the Torah.

There are a good number of books that deal with the philosophy of the Torah. They are not books of mysticism that use Torah as a jumping point for mysticism. And also they are not books about the השקפה or world view of Torah. They are actually books that deal with the philosophy of Torah. The main ones are from Saadia Gaon, Maimonides, Ibn Gavirol,, Crescas, Joseph Albo, Isaac Abrabanel, Judah Abrabanel.  You almost never see them in yeshivas. In many yeshivas they are excluded on purpose. The reason I think is that there is great fear that some yeshiva student might pick one up and discover that they all claim the worldview of Torah is Monotheism, not pantheism. What yeshivas want their students to think is that no one ever thought about worldview issues of Torah until books came along that claimed the Torah's world view is pantheism. The ironic fact is that only Reform and conservative Jews have a belief system that is in accord with the Torah--Monotheism.


There was a controversy about the idea or desirability of learning Philosophy after the Rambam came about with the Guide for the Perplexed.  The people opposed to this generally went with the more mystic kabbalist traditions. Each blamed the other for the perils of Jews in Spain.

The very fact that all philosophy [including all of the great Jewish philosophers from the Middle Ages] is excluded from all yeshivas shows where the weight of this debate came down on. That leaves only Secular and Reform Jews believing in Monotheism. You can see this fact in daily life. Often I hear some secular Jews tell a religious Jew that one must pray to God alone, not to any person. That I hear in answer to the statement of the religious Jew that the secular Jew ought to go to some tzadik and ask him for help. 

Shabat. Work on Shabat that is not intended, but it must happen.

There is an argument about doing some kind of work on Shabat that is not intended but it must happen.  There are 39 type of work on Shabat that are not allowed, e.g. sewing, lighting a fire, building etc. Many of them have to do with types of things that would go into baking bread. But that would not apply to baking with electricity which is not fire.]

In any case The Ri [Rabbainu Isaac] holds when it is a work that must happen it is forbidden even if he does not want it. The Aruch says when he does not want it is it permitted. This comes up in Tosphot in Yoma page 34 [that is the biggest Tosphot I think I have seen in a long time]. Tosphot brings this argument in Shabat also. And Joseph Karo also brings it.
This subject is also R. Akiva Eiger's object of study in one of his long essays.

What I wanted to say today just before I have to run is this. I think the Aruch makes a lot of sense. Just think about it. We are going with R. Shimon that מלאכה שאינה צריכה לגופה פטור. Right?  So what is going on in דבר שאינו מתכווין? It is that he is doing something else that results in the work. And let's say the work must happen. Why would that be any worse that doing the actual work itself, but with a different intention from what the work is liable in? He could be digging a pit which is actual work but if he only needs the dirt then he is not liable! I would have to say the Aruch makes a lot of sense to me. [Incidentally R. Akiva Eigger also spends his entire long pamphlet on this topic defending the Aruch.]
I brought this up with my learning partner, and he said first of all he can't see any difference between  מלאכה שאינה צריכה לגופה and דבר שאינו מתכווין שהוא פסיק רישא.
And he also pointed out that the Ri is in fact saying something very sensible. That דבר שאינו מתכווין שהוא פסיק רישא דלא ניחא ליה is forbidden by rabbinical law as a fence around the Torah. He is not claiming that it is forbidden from the Torah itself.
_______________________________________________________________________________
There is an argument about doing some kind of מלאכה on שבת that is not מתכווין but פסיק רישא.  There are ל''ט types of work on שבת that are not allowed, e.g. sewing, lighting a fire, building etc. Many of them have to do with types of things that would go into baking bread.

In any case  ר''י רבינו יצחק  holds when it is דבר שאינו מתכווין שהוא פסיק רישא דלא ניחא ליה. The ערוך says פסיק רישא דלא ניחא ליה is  permitted.


 The ערוך makes a lot of sense. Just think about it. We are going with רבי שמעון that מלאכה שאינה צריכה לגופה פטור. Right?  So what is going on in דבר שאינו מתכווין? It is that he is doing something else that results in the מלאכה. And let's say the work must happen. Why would that be any worse that doing the actual work itself but with a different כוונה from what the מלאכה is liable in? He could be digging a pit which is actual מלאכה but if he only needs the dirt then he is not liable!


I brought this up with my learning partner and he said first of all he can't see any difference between  מלאכה שאינה צריכה לגופה and דבר שאינו מתכווין שהוא פסיק רישא.

And he also pointed out that the ר''י is in fact saying something very sensible. That דבר שאינו מתכווין שהוא פסיק רישא דלא ניחא ליה is forbidden דרבנן as a fence around the Torah. He is not claiming that it is forbidden from the Torah itself.

