recent issues of homosexuality

The reason I have not commented on the the recent issues of homosexuality is that I learned the tractates on "Women" too long ago to remember much that could add any clarity. I would think that anyone who wants to understand the issues ought to open up any of the major tractates on Women (note 2) like Ketuboth or Yevamoth?

I thought it should be needless to say that it is a יהרג ואל יעבור (Do not do it even at the cost of your own life) kind of prohibition.(note 2) But for some reason it seems a lot of people have forgotten this. (That is it is in the category of the three kinds of things one must not do even at the expense of losing one's life.) גילוי עריות שפיכות דמים עבודה זרה. they are idolatry, murder, and the sexual relations brought down in Leviticus 18 and 20. [the reason for two chapters on sexual sin is you need a verse for prohibition and another for punishment. most of the sexual sins there are about close relatives and all those get the death penalty including homosexuality. an exception is sex with a  woman during her period up until even days and then she goes into a natural body of water. the punishment there is not death but 39 lashes. ]
Perhaps the confusion about these issues is a result of people not learning enough Gemara [Talmud].

But to some degree I can understand why people avoid the religious world where Talmud is learned. There is simply too much idolatry there.
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note 1 a sixth of the Mishna deals with marriage and sexual issues and it is called "Women".

note 2. An example of this kind of prohibition is murder. That means that if someone tells you to murder someone else, or else be killed yourself, you must not murder -even if it costs you your own life. This applies also to idolatry. If you are being forced to do idolatry, or sacrifice your own life, you must not do idolatry even at that ultimate cost. This applies also to the sexual relations of Leviticus 18 and 20. So in our example if someone says to you, "You must have homosexual sex or we will kill you," you must allow yourself to be killed because that is in the category of  עריות.

weed

"There are numerous active ingredients in marijuana, the primary being the psychoactive molecules tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), which have not well-understood cascading physiological and psychological effects, but amongst them are a deleterious influence on behavior, memory loss, diminution of will-power, mood changes, paranoia, hallucinations, raised heart rate and blood pressure, as well as a strong link to psychosis, especially schizophrenia, primarily amongst younger users.

There is its alleged gateway effect to other “harder” drugs, while no one quite knows how long it resides in the body, where it accumulates in the fatty (lipid) tissue of the brain. And the stuff nowadays is significantly more potent than what was available a half-century ago, and is increasingly so. The “munchies” are the least of our worries."

"Come out here; I'm being killed out here," he screams.

Timothy Treadwell is a good lesson about how it happens that I and others can do stupid things for a long time and somehow things seems OK. Then one day the whole thing explodes in your face.

He thought he had a good working friendship with bears. And for a long time it seemed he did. He got away with it for an unusual amount of time. But when one does dumb things, eventually it catches up with him.

Around noon on Sunday, October 5, 2003, Treadwell spoke with an associate in Malibu, California, by satellite phone; Treadwell mentioned no problems with any bears. The next day, October 6, Willy Fulton, a Kodiak air taxi pilot, arrived at Treadwell and Huguenard's campsite to pick them up but found the area abandoned, except for a bear, and contacted the local park rangers. The couple's mangled remains were discovered quickly upon investigation. Treadwell's disfigured head, partial spine, and right forearm and hand, with his wristwatch still on, were recovered a short distance from the camp. Huguenard's partial remains were found next to the torn and collapsed tents, partially buried in a mound of twigs and dirt. A large male grizzly (tagged Bear 141) protecting the campsite was killed by park rangers during their attempt to retrieve the bodies. A second adolescent bear was also killed a short time later, when it charged the park rangers. An on-site necropsy of Bear 141 revealed human body parts such as fingers and limbs. The younger bear was consumed by other animals before it could be necropsied.^{[citation needed]} In the 85-year history of Katmai National Park, this was the first known incident of a person being killed by a bear.^[12]

A video camera was recovered at the site that proved to have been operating during the attack, but police said that the six-minute tape contained only voices and cries as a brown bear mauled Treadwell to death The tape begins with Treadwell yelling that he is being attacked. "Come out here; I'm being killed out here," he screams. ^[13]That the tape contained only sound led troopers to believe the attack might have happened while the camera was stuffed in a duffel bag or during the dark of night. In Grizzly Man,^[2] filmmaker Herzog claims that the lens cap of the camera was left on, suggesting that Treadwell and Huguenard were in the process of setting up for another video sequence when the attack happened. The camera had been turned on just before the attack, presumably by sound activation, but the camera recorded only six minutes of audio before running out of tape. This, however, was enough time to record the bear's initial attack on Treadwell and his agonized screams, its retreat after Huguenard tells Treadwell to play dead and when she attacked it and its return to carry Treadwell off into the forest.^[5][12]

fine line of keeping Torah and learning Torah but avoiding the insane religious world.

It is hard to know how to walk to fine line of keeping Torah and learning Torah but avoiding the insane religious world. Probably the best thing is to learn Torah at home. There is something quite definitely "off" in the religious world.

