28.11.16
Musar and Gemara [Talmud].
The constant barrage of propaganda via the media in the USA definitely gets to a person whether he likes it or not. There is an effect.
It was this exact thing that Reb Israel Salanter wanted to turn around for the good. That is he saw constant exposure to a certain social meme has an inevitable effect. He saw this in Reb Josef of Salant (not to be confused with Reb Shmuel of Salant) who was a great tzadik, and had come to his level by means of learning Musar [Medieval Ethics].
What I recommend thus is Musar and Gemara [Talmud].
I also have a view that prophecy ended after the first temple was destroyed. Also that Ravina and Rav Ashi were סוף הוראה the end of the period when a Halachic decision could be made. These are both statements from the Talmud itself. That is modern efforts to claim these gifts are illegitimate. [This is the reason why later halacha books try to prove their point from the Talmud. Because רבינא ורב אשי סוף הוראה ]
There are lots of ways that people try to claim these gifts for themselves but we already know from the Talmud to ignore them. What ever signs and wonders they show are from the Sitra Achra-the Dark Side.
Anyone who has studied cults to any considerable degree will note that the
founders of such groups will not go very far in increasing
their membership by making ordinary or every day claims-they must promise
something extraordinary.
The trouble is the dark side has not just managed to worm its way into the religious world but rather to take it over completely. The religious teachers all teach Torah of the Dark Side. If one really wants to be loyal to Torah the worst thing is to have anything to do with the religious with their false religiosity.
Not only that but we know from toxo-plasmosis that there are parasites that effect one's mind. Just hanging out with the religious induces insanity. That is if you do not have an authentic Litvak yeshiva in town there is then no other option but to learn at home. But one must avoid the religious at all cost.
[I would not have the gumption to mention this if not for the fact that the daughter of Bava Sali thought that I have to ability to say things that would be listened to. Therefore I have to obligation to say the truth even though it is uncomfortable for people to hear it.]
Since it is difficult to find a place of authentic Torah, the best thing is to get your own: Avi Ezri of Rav Shach.
It was this exact thing that Reb Israel Salanter wanted to turn around for the good. That is he saw constant exposure to a certain social meme has an inevitable effect. He saw this in Reb Josef of Salant (not to be confused with Reb Shmuel of Salant) who was a great tzadik, and had come to his level by means of learning Musar [Medieval Ethics].
What I recommend thus is Musar and Gemara [Talmud].
I also have a view that prophecy ended after the first temple was destroyed. Also that Ravina and Rav Ashi were סוף הוראה the end of the period when a Halachic decision could be made. These are both statements from the Talmud itself. That is modern efforts to claim these gifts are illegitimate. [This is the reason why later halacha books try to prove their point from the Talmud. Because רבינא ורב אשי סוף הוראה ]
There are lots of ways that people try to claim these gifts for themselves but we already know from the Talmud to ignore them. What ever signs and wonders they show are from the Sitra Achra-the Dark Side.
Anyone who has studied cults to any considerable degree will note that the
founders of such groups will not go very far in increasing
their membership by making ordinary or every day claims-they must promise
something extraordinary.
The trouble is the dark side has not just managed to worm its way into the religious world but rather to take it over completely. The religious teachers all teach Torah of the Dark Side. If one really wants to be loyal to Torah the worst thing is to have anything to do with the religious with their false religiosity.
Not only that but we know from toxo-plasmosis that there are parasites that effect one's mind. Just hanging out with the religious induces insanity. That is if you do not have an authentic Litvak yeshiva in town there is then no other option but to learn at home. But one must avoid the religious at all cost.
[I would not have the gumption to mention this if not for the fact that the daughter of Bava Sali thought that I have to ability to say things that would be listened to. Therefore I have to obligation to say the truth even though it is uncomfortable for people to hear it.]
Since it is difficult to find a place of authentic Torah, the best thing is to get your own: Avi Ezri of Rav Shach.