Music for the glory of God

q54



This I think might need some editing. It seems likely to me that it does but I am not sure.

The discipline of learning Torah.It must cease to be an activity conducted by moles and religious fanatics, each burrowing in its own hole, and become a public and co-operative enterprise.

There is a philosophical side to Torah which deals with the big questions. The trouble is people that are fit and understand Torah well enough to deal with that side of Torah are usually involved in Talmud. That leaves those areas of deep interest open to the frauds.   the religious world is a Mafia in which the almighty dollar is their god. The best approach to to dismantle their organizations and replace them with authentic Torah scholars. The religious world depends on its reputation for being authentic to be able to make money and get respect. That is why the trivial  rituals and Yiddish and dress are so important to them.


What I suggest is that one area of time of Torah study should be devoted to the philosophical side of Torah. That means I am suggesting something along the lines of Israel Salanter. he started the Musar movement which was successful in bringing the between man and his fellow man aspect of torah to the attention of many Jews--both religious and nonreligious. Now in almost all authentic Lithuanian yeshivas there are two short Musar sessions and a Musar shmoose on Thursday. What I suggest is to add the philosophical side of Torah also to yeshivas.

That is to say to have a section in the Beit Midrash with the Guide of Maimonides, Emunot VeDeot of Saadia Gaon. And the people that finished the basic set of books that compromise Jewish Philosophy-- Joseph Albo, Avudraham, Abrabenel,  Crescas, Ibn Gavirol, Duties of the Heart.

To get back and understanding of the issues they were dealing with I would also have to add the entire set of Plato, Aristotle, and Kant. Without the first two it is impossible to understand the Guide of the Rambam. And Kant is an important because of the Critique on Pure Reason. That is to know the limits of not just human reason, but to know the limits of pure reason.

I have to warn people that I have seen plenty of people that left a Lithuanian yeshiva environment and get involved in Breslov . It is hard for me to understand why people would think that stopping learning Torah and running around with nonsense all day would make them close to a tzadik.



Some strange doctrines have entered into the religious world. So I should mention that by belief in the great tzadik  I am not condoning the idolatry or pantheism that people by mistake seem to hold by in the religious world. Prayer must be directly towards God alone. But we can pray in the merit of a tzadik or ask him to pray for us. And pantheism has already been dealt with and disposed of by Saadia Gaon, the Rambam in the Guide and the son of the Rambam. So I don't know why people still try to claim the Torah holds by pantheism.    God has no substance so nothing is God's substance. The world is not God. Saying things have godliness in them does not mean they are godliness. And what ever Godliness is it is not God. It is a creation. And even the infinite light is also a creation as the Ramban says openly in Breishit and the Arizal also.

the proper path in life

I have a few questions about the proper path in life. The reason is that I found that I have certain limitation in my abilities. That is I follow the law of limited returns. I can concentrate on one subject for  a long time and never get any further than if I would spend just a minimum amount of time on it.
But there are other people like my ex girlfriend Wendy Wilson who could excel in any subject she choose and the sky was the limit. You probably know some people like that.
For this reason I find myself in a kind of dilemma. It seems as a general rule that unless you are dealing with really brilliant people the best thing is to get a balanced education. That seems to have worked best for me. But there are people that would get distracted by a general education and need to concentrate on one thing alone.

I should mention in  the USSR, very young children could choose a path in life at a very early age. They could decide to go into the hard sciences or music or a few other venues. So apparently the Soviets were aware of the advantage for some people to concentrate on one area alone.

That being said I think that in general a balanced approach should be the general rule. Bearing that in mind I would like to recommend this kind of "seder hayom," order of the day.
You start a 9:15 with Halacha. That is you do the Rambam with no commentaries allowed,  and you just read straight until 10:00. That will get you through the whole Rambam in less than a year. Then at 10:00 you do Talmud in this fashion. You take one עמוד one side of a page and do it with Rashi Tosphot and some Maharsha and Maharam. That takes about 40 minutes.  Then you do another side of a page and you keep on going until 2:00. That will get you through Shas in less than a year. Then at 2:00to 4:00 you have your break and then at 4:00 you go to Brooklyn College to learn natural sciences or even perhaps law. But not any subjects that are pseudo sciences. In Chaim Berlin Yeshiva this was simple because Brooklyn College was right around the corner. But in theory even at the Mir one could do the same by taking a bus down King's Highway. That is for NY.  California is sadly an עיר הנידחת and there is as of yet no authentic yeshiva. It takes a lot more to build a yeshiva that to paste a name on a building. All religious establishments in California are branches the yeshiva of the Satan. So I don't recommend them.

songs for the glory of God

q52


q53