The intellectual basis of the Left is the group--Rousseau's "general will." This was meant to replace religion and the rule of kings and princes. This is opposed to John Locke's individual rights. The issue is where is the center of gravity? The individual, or the super-organism.  In John Locke, the individual gives up some rights in order to form a community. In Rousseau the community is the source of rights. The French Revolution as founded on the ideas of Rousseau, and the American revolution was founded on John Locke.  This blog  amerika. noticed that both seem to have limitations.
I there suggest a kind of return to the Middle Ages where both the Torah and Kings had a kind of balance of Power.



[You have to read between the lines of John Locke to see his approach. He does not come out and say this openly.]


What I think is missing here is the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule. There is no liberty without the Law of God.

In any case what is missing is not just the law of God, but also Hobbes--civil society. That is the area that government is meant to protect-- but not interfere with.
It seems to me the area of Torah is in this area of civil society where people accept voluntary acceptance of  the Laws of the Torah.

See the history of Spain and the Martyrs of Cordoba.

When Muslims get over a  certain % things go downhill quickly. Below a certain % they are the best mannered. Then people think well of them. Then the % grows and jihad starts with the youth  and the parents saying "we can't control our children. They are doing these violent acts on their own."  Then the % grows and you have a Muslim country. This is a common thread of how they took over many countries. See the history of Spain and the Martyrs of Cordoba.

Marriage is the most delicate of human affairs.

Very often women need help with household chores. It is a good, an important thing to help anyone that needs help. But making her think the chores are the man's responsibility, begins a slippery slope towards a shifting of roles.

Marriage is the most delicate of human affairs. When religious people stick their noses into it, they only spoil it.

The most dangerous to marriage and happiness are religious teachers. There is little they touch that they do not ruin.

I have a problem with twisting the ideas of medieval scholars to make them fit with modern conceptions.  With no new evidence all that matters is how rigorous ones logic is. And in moral affairs there can not be new evidence. You can not derive an "ought" from an "is." Moral proposition requires moral principles that can not be derived by empirical evidence.
And when it comes to rigorous logic,  people have been denying the validity of reason or using circular reasoning since the end of the Middle Ages. They simply can not compare with intellectual giants. This is in the Jewish world also in terms of whom we call "Rishonim" medieval Authorities.) However where you can criticize medieval people is in the axioms.  Sometimes they use beginning principles that are self evident. That is the only place where they are sometimes weak. But even there if one is willing to dig deep he can find the kernel of truth in what they wrote.

I heard this idea of the importance of Rishonim from Motti Friefeld [the son of Shelomo Friefeld] and from what I have seen later it makes sense. It is the general approach of Authentic Litvak Yeshivas and by examination of Rishonim as compared to achronim it is easy to see that this approach is correct. [However some achronim are useful in order to help understand the Rishonim.  Personally I have always loved using the Maharsha in that way, and in later years I found Rav Shach's Avi Ezri to be very helpful in that way.

A nice video that applies to yeshiva

The yeshivas know this. You don't learn a vocation producing something that people need.
What you are saying when you go to yeshiva is I want to world to create  a job for me.

Th reason yeshivas are opening up is the bosses are saying if you can get the money out of these stupid kids parents and out of the State of Israel, then come and teach here. All you will do at the best if you get hired is to re-teach stupid "vorts" [stupid homilies] on the Parsha and tell everyone how they need to support you because it is the greatest mitzvah to support yeshivas. [Which it is not. To be paid for learning Torah is against the Torah].
And they will sell you out for a dime when it come time you need their help.
If they are willing to sell out the Torah,  why do you think they will refrain from selling you out?


And what will you learn? You will learn to blame the goyim and the State of Israel for your lack of success in life.
And you are going to want them to pay you for their supposed guilt. If you are baal teshuva and you believe them when they make believe they are your friends you are dork.

All religious teachers do is lie in order to get other people's hard earned money. And then claim that is what the Torah says.

If we would be talking about places that learn Torah for its own sake then none of this would apply. But the reality is they are about using Torah for a vocation even the kollel's. After all they are getting paid for learning -- are they not?

Religion is virtue Olympics

Religion is virtue Olympics. First one has to prove how strict he is in rituals. They he gets the scepter to rule over everyone else. The religious teachers are the equivalent of of the taskmasters that were set over the Jews in Egypt. The only difference is the religious teachers claim the authority of the Law of Moses to enslave the Jews. And the only way one can tell this is a deception is by knowing the Law oneself.

So learning Torah has two advantages. One is to know and to fulfill the law of Moses. The other is so that one can not be "taken for a ride" by fraudsters that claim to know it and interpret it in such a way that basically means everyone should be their slaves.

Stand against Tyrants and Tyranny!

Just to be clear I hold from the Oral and Written Law of Moses very highly, but I do not think the people that claim to teach it are honest. And the proof is in the pudding. Just compare their actions -not their words with the Law of the Torah and you will see there is no correspondence.

Of course if we were talking about the great Litvak Yeshivas, like Ponovitch or Brisk I would not say this. But the real authentic yeshivas are the exceptions not the rule. In the authentic yeshivas people certainly learn true virtue.--at least to the degree that virtue is teachable.

r87 mp3  r87 midi  r87 nwc

This might need a lot of work. I had to finish it fast because of all the crazy interruptions in the place I am staying. I was afraid if I do not finish it fast, it would not get finished at all. Still it seems to have some merit and I hope God grants to me some idea of how to edit it.