27.11.16
It is not that halacha is wrong but that it is highly sensitive to initial conditions.
Learning Torah and trusting in God seem to me to be the two major principles that I transgressed in my personal life. I had been at the Mir yeshiva in NY and at one point decided to make aliya to Israel. Not a bad decision in itself but diminished learning Torah to a vast extent. Another bad decision was to leave Israel based on the idea of the Rav of Satmar that to be part of IDF was the prime sin of all sins. This was and still is to a large extent the basic doctrine of the Ultra Orthodox. But the choice to leave Israel also was based on the idea of keeping Halacha. That is the Halacha that one should work for a living an not be learning and depending on charity [a kollel check which is charity pure and simple ,unless you say you are learning Torah to make money in which case it is even worse.]
From here I learned one can do what the Halacah says and still be doing a terrible sin. That is why learning Torah is the main thing not halacah--because halacha can be and often is highly misleading and can lead to terrible evil. It is not that halacha is wrong but that it is highly sensitive to initial conditions. That is it depends on the Gemara itself. It depends on the actual state of affairs. Without perfect knowledge of these two things it can be the exact opposite of what the Torah requires. [It certainly does not depend on what people say. ]
The trouble seems to be with what Reb Nachman called Torah scholars that are demons. שדיים יהודאיים which he brings from the Zohar. That is most of the people that supposedly represent the holy Torah are actually demons in human form. They may claim to be teaching Torah, but in fact are teaching the Torah of the Sitra achra. the dark side. For this reason I have tried to make it a point to emphasize going and learning Torah only from authentic Lithuanian kinds of yeshivas.
[The whole subject of Torah scholars that are demons and get their powers from the dark side is actually gone into by the Ari Isaac Luria to some degree. But Reb Nachman brings out the point in a way that you can't miss it. Sadly the entire religious world has missed the point, and still follow their leaders who are in fact demons in human form. The Gra tried to warn people. Rav Shach tried to warn people. But it is like my brother said hen he would try to warn people about a bad business deal. No one ever listens--without exception. They always make some kind of excuse. And then they fall.]
From here I learned one can do what the Halacah says and still be doing a terrible sin. That is why learning Torah is the main thing not halacah--because halacha can be and often is highly misleading and can lead to terrible evil. It is not that halacha is wrong but that it is highly sensitive to initial conditions. That is it depends on the Gemara itself. It depends on the actual state of affairs. Without perfect knowledge of these two things it can be the exact opposite of what the Torah requires. [It certainly does not depend on what people say. ]
The trouble seems to be with what Reb Nachman called Torah scholars that are demons. שדיים יהודאיים which he brings from the Zohar. That is most of the people that supposedly represent the holy Torah are actually demons in human form. They may claim to be teaching Torah, but in fact are teaching the Torah of the Sitra achra. the dark side. For this reason I have tried to make it a point to emphasize going and learning Torah only from authentic Lithuanian kinds of yeshivas.
[The whole subject of Torah scholars that are demons and get their powers from the dark side is actually gone into by the Ari Isaac Luria to some degree. But Reb Nachman brings out the point in a way that you can't miss it. Sadly the entire religious world has missed the point, and still follow their leaders who are in fact demons in human form. The Gra tried to warn people. Rav Shach tried to warn people. But it is like my brother said hen he would try to warn people about a bad business deal. No one ever listens--without exception. They always make some kind of excuse. And then they fall.]
Saadia Gaon, Rambam, John Locke, Kant, Schopenhauer, Kelley Ross.
Mainly the Left is based loosely on Rousseau, Hegel, Freud, Marx, Nietzsche. Also it is highly connected with existentialism. These all seem to me to be wrong turns. It once was considered the most sensible.
The better approach seems to me to be based on Saadia Gaon, Rambam, John Locke, Kant, Schopenhauer, Kelley Ross.
I perhaps should go into what is wrong with the Leftist philosophers but the critiques are well known.
