The Sitra Achra [Dark Side] seems to be part and parcel of the religious world.  The reason I think is some idea that Rav Nahman brings סביב רשעים יתהלכון [psalms 77]"The wicked go round about". That is,--where ever there is holines the Dark Side tries to get in. This makes it hard for me to find anywhere I can sit and learn. To some degree I feel that if people had listened to the Gra and Rav Shach this problem would not be here. But also I realize that people will often choose evil even when great tzadikim like the Gra warn correctly.

Wyat Earp and the OK Coral. I think the Clantons were trying to draw the Earps into a trap.

There are probably experts out there that know better than I. But I want to suggest that there is some aspect of the shootout at the OK Coral that I find hard to understand.
Was it so hard to find the Earps? What in the world were the Clantons and McLaurys doing around Fremont Street? They certainly were not looking for the Earps. Rather, what seems to me is that they were trying to draw the Earps into a trap. That is why one fellow came up to them while there were at Allen Street and 4th and told them the Clantons were at the OK Coral. They were hoping the Earps and Doc Holiday would walk straight to the OK Coral from where they stood,  and when their back were turned to start shooting. But in an unexpected way, the Earps instead turned up to Fremont and 4th Street and started walking down Fremont beyond the back entrance of the OK Coral, and then  they saw the Clantons standing around that empty lot besides the photography studio. [They were obviously waiting for the Earps. They certainly were not going around looking for anyone!]

This is also I think the cause of Behan to try and stop them thinking that the Clantons plans had gone haywire.

One point I would like to bring out is that the Earps were not hard to find. Vigil was the Sheriff, and his two brothers were his deputies.

[It seems clear to me that Wyat Earp suspected a trap, and thus walked up the opposite way.]

way of learning of Rav Nahman

The way of learning of Rav Nahman was to say the words and to go on. And not to do any review until one has finished the book one is learning until he or she has finished it. Then to review again and again. This comes up in the Conversations of Rav Nahman 76. But it is also brought in his Magnum Opus {the LeM}.
I suggest applying this to things that are beyond the general accepted Torah sessions. --To include Physics and Mathematics. The reason I say this is more or less based on the Musar book The Obligations of the Heart and the Rambam. These Rishonim saw in natural science and Metaphysics an imperative. To the Rambam, Physics and Metaphysics are included in the commandments to love and fear God.
However, it is true that most people that are good in these subjects have IQs that are way beyond us regular people. So my point here is not that everyone can be a genius at these subjects-- which I realize are difficult. It is rather that everyone has access to these subjects --even though they might think that they do not. And these access is through this path of learning fast--saying the words in order as fast as possible and going on to the end of the book--and then tart again.     

[In Far Rockaway, Rav Freifeld emphasized review of every chapter 10 times,- but I found that did not work very well for me. I whittled it down to review twice of every paragraph. But when it came to math and Physics, I found the only thing that seems to work for me is this path of learning of Rav Nahman.]
[However, even with Rav Nahman, there is a place for deeper learning [as he also mentions in Conversation #76] [And the Le.M VOLUME I chapter 74]. So when I try to learn Gemara, I do try to spend a little more effort into the deeper aspects. But when it comes to Physics, I find that efforts on depth tend to take away the time I need to get the big picture. So there I tend to concentrate more of Rav Nahman's path of just saying the words and going on.]

Just for a reminder "outside wisdoms" are not books on natural science, but as the Rif [Rav Isaac Ilfasi ] and Rosh [Rabbainu Asher] explain they are books that explain the Torah in other ways besides the Sages of the Gemara.[You can find this idea of the Rif in the first mishna in chapter Helek in Sanhedrin]

It is well known that the way of counting the days of nida (woman that sees blood) for the Rambam is different than all other rishonim. The basic place that I recall shows the way of the Rishonim to be correct is Arakim 20.
The Mishna says אין פתח בטועה פחות משבעה ולא יותר מי''ז. [A woman that forgets the days of her period is not less than 7 and not more than 17]. And the Gemara goes on to explain it. The basic idea is lets says she see blood for a day. So you say that is the beginning of nida and you wait 17 more days. but even if she sees three days in a row that could be all zava or the last one could be the beginning of nida. In any case you never have more than 17. But the number goes down after 3. So each day after that she needs to count one day less. But To the Rambam this can not work. To his way the last day can always be the beginning of nida and she would need a whole 17 days.
[1-17;2-17;3-17;4-16;5-15;6-14;7-13;8-12;9-11;10-10;11-9;12-8;13-7]
The only thing I can imagine here is perhaps the Rambam simply found a different Gemara someone that to him implies that his way is correct.

The basic way of the Rishonim is that a woman that is once a zava never goes back to count nid until she has counted seven clean days This seems crytal clear in that Gemara in Arakim.
To see that the Rambam can not fit with the Gemara in Arakim take for example a woman that sees 13 days. With the Rambam the last day might be the beginning of nida. But that Gemara says she only needs then 7 clean days and then starts to count nida again. So the Rambam must have found someother place which he thought shows his way is correct.]




[The way of the Rishonim is seven days is nida [even if she sees only one day] and then mikve at the night of the start of the eight day. But if after that she sees for three straight days she is a zava and needs seven clean days. And she does not go back to nida until she has counted 7 clean days.
To the Rambam the cycle is always 7-11-7-11-7... unless she gives birth. 

I recall vaguely that the popes at the time of Joan of Arc were in a kind of precarious position. The one right before she was burned at the stake had a high ranking bishop accuse him of calumny or something like that. I forget the whole story. But in any case, the popes back then were not considered sacrosanct like a Roman tribune.

[What I mean is that, (from what I recall), a tribune could not be hurt in any kind of way. If a person even just laid a hand on a tribune, he could be killed on sight by any plebian at any time without trial. But popes apparently were not like that.]

The point is that the position of any pope was precarious unless he agreed with what the bureaucracy wanted to hear. That has been suggested as a reason that even if the popes at the time had wanted to interceded for Joan, they would not have been listened to. Popes have gained undreamed of power that they originally never had.

There is a notion of Hegel that form [essence] shines forth, not matter. The idea I realized is based on Kant that the thing in itself is not known. It is only the attributes that are known. So Hegel expands on this to mean that the reason we know forms is that they allow themselves to be known. They shine forth. But then Hegel goes on to say the form also in reflected into the thing in itself. He means to say there is a connection between the form that goes beyond their just being attached to an object.

the work my Dad did on the infrared satellite systems

I wanted to mention the work my Dad did on the infrared satellite systems that were made at TRW and the launched in 1970. The basic story was that he created the infrared camera in the 1950's. Then
he went into private business with another invention [the Copy Mate x-ray machine]. So when the USA government wanted to create a early warning satellite system using infra red the logical place to go was to the actual inventor of the system that is Phil Rosenblum [Rosten]. Then after that system was created he went on to create laser communication also at TRW for SDI. But that system was not launched until many years later since in the meantime there was a spy for the KGB at TRW, so the whole space program was closed down for some years until it reopened in the 1990's. [That whole sad incident was made into a movie with Steven McQueen called The Falcon and the Snowman named after the two traitors that gave American secrets  including my dad's work to the KGB.]]

[My dad was considered very highly even before that. During WWII he was responsible for the smooth running of six B-29's.]






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