"tzadikim" [ religious leaders]

The problem with "tzadikim" [ religious leaders] or the cult that worships tzadikim is the problem that goes along with the wider range of problems associated with the cult of celebrity. The wider problem is easier to define. Mainly it is that people with no knowledge of justice or goodness or expertise of any kind suddenly become considered experts in all these matters and all matters relating to human life.  In the context of Torah it means people that have no knowledge of Torah nor are good or decent people in any sense, but are very good at doing long hard rituals, suddenly are considered to be experts in Torah and goodness. [That is the person chosen to be the head of the cult is usually a schizo type personality that has enough control over his voices and delusions to hear them only at the right times- the times that are socially accepted.]



"Everyone worships something. William Penn once said: men not ruled by God will be ruled by tyrants."



This topic is related to the larger problem of charismatic leadership. When the Torah itself is not considered obligatory then people go after a charismatic leader who then defines the Torah as to mean that everyone who serves the noble leader comes to human perfection. That is not what the Torah says but people believe this because they are no longer following the Torah.

Then next step is to make a pretense of bring people to Torah while in fact trying to get them into the cult in order to worship their Satanic leader.

[No offense intended to true tzadikim like  Reb Nahman. It was not their fault that their "thing" collapsed into idolatry.]

 I want to mention that it is often a very good thing to have good people to admire like the Chafetz Chaim. This is important because we humans tend to model our behavior after people we admire.

Still we need good judgment to decide whom to admire and we need not to fall for cults that are not at all related to the idea of admiration for great people but an approach which Reb Haim from Voloshin says is pure idolatry--spiritual connection with tzadikim.

Most people could be great in Torah even without being very smart.

I love Avraham because Avraham teaches the whole world how to learn Torah.

Most people could be great in Torah  even without being very smart.
At least that is what Reb Elchanan Wasserman said. He mentioned how he was not at all smart, but somehow being committed to Torah helped he gain in intelligence.

I think we would have to admit seeing his book, the Koveitz Shiurim that this is in fact true.  

How to become a gadol BaTorah. How? I The basic path is being interested in the Chafetz Chaim. Thi is a very important thing. It shows great promise.  Interest in not speaking Lashon Harah slander is an important step. 


But how to bring this to fruition? The truth is to learn and understand Torah takes time. I really did not even start to get it for a long time. Even all my years in yeshiva I was just absorbing it subconsciously but I really did not know what was going on. It helps a lot to be in a Torah environment. If you can't be in an authentic Lithuanian yeshiva which is the Noah's ark of this generation then perhaps you getting good learning partners like Rav Shach, Reb Chaim Soloveitchik, Reb Baruch Ber would help.

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r23 cmajor       r23 nwc
r23 in midi 

I think outside of an "in depth" session in learning, that one should have also one session in which he goes through one half page of Talmud per day. That is to do this in the way of what is called "Girsah".  girsah means to say the words and go on. So what I suggest is to say one half page of Gemara Rashi Tosphot Mahrasha and Maharam from Lublin. Tomorrow to do the next page.

This way to get through the Talmud Bavli [Babylonian Talmud] and Yerushalmi [Jerusalem Talmud].
This should not take more than 40 minutes per day.


My suggestion is to do the same with Math and Physics. Even though these last two subjects do not have an established cannon, still there are a few basic books that go through the basic material. For example there are a few comprehensive texts which go through Abstract Algebra {Nathan Jacobson}, and another one that goes through Algebraic Topology (Allen Hatcher).  One could get the basic set and just plow through them.



I recommend also to do the book of Rav Shach on the Rambam in the same way.


The Chazal (sages) have told us to learn from the world how to serve God. Also I should mention that Rav Miller's books were very popular in the Mir Yeshiva in Brooklyn and he uses this idea in his books.. The original idea that he expands on of learning how to serve God from the ways of the world comes from the Musar book, חובות לבבות  [The Chovot Levavot]. That was the first place I saw that the Rambam is not alone in his opinion to learn Physics and MetaPhysics. I was in a shul in Jerusalem and picked up the חובות לבבות [Chovot Levavot] and saw in chap 3 of Shar HaBitachon that learning Physics and Metaphysics is the way to come to love and fear of God. The reason is there he makes a distinction between learning what is the spirituality in things which people would call Kabalah and learning the physical nature of the world. And he says it is this later thing that brings one to true love and fear of God.

[I do not really care much if you think you do not understand the Gemara if you learn it fast in this way.  You pick up much more unconsciously than you are aware of. See the Musar book The אורחות צדיקים that goes into this in length.

excellent at doing the rituals

The cult that the Gra signed the  excommunication on is organized schizophrenia, organized around a schizo personality.
In history the religious leaders are often those that are best at doing the rituals in the most compulsive way --at the right times. (That is: in the times that are socially acceptable.) If they do it at the wrong times, they get labeled as crazy. If they do it as the right time, they get thousands of followers.