What is exactly the issue I am not sure of. I was discussing this with David Bronson in Uman after he first got there. We discussed this exact issue for about an hour for a few days in a row and came to no conclusion. At that point he made a suggestion that instead of wasting our time on seems to be an unsolvable problem let's sit and learn gemara. [Talmud]

And that is what we did for a few years until I returned to Israel for a year and a half. That is from where my book on Bava Metzia came from.  Then I went back to Uman for Rosh Hashanah and stayed again for an extended period --and that is from where the second book on Shas came from.

But that does not mean the original problem has been solved. The religious world is still just as insane and in fact getting much worse at an exponential rate.

The issue is hard for me even to attempt to approach. But my basic thinking is that it is a matter of  balance. That is to learn and keep Torah is important but with balance.  Not the insane way the religious world does it.

There is something nowadays that is odd when it comes to marriage.

I wish some marriages were stronger nowadays. But to get to that point it is important to keep definitions accurate.

Adultery ניאוף is sex with a married woman. See Leviticus 20:10 when it defines adultery as sex with a married woman.


 Sex outside of marriage is mentioned in Exodus where it says if one has sex with a unmarried girl he must marry her unless her father objects. If it would be adultery then both would get the death penalty as it says in Leviticus.  זנות prostitution is a different issue. It is sex for money. However there is the case of a woman who is specifically for one man but not married . That is a girl friend. This is allowed in the Old Testament. That is פלגש Concubine.
The Patriarchs had girl friends. And also Caleb Ben Yephuna the friend of Joshua also[Chronicles I 2:46] [The Gra brings the example of Caleb.]
To argue that all sex outside marriage is adultery is not accurate.

In the Shulhan Aruch of Rav Joseph Karo is brought the debate between the Rambam against most other Rishonim. The Rambam says what you find in the Old Testament refers to kings. But that is hard to defend in the case of Caleb ben Yephuna. The Ramban wrote that more authentic copies of the Rambam have that the girl friend is allowed.

There is something nowadays that is odd when it comes to marriage. Fragile, yet like being in an oven. For previous generations I can see it was the basis of everything. But nowadays it is like soggy toast.

I think it is fine to depend on the opinions of the vast majority of Rishonim that hold a girl friend is permissible, But I admit I never did any deep learning in this subject.

the philosophers I think are the most important

Even though I mentioned a few days ago the philosophers I think are the most important I wanted to add a few that I have had great benefit from.
The important ones: Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, Reid, Kant, L. Nelson.

But to add to that list I want to mention Rav Nahman from Uman who does a very good job in defending faith (not saying I agree with everything there, but his insights are amazing). Also Steven Dutch, Kelley Ross (Friesian School), Michael Huemer, the Rambam's Guide and also David Hartman's book on the Rambam, The Madragat HaAdam by Joseph Horvitz from Navardok, and Isaac Blazer's the Light of Israel, the Nefesh HaHaim by Rav Haim from Voloshin.

These are not all exactly philosophy but more like books that deal with world view issues.


[My basic world view orientation you can see is Neo Platonic. That should  clear from the top list. But also the bottom list. Jewish thought --especially Musar of the Middle Ages and also Rav Nahman are all thoroughly Neo Platonic--even when they are not aware of it.

My philosophical bent was apparent even to my peers in high school. But to repeat what I have said before, my interest is in finding the Truth, not in philosophy per se. Thus after I found the school of though called the Kant Fries School, I am basically satisfied and feel free to learn Gemara, the Avi Ezri and and Math. I do feel a need to keep searching for philosophical problems.

[If at least Leonard Nelson was in English I might spend more time of him.]

Progress in Math and Physics by just saying the words

It is known that the way to learn Torah in the Talmud is by saying the words. Not just reading them. They bring this from a verse חיים הם למוצאיהם אל תקרי למוצאיהם אלא למוציאיהם That is for the sages to discover this idea they add a yod to the word "to them that find them" To make it into to them that say them with their mouths.
[The verse is "It is  life to those that find it" in proverbs." The hint is "It is life to them that say it"

Once I discovered the opinion of the Rambam about Physics and Metaphysics being part of the mitzvah to learn Torah, I simply applied the idea of saying the words to Math and Physics also. [In terms of Metaphysics however I never really found a text that I could use in the same way.]

[I had seen this opinion of the Rambam hinted at plenty of times in Medieval Musar but I never really accepted it for a few reasons-. One was I was involved in Torah learning at the Mir in NY and I really did not want to hear anything about "secular subjects". But after some time, I began to see the point of the Rambam.]
I am not saying this will make you a genius in math, but I have found it to be very helpful. I certainly made more progress in math and Physics by just saying the words a in order and going on than I would have by my previous approach which was "This is too hard for me so I might as well drop it and try something else." Needless to say this later approach did not get me very far. So before you ridicule this approach of (1) saying the words approach and going on in order until you finish the book,--just think of how much progress people make in the other way (2)"This is too hard so I might as well drop it".


In the "Guide" itself the benefit the Rambam see in both Physics and Metaphysics is Love and Fear of God.  Knowledge in these areas creates a different kind of person.

Furthermore if you look at the Musar book אור צפון Hidden Light by a disciple of Rav Israel Salanter you will see that Love and Fear of God internally are not always visible or perhaps never viable externally,

Rav Nahman of Breslov and Uman also mentioned this important approach--saying the words and going on.--along with a lot of other great advice.