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17.6.20

I have thought about what would be a benefit for the many {זיכוי הרבים} and it occurred to me today that building yeshivas on the name of the Gra would be the best idea. However for me personally that does not seem like a possibility. So instead perhaps I could recommend to others that do in fact have the ability to do so.

But to be more specific let me just say that the name of the Gra would be great because that name implies a certain way of learning Torah and a certain path which is pure authentic Torah. So even if someone like myself or others do not merit to walk in the straight and narrow path of true Torah at least the message would be clear.

And perhaps even the great Litvak yeshivas this would be a good idea i.e. to be more careful about the path of the Gra since that is (after all) exactly what they were founded on (but without the name).

[But I do have to add that  learning the "seven wisdoms" was definitely a part of the path of the Gra but this for some reason is not well known. ]


16.6.20

President Trump: Do not give in on any issue. Support the police. The coming election makes no difference. Do what is right now. Support the police and do not give in an inch.


But to call slavery wrong would be saying that the Old Testament is evil.

There is nothing wrong with slavery. The main issue is how you treat a slave. [It is after all better that freeing them and then having them destroy Western Civilization.] In its essence however there is nothing wrong with it. And not only that but the fact that many people accept the idea that slavery is wrong. So they have already given up on the Bible.
So making war on the South was a mistake that has come back to haunt us.
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[It occurred to me that Rav Nahman hinted to this situation in his 13 stories.--about the country that life had lost its flavour. The food had its its taste. The smells did not smell right. Everything was empty. In that story it turned out the cause was imported slaves. The advice that worked to save that country was to deport them. It does not seem clear how that might work today.]

Some Christians claim that Slavery is wrong. So the the Bible when you have slavery according to them  is evil? (This is not to mention the letter of Peter [first letter second chapter] which says slaves should obey their masters.) Clearly Catholic doctrine is that the commandments of God are good, not evil. [Of course I am referring to the institution in the Bible of slavery of both Israelis and gentiles but also I am thinking of Jesus who held everything in God's Law is good and will never pass away. Paul also stated the Law of God is good but he held that after Jesus came people no longer have to keep some aspects of it. Aquinas goes into that in detail. [That is where the Natural Law aspect of Torah gets into Aquinas. That eventually became natural rights with John Locke.]]
Besides that I have never heard that Protestant doctrine holds that the commandments of God are evil. Rather that they hold after Jesus some are not obligated. But to call them wrong would be saying that the Old Testament is evil.


My basic impression is that when it comes to political theory, nothing is anywhere near the amazing Federalist Papers by Madison, Hamilton and John Jay. And that system of government would still work fine today if not for the race issue.The Achilles Heel of the USA. So what do do now? Well I see the world getting divided into two parts. One part is Mad Max and Seattle chaos. The other is a small remnant of where Western Civilization will continue to grow and proper like Space X.
Clearly the seeds of the destruction of the USA were sown by communist infiltration of the Western universities.  [Now from Communist China.]

And furthermore I think that the best idea for Trump would be not to give in on any issue. No compromise.

Kant Friesian School

Besides Dr Kelley Ross there is also Robert Hanna who has a lot of respect for Leonard Nelson [that is the Kant Friesian School]. It is interesting that Springer Verlag  publishing has in fact published one of Nelson's books. [philosophical fallacies]

[Though as usual R Hanna did notice a some difference between Nelson's personal philosophy [Kant Fries] and the philosophical method that he was advocating. [In his book about philosophical fallacies].

This still does not help much when it comes to figuring how Hegel fits in to all this?
The trouble is the are just too many completely opposite interpretations of Hegel.
Cunningham versus McTaggart. But with Kant that is also a problem.
At least one thing we can all agree to is to throw out all twentieth century philosophy as being long overdue for the trash bin.


I did notice that some of the complaints about Hegel have to do with complaints about Communism that seeks for support from him. Another source of complaint comes from complaints about Germany in WWI. I have no idea what to think about that. Walter Kaufman saw Hegel more almost as a good American patriot. I would have to draw a blank about all this. To me it seemed clear that Hegel just wanted a middle path between freedom and law and order. That is freedom without the craziness of the French Revolution. And he did support the Prussian Monarchy--which was the source of reforms and constitutional laws as opposed to the previous sources of law in Prussia which was mainly the whim of princes. So there are some areas where Hegel was right. Other areas where Kant and Leonard Nelson were right. So in some way there ought to be some kind of way of finding a middle path.]

My basic impression is that when it comes to political theory, nothing is anywhere near the amazing Federalist Papers by Madison, Hamilton and John Jay. And that system of government would still work fine today if not for the race issue.The Achilles Heel of the USA. So what do do now? Well I see the world getting divided into two parts. One part is Mad Max and Seattle chaos. The other is a small remnant of where Western Civilization will continue to grow and proper like Space X.
Clearly the seeds of the destruction of the USA were sown by communist infiltration of the Western universities.  [Now from Communist China.]







One great thing about Rav Israel Salanter was to see how "midot" good character is the essence of Torah. This can easily be missed. But further than that he provided a way to gain good character.
In my own development I got the first part, but not the second.
That is,-- I saw how "midot tovot" [good character traits] is an essential part of Torah, and also got an idea of how to define good character. But the second part of working on one's own character by means of learning Musar -- I missed that part. And I think it almost does not even thought by many to be very effective. Still you have to wonder if this is possible resurrect. That is to learn Musar more than the fifteen minutes that is done in Litvak Yeshivas. But to get back to the original idea of learning lots of Musar--with the intention of improving one's character.

[Musar is based on the original Musar books of the Middle Ages. Then there were plenty more later like that Maharal from Prague. Then the books authored by the disciples of Rav Israel Salanter.]