I do not see what I could possibly add to the discussion except to say that the emphasis in learning and education ought to be shifted away from second rate philosophers to first rate philosophers. Why concentrate on what is wrong and flawed?
[To go into what is wrong with Nietzsche in short: moral values have prima facie validity. To defeat moral values you would have to have starting principles that have more initial plausibility. That is let's say you have a principle A that seems sort of OK. From A is implied B. Then if B makes no sense then you would have to reject A. All leftist philosophers start from some A that sounds sort of OK. They come up with something nice sounding but which has very little initial plausibility, but being a naive first year college student you really do not have the intellectual power to disagree. Then from A is deduced some B like all morality is relative. Since B has no initial plausibility it would require some strong A to prove it. Just the opposite "not B" has more prima facie plausibility than A.] [What is wrong with Post Modernism is this: Frege wanted to expand the a priori. This was easily defeated. But then people took this defeat to mean there is no a priori. The problem was תפסת מרובה לא תפסת. Don't bit off more than you can chew. Do not try to prove too much.]
The better approach seems to me to be based on Saadia Gaon, Rambam, John Locke, Kant, Schopenhauer, Kelley Ross.
I perhaps should go into what is wrong with the Leftist philosophers but the critiques are well known.
I do not see what I could possibly add to the discussion except to say that the emphasis in learning and education ought to be shifted away from second rate philosophers to first rate philosophers. Why concentrate on what is wrong and flawed?
[To go into what is wrong with Nietzsche in short: moral values have prima facie validity. To defeat moral values you would have to have starting principles that have more initial plausibility. That is let's say you have a principle A that seems sort of OK. From A is implied B. Then if B makes no sense then you would have to reject A. All leftist philosophers start from some A that sounds sort of OK. They come up with something nice sounding but which has very little initial plausibility, but being a naive first year college student you really do not have the intellectual power to disagree. Then from A is deduced some B like all morality is relative. Since B has no initial plausibility it would require some strong A to prove it. Just the opposite "not B" has more prima facie plausibility than A.] [What is wrong with Post Modernism is this: Frege wanted to expand the a priori. This was easily defeated. But then people took this defeat to mean there is no a priori. The problem was תפסת מרובה לא תפסת. Don't bit off more than you can chew. Do not try to prove too much.]
24.11.16
Rambam
With the Rambam there is a kind of four fold program. The Oral Law, the Written Law of Moses, Physics of Aristotle and the Metaphysics of Aristotle. I would like to say that this is only an introduction. That is, I think the Rambam would agree that after one has finished the Mishne Torah of the Rambam (which he held contained the Oral Torah) that after that he should spend his time on Gemara, Modern Physics, and Metaphysics as it was developed later by Kant.
The Rambam did hold his book the Mishna Torah is sufficient to know the Oral Torah, however look in the "Laws of Talmud Torah" where he explains that one divides his day into three parts, and one is for deepening one's understanding of the Oral Law, and also the subjects that he briefly touched on in the beginning of Mishne Torah which are called ''Pardes'' and are in fact the areas of Physics and Metaphysics.[He goes into more detail in the Guide.]
If one has a authentic Litvak yeshiva in his area, he should definitely go there to learn Torah,-- especially with a learning partner. But if not, the best thing is to make one's own space into a place of Torah.
I also am a big fan of speed reading in Torah. That is-- to say the words and to go on. That is to have a session in Gemara, Rashi Tosphot in such a way that he will eventually finish the whole Oral Law i.e. the two Talmuds, Tosephta, Sifra, Sifri, and the Midrashim. What one does not understand here, they will remind him of in the next world. I am also a big fan of Rav Shach and Reb Israel Salanter, and thus I believe that everyone should go through the entire Avi Ezri of Rav Shach at least once, and all the books of the disciples of Reb Israel Salanter on Torah Ethics (plus the books of Musar of Rav Yaakov Abuchatzeira the grandfather of Bava Sali).
