Rav Shach's Avi Ezri

In terms of Rav Shach's Avi Ezri and the books of Musar of the disciples of Rav Israel Salanter I think it is best to have sessions in which you finish the book in the way of "Girsa" just saying the words and going on. No review]. But that is besides a separate session in which you learn the book in depth. That is you take just one section and go over it many times.

[When I say Rav Shach's Avi Ezri I really mean that whole school of Rav Haim of Brisk and his disciples  up until Rav Shach that really showed the depths of Torah.
When I had little time for both a fast session and an in-depth session, I used to learn the Avi Ezri in the in-depth way of going over a whole section once every day until it started becoming clear.
But in terms of Musar (works on mediaeval Ethics) I preferred (because of limited time) to at least once get through all the major works of Musar. So I mainly just read through the classical Musar [Ethics] books. חובות לבבות, שערי תשובה, מסילת ישרים, ספר היראה המיוחס לרבינו תם, מעלות המידות של בנימין הרופא
Obligations of the Heart by Ibn Pakuda, Gates of Repentance by Rabbainu Yona, Mesilat Yesharim by the Ramchal, the Book of Fear attributed to Rabbainu Tam, The Greatness of Good Traits by Binyamin the doctor.

The great thing about Musar is that it gives a good idea of the big picture and the importance of good character. In fact Musar reveals an imporant truth--that without good character traits, nothing else can even begin.

There are also Musar books written after the Middle Ages which Rav Isaac Blazer listed in his book on Rav Israel Salanter.

The Musar "thing" and the Gra and Rav Shach seem imporant to me since I think if one is going to learn and keep Torah at all, it makes sense to do it in the right way.
I say, "Do it right, or do not do it at all."
 The way I learned Rav Shach when I was in Uman and was learning with David Bronson was by going over the actual Gemaras that Rav Shach is based on.

"generational curse"?

Is there such a thing as a "generational curse"? That is sins that a person has a disposition to fall into because he inherits those tendencies from his ancestors?
I heard from a friend who used to be in the KGB about a friend of his that married a gypsy. But when he married her he did not know her family background since she was white. [He had never heard that some gypsies can be white.] And lo and behold his children grew up to be thieves! They not only stole but had an obsession to steal. So he looked into the background of his wife and found out that she was a gypsy.
[I met that fellow at birthday a few celebrations at the home of this KGB fellow. At the time I did not know his story.]

So it is not just in certain ethnic groups that you find strands of DNA which predispose people towards certain traits but also in family lines.

The two books of Maccabees do not mention the miracle of the Menorah going for 8 days.

The two books of Maccabees do not mention the miracle of the Menorah going for 8 days. Rather it says the eight days of Hanuka were meant as to make up for Sukot which they could not celebrate in the right time. So instead when the Maccabees were able to take over the Temple, they celebrated for 8 days [since Sukot is 8 days.]
This would answer the question, "Why 8 days?" which everyone asks.[That is the first day the Menorah was lit the time span of its burning was regular. So why eight days if the miracle was only for seven?]

telos in Aristotle is a future cause pulling things towards it.

Dr. Kelley Ross [Kant Fries School] mentions that when  natural science dropped "telos" it lost something valuable. [Clearly biological organisms have goals. Just like you can not have a science of Physics that holds there is no such thing as matter.] And that would be according to both Aristotle and Plato. Telos in this case does not mean intention or intelligent design. It means some future cause instead of a past cause. It is something pulling things toward it. [As opposed to a past cause pushing thing forward.] In any case Telos to me seems important since in Physics things tend to go towards a state of least energy. And most of Physics in fact is based on this idea. [This does not contradict Newton but it is simply how the Physics works out.] And I might mention the little electron that knows whether there is one slit or two. So it knows where to go. It is like matter that always seems to know where to go based on the state of least energy.

[The idea of telos in Aristotle is a cause, not intelligent design or some goal things have. It is one of the four types of causes. It is not the same type of concept we have when we think of having a goal. Aristotle's telos casues things from a future time.]

The Rambam held that Aristotle was right about most things.

