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25.2.20

To me it seems clear that trust in God is not just depending that whatever God wants, that is what will happen.  You can see this in verses. והבוטח בהשם חסד יסובבנו Psalms 16. he who trusts in God, kindness will surround him. So it is not just depending on the Divine Decree. Nor is it saying whatever God wants will happen. Rather the idea is that it is like a filter for polarized light. It lets in only kindness and keeps out the other stuff.
But it also is not trust in order to get things. It is rather indirect. One trusts in God and thus God helps. But it is not trust so that God will help.

Just to be clear. The basic issues about trust come originally from the Obligations of the Hearts by Ibn Pakuda.  חובות לבבות. Later the major sources are the books of Navardok, the Chazon Ish. Rav Nahman does not spend a lot of time on the issue,- but brings a lot of clarity to the issue.
Those four are the basic sources. For some reason the Gra says a remarkable statement about Bitachon. He says the entire purpose of giving the Torah is so that people will trust in God.
he also has that famous statement in his commentary on Proverbs 3 that one should trust in God with no effort. [This seems to be an argument between Ibn Pakuda and the Gra].

The Gra hold trust with no effort. Ibn Pakuda holds with effort. The way of the Gra seems to be that you do only what is required by the Torah and God will do the rest. [That was also how trust/bitachon was understand at the Mir in NY. There the idea was understood that you learn Torah and expect God to take care of your needs. This was in fact very practical. And it was never used as a reason not to do kindness. ]
There is an argument between the "Rishonim" [mediaeval authorities] about the usual law that money that someone has stays where it is unless another party brings a proof. המוציא מחבירו עליו הראיה. The question is what happens if the other party grabs it after there is already raised a doubt.
See Bava Mezia page 6b and 7a.
There is a "teaching" that raises the question if a sheep or goat or cow has given birth before.  Then it gives birth. If it would be known that the calf was first born then it is given to a priest. And sacrificed.
But if there is a doubt then it stays with the owner but it can not be used for work or sheared for wool. So one one hand it is like a first born in that shearing and work are forbidden. But it is like a non first born in that the owners keep it.
The Gemara says the reason it stays with the owner is that money that someone has stays where it is unless another party brings a proof. המוציא מחבירו עליו הראיה. So if a priest would grab it it would stay by the priest. Raba says we would take it away.
[Actually what Raba meant is the very issue at hand. Rav Shach says what he actually said was that even if we would say you take it away from the priest even so it would be forbidden in work and shearing.



I was in a store that sells "Felafel" (which is a kind of national food in Israel which was originally an Arabic dish) and the owner was asking me about my background. And in the conversation came up his observation that: "The Torah is holy and good but the religious people are f...ked  up."

The point he was making about someone else that works in that store. He said that the religious not only are messed up but that they mess up others.
There is a kind of mental force I think he was implying.

The idea is the more holy the Torah is, the easier it is to get off track. I mean that when you have a numinous area of value [holy and great], if not taken exactly right, it turns into the opposite.
That is why the authentic approach of the Gra, Rav Israel Salanter and Rav Shach is important. Authenticity is the issue.


24.2.20

w48mp3  w48 midi  w48 nwc
There are a few basic principles of action. But to combine them into a cohesive whole seems hard to do. Like Michael Huemer said there does not seem to be an algorithm  of morality. Even though he holds bu objective morality he doubts that there is a formula how to figure out the right thing in any given situation.

You might try to pick on one basic principle, and that makes sense to some degree.
Still what I think is that morality is an organic whole. There are principles that fit together like parts of a human body. Each part has its own function.

Rav Haim Kinyevsky, [one of the great Litvak sages] said that when any group  emphasizes any one basic principle, always the result is the exact opposite. Rather you need balance

To me this issue seems to be something like what Hegel was doing. Thinking that he could make sense of the big picture and showing the inner connections of everything with everything else and by a process of dialectic to get from Being to God [the absolute Idea]. [I imagine he did not want to use the word God to identify the Absolute Idea.]


The possibility to have some kind of algorithm of action seem to be along the lines of Kelley Ross building on Leonard Nelson.[That is the Kant Fries School of thought] [That is Kelley Ross has an array of values that looks like the half circle of angular momentum.] That is you start with all form and no content --formal logic. Then work up towards more numinous content but less form. That is Math proper since it can not be reduced to pure logic. And you work up until more numinous content like Music and Justice. until you get to God--all numinous but no form

23.2.20

Rav Shach brings in Laws of Acquisition a debate between almost all other Rishonim against the Rambam. The issue is תופס אחר שנולד הספק אם מוציאים מידו.

The Gemara this is based on is Bava Metzia 6b.
Rav Hanania said to Raba there is a outside teaching [a teaching that is legitimate, but not part of the Mishna] הספיקות נכנסים לדיר להתעשר [doubtful animals go into the barn to be counted for maasar the tithe of animals.]
That is to say, if you have an ass that has given birth. If it is the first born, you take a sheep and redeem it, and give the sheep to a priest. But if you do not know if your ass has given birth before. So it is a doubt. But you redeem it anyway. And the sheep now is counted as regular property of the Israeli. [So it counts when you need to take every tenth animal and give as tithe.]

The gemara asks  what happens if a priest grabs a doubtful case of a regular sheep that has given birth and there also you do not know if it has given birth before. It is forbidden to use as if we knew it is holy. So you learn that if  priest grabs it you do not take it away.
But Raba disagrees. And that is where Rav Hanania comes in.
Most Rishonim understand that Rav Hanaia is bringing a proof that if one grabs something of value after there has already been known that the case is a doubt, then you take it away.
Rav Shach however says it is possible to understand that Gemara as supporting the idea that the fact of the animal being forbidden to use is not because the priest has a hand in it. For even if the law would be that you take it away of the priest it, still it would be holy because it is holiness that comes by itself. And that is the case Rav Hanania is  coming to support.

trust in God [Bitachon]

The idea of trust in God is only for the sake of getting stuff. It is a value in itself.
I think one ought to pray to merit to trust.
That is just like you do not see belief in God as being for the sake of something or for getting something. Rather you see it as a belief in a fact. So I see trust as being even more or a positive value.



But how to go about it seems hard to know. I do not think the issue is as is usually thought to be that of trust as opposed to effort. But if you think about people that did trust in God, you do not see the issue of trust with effort ever coming up. Ever. It rather is always they do what they must do and trust in God to help. If they do not absolutely have to then they do not. Like the Pilgrims coming to Plymouth Rock and beginning the stream of people coming to America. They were not thinking about trust in God and effort. They were thinking they needed to live with their beliefs and to raise their children right-so they had no choice but to come to America. England was always impossible. It was either prison or conform. Amsterdam was impossible because of the negative free thinking influences on their children. So they has no choise. But within that doing what they had to do they trusted that God would help.

Navardok I should add was based on teh idea of trust [Bitachon] in God. That is just learn Torah and God will do the rest.