[To understand the Rambam I also think it is important to learn the books and letters of his son, Reb Avraham, and of course the very important Guide for the Perplexed. Some people are so perplexed they do not even know they need the Guide. Reb Avraham Abulafia wrote that the secret of the final redemption is contained in the first forty chapters of the Guide.
In case it is not clear what I was saying: The Mishne Torah is good as an introduction to Torah, but it is a terrible idea to decide any halacha without knowledge of the Gemara and the source of the halacha as the Mahrasha and Maharshal wrote and many others.
[As for learning Halacha as they do in Authentic Litvak Yeshivas for 45 minutes in the morning my basic feeling is to get through the entire Tur, Beit Yoseph, and Bach. I consider that the prime Halacha book. Though I admit the Aruch HaShulchan is a close second.] [For the halacha session in the morning I recommend one of three things: (3) Rambam Keseph Mishna, (2) Tur, Beit Yoseph (3) Shulchan Aruch with the Beer Hetev.
You can bring support to this idea of the Rambam from the LM Vol II. chapter 12 of Reb Nachman. This idea is this :Even though God's glory fills the whole world there are areas where his glory does not reach. מקומות המטונפים as it says in a verse וכבודי לאחר לא אתן. But since nothing can exist without God's making it exist every second how can those places exist? Answer: They get there life force from the מאמר הסתום. That is in Genesis it says for each act of creation He said" The tenth statement is the very first statement In the beginning God created heaven and earth. That is the highest statement corresponding to the sephirah of Keter the crown. So when one turn to God from those places where God's glory is not apparent he gets sustenance from the highest level of the Crown and brings up all the fallen souls.
There are many other places in the LM where you could bring support to the Rambam like what Reb Nachman says about stories. This is to be expected because the thought of the Rambam and Reb Nachman are in general highly correlated.
The Rambam did hold his book the Mishna Torah is sufficient to know the Oral Torah, however look in the "Laws of Talmud Torah" where he explains that one divides his day into three parts, and one is for deepening one's understanding of the Oral Law, and also the subjects that he briefly touched on in the beginning of Mishne Torah which are called ''Pardes'' and are in fact the areas of Physics and Metaphysics.[He goes into more detail in the Guide.]
If one has a authentic Litvak yeshiva in his area, he should definitely go there to learn Torah,-- especially with a learning partner. But if not, the best thing is to make one's own space into a place of Torah.
I also am a big fan of speed reading in Torah. That is-- to say the words and to go on. That is to have a session in Gemara, Rashi Tosphot in such a way that he will eventually finish the whole Oral Law i.e. the two Talmuds, Tosephta, Sifra, Sifri, and the Midrashim. What one does not understand here, they will remind him of in the next world. I am also a big fan of Rav Shach and Reb Israel Salanter, and thus I believe that everyone should go through the entire Avi Ezri of Rav Shach at least once, and all the books of the disciples of Reb Israel Salanter on Torah Ethics (plus the books of Musar of Rav Yaakov Abuchatzeira the grandfather of Bava Sali).
[To understand the Rambam I also think it is important to learn the books and letters of his son, Reb Avraham, and of course the very important Guide for the Perplexed. Some people are so perplexed they do not even know they need the Guide. Reb Avraham Abulafia wrote that the secret of the final redemption is contained in the first forty chapters of the Guide.
In case it is not clear what I was saying: The Mishne Torah is good as an introduction to Torah, but it is a terrible idea to decide any halacha without knowledge of the Gemara and the source of the halacha as the Mahrasha and Maharshal wrote and many others.
[As for learning Halacha as they do in Authentic Litvak Yeshivas for 45 minutes in the morning my basic feeling is to get through the entire Tur, Beit Yoseph, and Bach. I consider that the prime Halacha book. Though I admit the Aruch HaShulchan is a close second.] [For the halacha session in the morning I recommend one of three things: (3) Rambam Keseph Mishna, (2) Tur, Beit Yoseph (3) Shulchan Aruch with the Beer Hetev.