The Rambam held that Aristotle was certainly right in everything he said and wrote about things on earth except about the eternity of matter. Muslim philosophy before him also was very much Aristotelian.[Al Farabi. Ibn Rushd, et. al.]
But Christian Philosophy was for almost a thousand years Neo Platonic. Until Aquinas. My impression is that he changed from Plato to Aristotle for good reasons.
Then at some point around 1600 people started noticing problems in Aristotle. This is the theme of Novum Organum [1620] by Francis Bacon.
So Dr Kelley Ross (of the Kant Fries School of thought) said at that point it would have made sense to get back to Plato.
But Ed Feser suggests that Aristotle is still better.

The Rambam, at any rate, holds the learning of Aristotle's Metaphysics is in the Category of learning Torah as you can see in Mishne Torah in laws of learning Torah where it says to divide the sessions of learning into three parts. One part he says is Gemara. And then he adds the important sentence: "And the subject called "Pardes" [vineyard] is in the category of Gemara." And he already defined what the word "Pardes" is referring to in the first four chapters of Mishna Torah where he goes into the subjects of Physics and Metaphysics,- and at the end he says, "These subjects are what the Sages called "Pardes'".

The girl friend approach

I see marriage nowadays as problematic. 10 years seems to be the uppermost limit. So it seems to me the best idea is the "Piligesh" girl friend approach. And there really is nothing wrong with that. We see in דברי הימים Chronicles I 2:46 that Caleb [the friend of Joshua] had a few wives and girl friends.
This is a well known subject so there really is no need for me to go into it. (note 1) Since the majority of Rishonim [mediaeval authorities] allow a piligesh there is no reason to forbid it. I have heard some people suggest that it is in the category of ניאוף  (adultery) which is certainly not true. Adultery is sexual relations with a woman who is married to somebody else.
But then you could ask about זונה prostitution. But the main definition of "Zona" [prostitute] which the Torah forbids to a priest is a woman who has had sexual relations with someone who is forbidden to her by a prohibition of the Torah. See tractate Yevamot.

(note 1) Just for a bit more information this comes up in the Tur. The Tur is the son of Rabbainu Asher the author of the Rosh pne of the major rishonim. In short the whole issue is an argument among rishonim and the Rosh himself seems to hold it is allowed but the problem he sees is the Mikve issue. So I might just add that for that reason it is worthwhile to be near a natural body of water--a sea or river.
The Raavad and Ramban (Nahmanides) both hold that relations with a girl friend is permitted. The opinion of the Rambam at first seems to forbid but the Ramban/Nahmanides brings a different version of the Rambam that holds it is allowed. In the Shulchan Aruch of Rabbeinu Yoseph Karo the opinion of the rishonim is brought as an argument between the "Mehaber" the author, Rav Juseph Karo and the "Rema" Rav Moshe Iserless. But as to the approach of Rav Joseph Karo, the Helkat Mehokek there says that at most it is an "isur ase" a negative command coming by force of a positive command איסור הבא מכלל עשה

Saying the words forwards and backwards is a way of doing review that I have done from time to time.  When I was doing Physics in NYU I in fact used this method of study. The reason that I originally thought that this is a method comes from the fact that it is mentioned even in the daily prayers. At the end of the 13 principles of faith there is a quote from a verse "For your salvation I await O Lord." [This is from the end of Genesis] And there the words are permuted. Also in the prayer for seeing the new moon you find a verse that is said straight and then backwards. "May there fall on the fear and trembling ..."
For this idea I also found support in the Ramhal [Rav Moshe Haim Lutzato] the author of the famous Musar book the Mesilat Yesharim.

The reason I did this when I was learning Physics was not that I doubted the path of "Girsa" (of Rav Nahman of Breslov) which is just to say the words in order and go on. Rather it was because of the urgency of passing my courses. I had to pass exams so I do not have time for the path of Rav Nahman which though may be more effective in the long run but for immediate results I needed some kind of system of learning that would help my grades.

[The idea that this would help even in a language not Hebrew I got from the medieval mystic Rav Avraham Abulafia. He I accept as a legitimate authority since he is quoted at length by Rav Haim Vital and Rav Moshe of Cordoba.]

[I still think this is only a part of learning. I still believe strongly in "Girsa" (saying the words and going on) as a separate session.)] I ought to add that sometimes I use this method to understand Tosphot. For example when there is a long hard Tosphot that I do not get at all even after doing it daily for many days-then sometimes I resort to this method.]