The Hafetz Haim concerning before a blind person do not place a stumbling block

Can a person transgress לפני עור (before a blind person  do not place a stumbling block.) an infinite number of times? The Hafetz Haim brings down from the gemara in Bava Metzia that a borrower does transgress this because if he would not borrow then the lender would not have anyone to transgress not to take interest. The Hafetz Haim then applies this to slander. If one would not listen to it then the one who says it would have no one to talk to. But then the talker causes the listener to transgress לפני עור(before a blind person ...). So he is transgressing לפני לפני עור(before before a blind person ). Now the listener is causing the speaker to transgress לפני לפני עור (before before a blind person... ) so he transgresses לפני לפני לפני עור (before before before a blind person ...) .

So by speaking slander [לשון הרע] just one time one transgress לפני עור an infinite number of times! One for causing the person to hear lashon hara. And once for causing him to transgress before a blind person. And once for causing him to transgress causing the listener to transgress before before a blind person...

[I think I must have thought of this years ago. But just today I was borrowing the book Hafez Haim and thought of this again.]

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Does a person transgress לפני עור  an infinite number of times by speaking לשון הרע once? The חפץ חיים brings down from the גמרא in בבא מציעא that a borrower does transgress this. The reason is this. If the borrower would not borrow, then the lender would not have anyone to transgress not to take interest. The חפץ חיים then applies this to slander. If one would not listen to it, then the speaker would have no one to talk to. But then the speaker causes the listener to transgress לפני עור. So he is transgressing לפני לפני עור. Now the listener is causing the speaker to transgress לפני לפני עור, so he transgresses לפני לפני לפני עור. So by speaking לשון הרע just one time, one transgress לפני עור an infinite number of times! One for causing the person to hear לשון הרע. And once for causing him to transgress לפני עור. And once for causing him to transgress causing the listener to transgress לפמי לפני עור...

האם אדם עובר על לפני עור מספר אינסופי פעמים על ידי דיבור אחד של לשון הרע? החפץ החיים מביא  מן הגמרא בבא מציעא  שהלווה עובר על זה. הסיבה היא זו. אם הלווה לא היה לווה, אז המלווה לא היה לאף אחד  לקחת ממנו ריבית. החפץ חיים אז מחיל זו על לשון הרע. אם אחד לא יקשיב לו, אז הדובר לא יהיה עם מי לדבר. אבל אז הדובר גורם למאזין להפר לפני העור.  עכשיו המאזין הגורם שהדובר עובר על לפני לפני עור, כך שהוא עובר לפני לפני לפני עור. אז על ידי דיבור לשון הרע רק פעם אחת, אחד עובר על לפני עור מספר אינסופי של פעמים!

Music for the Glory of God [all in midi format.]

V-13 A Major Midi file (v13 nwc )  V-21 D Major (v21 nwc)  V-14 F Major ("nwc) V-20 E Flat major (" nwc)

V-22 G Minor ("nwc) V-23 A Major (" nwc) V-24  ("nwc)

V-25 D Major (v25 nwc)

V-26 A Minor (v26 nwc) V-27 G Minor (v27 nwc)

V-28 E Minor    (V-28 nwc)

 V-29 G Major  (V-29 nwc) V-30 F Major (V-30 nwc)

V-33   (v-33 nwc)  V-34 (v-34 nwc)

Quantum Reality. So Kant was right? Time is just a way to measure things?

So Kant was right? Time is just a way to measure things?

[Computer overheats quickly so I can not see the whole thing--but I got the idea.]

Nearly a hundred years ago there was a really bitter debate about the right interpretation of Kant. There was the Marburg school and opposed to it was Leonard Nelson  That is the Kant-Fries School.. I have to admit I think that Nelson was right but the bitterness of the debate surprises me,
The simplest way to understand it is the concept of immediate non intuitive knowledge.That is things that you know not through any thing but direct awareness. And also not through the senses.
My own feeling about this is more or less  is this: I looked at the Kant Fries web site of Kelley Ross and was astonished at his insights--so I more or less decide to follow that point of view even though other Kantian school also had some good points.

You might wonder what is the need for Kant? After all Musar [Medieval Ethics ] is already a perfectly good synthesis between Torah and Plato/Aristotle. The reason is mainly because of some good points that were raised by Descartes that no one answered very well until the Kant Fries approach came along.

Search for Certainty

Billington in his Fire in the Minds of Men mentions the visceral search for certainty after the French revolution. And draws parallels from that period to the 1960's. 

To me it seems the world nowadays is also in this search for certainty mode.

My feeling about this is that one should learn  Math and Physics  and hard core  natural sciences if one is in search for certainly and a stable frame of reference. Also the Avi Ezri of Rav Shach and the Musar of the disciples of Rav Israel Salanter.

{The search for certainty means of course a world view that encompasses everything. And though Musar [the Ethics of the Middle Ages] does not openly present a philosophical world view but still it is built on a synthesis of neo Platonic thought and the Gemara. And that seems to me to be about the bet thing out there.]
The fact that Medieval thought was a synthesis of Plato, Aristotle and Plotinus contributed highly to the advance of Western Civilization.

And least you say that Physics and Rav Shach are hard, let me just say you need to simply say the words and go on.  And also to lean in small segments. That is just set out to do one page. Then when you have finished put in a place marker and the next day start from where you left off.

But how can we tell nowadays what other lunatic ideas have taken over our minds?

Toxo Plasmosis is a parasite that causes the mouse to think the cat is attractive.
Dr Sapolsky  from Stanford asks in the video where he talks about this "Who knows what else is out there?"

You see a similar things with wasps and caterpillars. It is not just that the wasp uses the caterpillar's body as a hot house for its eggs, but that the mind of the caterpillar is taken over as you can see in this article.

This brings to the larger problem of the fact that the Dark Side can take over people's minds. People can become possessed by forces not of their own making.

[The force of the Dark Side I got an impression about by reading about the many revolutionary movements of the 1800's. The main idea there was that just by throwing out the "System", and all authority, everything would somehow become peachy. People would just work for altruistic reasons. There would never be a worker who slacked off. Now it is easy to see the lunacy of the political movements of the 1800's. But how can we tell nowadays what other lunatic ideas have taken over our minds?

For this reason it is a good idea to have a simple and small set of principles that one sticks with at all cost --principles that can protect one from the Dark Side. [e.g., the Ten Commandments].

medieval Musar [Ethics]

In medieval Musar [Ethics] learning Torah is not considered equal to learning the wonders of God (פלאי הבורא), as you can see in Obligations of the Heart חובות לבבות in  שער חשבון הנפש. In particular in number 23 which is different from number 24. 23 is about the wonders of God and 24 is about learning Torah.
This is seen in almost all Musar books from the Middle Ages.
The idea I think is that inside of the Work of Creation is hidden Torah. [This you can see in the writings of the Ari and also Rav Nahman of Breslov in his book vol. II:78. In fact, this comes up often in the writings Rav Nahman of Breslov.]

After the Enlightenment  this aspect of Torah was lost or forgotten. Thus almost all Musar books written after the Middle Ages denigrate all secular learning. Some just put it on a low level or even barely permissible down to downright forbidden.

The reason I think this is important is that I believe there are aspects of Torah that are hidden in the work of Creation that one misses if he learns only what is the standard fare of the Oral and Written Law.

Thus my basic impression of a proper learning schedule is (1) to learn the Avi Ezri of Rav Shach and or Gemara with Tosphot. (2) Physics/Math. (3) Musar/ Ethics.