You can bring support to this idea of the Rambam from the LM Vol II. chapter 12 of Reb Nachman. This idea is this :Even though God's glory fills the whole world there are areas where his glory does not reach. מקומות המטונפים as it says in a verse וכבודי לאחר לא אתן. But since nothing can exist without God's making it exist every second how can those places exist? Answer: They get there life force from the מאמר הסתום. That is in Genesis it says for each act of creation He said" The tenth statement is the very first statement In the beginning God created heaven and earth. That is the highest statement corresponding to the sephirah of Keter the crown. So when one turn to God from those places where God's glory is not apparent he gets sustenance from the highest level of the Crown and brings up all the fallen souls.
There are many other places in the LM where you could bring support to the Rambam like what Reb Nachman says about stories. This is to be expected because the thought of the Rambam and Reb Nachman are in general highly correlated.
Oral and Written Law, plus Physics [Modern] and Metaphysics [of Aristotle].
Torah is not about mystical experience. However as a result of true attachment with God one can have as a side thing the experience of oneness with God. Devekut.
But it is not experience -it is a kind of knowledge and sense of meaning. It is what I felt in learning Torah, and it certainly is what learning Torah is all about. Yet, it is a kind of thing which has a close connection with morality. And it is on one hand highly powerful. It is the meaning of life. It is certainly not mystical experience.
This area of value is on one hand the most powerful thing in the world and in any person's life, and yet the most delicate and sensitive and can be destroyed simply by the slightest whisper.
The approach of the Rambam --to learn the Oral and Written Law, plus Physics [Modern] and Metaphysics [of Aristotle]. There I seek the luminosity and numinous value that is hidden in the ten statements of Creation in which the light of Torah is hidden.
[That is the Rambam himself saw that what people consider Torah alone is not enough to come to what the Torah requires of man.]
Faith plus reason had early beginnings even before the middle ages-with Saadia Gaon.
Faith in the wise is one of the 48 ways the Torah is acquired in Pirkei Avot. The question is that of interpretation. What does the Torah mean? And who has the right to interpret it? The Talmud to a large degree has settled this question. "Divine Spirit" is not the way to interpret the Torah. Only rigorous painstaking reason as we see in the Talmud and Tosphot.
The influence of Protestantism however is very apparent nowadays that people think they have the right to interpret the Torah on their own. This has very terrible implications. (1) Divine spirit is claimed as a guide which in practice means to ignore what the Torah actually says. (2) People claim authority though in fact ignorant of Torah.
But it is not experience -it is a kind of knowledge and sense of meaning. It is what I felt in learning Torah, and it certainly is what learning Torah is all about. Yet, it is a kind of thing which has a close connection with morality. And it is on one hand highly powerful. It is the meaning of life. It is certainly not mystical experience.
This area of value is on one hand the most powerful thing in the world and in any person's life, and yet the most delicate and sensitive and can be destroyed simply by the slightest whisper.
The approach of the Rambam --to learn the Oral and Written Law, plus Physics [Modern] and Metaphysics [of Aristotle]. There I seek the luminosity and numinous value that is hidden in the ten statements of Creation in which the light of Torah is hidden.
[That is the Rambam himself saw that what people consider Torah alone is not enough to come to what the Torah requires of man.]
Faith plus reason had early beginnings even before the middle ages-with Saadia Gaon.
Faith in the wise is one of the 48 ways the Torah is acquired in Pirkei Avot. The question is that of interpretation. What does the Torah mean? And who has the right to interpret it? The Talmud to a large degree has settled this question. "Divine Spirit" is not the way to interpret the Torah. Only rigorous painstaking reason as we see in the Talmud and Tosphot.
The influence of Protestantism however is very apparent nowadays that people think they have the right to interpret the Torah on their own. This has very terrible implications. (1) Divine spirit is claimed as a guide which in practice means to ignore what the Torah actually says. (2) People claim authority though in fact ignorant of Torah.
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