Mainly what people want is someone who is excellent at doing the rituals and especially the hard ones. The harder the better.

The reason they learn psychology is in order to be able to credibly accuse people of that know about their secret evil. It is not curiously to understand human nature but rather as a weapon.
Schizo  type people have plenty of reproductive success. That does not make them right. It is just a good evolutionary strategy.

Concerning Lashon Hara if your warn your children form an evil cult that you know by empirical evidence and experience that they are completely evil, and terribly destructive and fraudulent and deceitful  then you do not need to go up to every single member of the group to give them rebuke before you can warn your children of others.

There is a degree that this kelipa has infiltrated all of the rest of Judaism. But here I am just concentrating on the head of the snake.


[I would rather not mention exceptions, but I think I have to so as not to cast aspersions on genuine sincere people like the Baal Shem Tov himself and Reb Nachman who were surely sincere and great people that helped many and certainly did not intend their "thing " to become idolatry as it has. My main point is the cults that pretend to bring people to Torah, but instead use rituals of Torah to bring people to the Devil that is embodied in their leaders.

Lashon Hara is very important.  What I wrote in my previous blog could be looked at as on the borderline. I have tried to defend my thesis with the idea of "group  behavior." That is: when warning about a group you by the average behavior (which is easy to document and see). If you warn your children about a group, you do not need to see if every single person in the group follows the average pattern. 

  With this idea we can see why the Gra signed the excommunication. His signature was the top signature. 

Still, if this would be a matter of theory I would not say a word. It is from empirical evidence that I warn about the terrible hidden dangers that someone with less experience might not be aware of. I also have had myself and seen what I am writing about.

I am warning about that which I know about all too well and have had devastating and horrible experiences and I see their effects on others. I would be remiss in my obligation as a Jew not to say what I know about this subject.

The Chafetz Chaim, Reb Chaim Soloveitchik, and Reb Israel Salanter.

It is helpful to look at three central people in Europe to understand Torah.

The Chafetz Chaim, Reb Chaim Soloveitchik, and Reb Israel Salanter. Looking at just one alone gives I think a skewed picture. People tend to try to absorb one into the other. And that seems to me to makes things unclear. There is some overlap however.

But to understand the interest and emphasis of one as if they were the same as the other gives a false notion.

The Musar movement was not the same thing as the Chafetz Chaim. It was first and foremost about Musar--mainly the aspect of correction of personality flaws inside the individual by means of intense learning of Musar many hours per day. This was quite definitely not the Chafez Chaim. [And this approach has been almost completely forgotten.] Even after the Musar movement became coupled with the Yeshiva movement and they both became fused together still Musar was not the same as the Chafez Chaim. Musar reveals an important face or aspect of Torah that no one else reveals. The importance of correcting bad character and the importance of the essence of fear of God;- not the manifestations of fear of God as in external rituals-- but the thing in itself.

The Chafetz Chaim is well known. His emphasis was on Laws of Slander and general Jewish Law (Halacha).

Reb Chaim Soloveitchik was not part of the yeshiva movement at all. He became absorbed in it and influenced its direction but his area of interest was something completely different. He wanted to create a revolution in understanding the Rambam. That was to not just believe the Rambam knew what he was talking about, but that it could be shown rigorously. Clearly this process had started with the regular commentaries, especially the Mishhna LaMelech. But Reb Chaim brought this to a whole new level.

I suggest that each of these people revealed an important facet of Torah, not like the other.

Reb Chaim's path was left uncompleted by him, but his close disciples and Rav Shach went a long way in picking up the slack. I have to confess my personal opinion that Rav Shach's book the Avi Ezri goes way beyond anything I have seen thus far. If I can be excused for saying so,-- it is much more clear-- and at least as deep as Reb Chaim's Chidushei HaRambam.

They depend on secrecy so blogs  that make uncomfortable truths public  are slandered in order to make them silent. They depend on the illusion of caring about Torah in order to gain support.  The main problem is religious teachers. But to go into this is not of interest to me. You can look at the blogs that document  their corruption if you can stomach it. I can not look at that blog even though I know most of his reports are accurate. Whatever time I have to spend on Jewish subjects, I would rather concentrate on the positive side. I am so behind anyway on the things I need to do every day. Spending time warning strangers about something the Gra warned about already 250 years ago and is still ignored does not seem like a worthwhile expenditure of time. I had to find out the hard way how infinitely evil religious teachers really are for the message to come home. The one person they hide behind is the Chafetz Chaim because they need deceit and secrecy. They do not want people to warn their children about them.


That is sad because it is easily corrected by simply learning the books Musar, the Chafetz Chaim and Reb Chaim.]