Translate

Powered By Blogger

25.8.20

 There is a "Yeshu" mentioned in the Talmud who is criticized.

The Rosh [Asher] wrote that that does not refer to Jesus. [The Rosh was a Rishon]. The "Yeshu" mentioned in the Talmud was a disciple of one of the middle "zuggot' pairs mention in Pirkei Avot. [Yehoshua ben Perachia] So that is right in the middle of the second Temple. That is about 150 years before Jesus. Yeshu was not an uncommon name. [Where the Rosh wrote this? I seem to recall seeing it at the end of Gitten but maybe it was somewhere else.]


I mean to say the Talmud says openly exactly who it is referring to--that is the disciple of Yehushua ben Perachia. That means it can not be referring to the Yeshua of the NT.


I might just add the point that "Hagada" even in the Talmud itself is not binding. The idea of the Talmud is to get to the laws of Torah, not stories. That is not to say that the stories are not interesting. Interesting yes but fundamental and binding? No. As the Ramban and other Rishonim already made this point long ago.

I know people think Torah is all about interesting stories. But in fact it is not. It is about laws.

to learn Torah. That is the Oral and Written Law. But the difference is that I add to that also Physics based on the Rishonim that did include that in learning Torah.

The truth is that I am a bit pessimistic about the USA. "Whom the gods want to destroy first they make insane." So the trans-sex thing is the insane part. What comes next is what we are seeing in Portland. The communists trying to destroy the USA. But not like the Cold War. For the Communists to attack the USA they needed to be able to get through 7500 miles from Moscow to the USA. Now the war is at our doorstep. Literally. But how to fight such a thing? The falsification of the history of the USA has been going on for a long time. And people swallow it hook line and sinker.

Will no real Americans stand up anymore?

But this does not seem exactly like an attack on the USA. Rather it seems like an attack on Western Civilization.

As for what to do. My basic approach is based on what I learned at the Mir in NY--that the cure for almost any problem is to learn Torah. That is the Oral and Written Law. But the difference is that I add to that also Physics based on the Rishonim that did include that in learning Torah. 
[I noticed this idea also in the beginning of the Avi Ezri of Rav Shach where he says that nowadays there is nothing one can do but simply to increase learning Torah.]
However I wanted also to add that "learning Torah" does have a limited definition. Mainly it means the actual books written by the Tenaim and Amoraim which contain the actual record of the Oral Law. But these can include some commentary. So for example I would learn a lot of the Maharsha and Tosphot in order to understand the Gemara.


23.8.20

to learn the Federalist Papers to gain an appreciation for the unique gift of the Constitution of the USA.

 It might sound lame, but my recommendation for the USA is for people to learn the Federalist Papers by James Madison, Alexander  Hamilton, and John Jay in order to gain an appreciation for the unique gift of the Constitution of the USA. I mean go through the Federalist Papers from start to finish.

I MEAN INSTEAD OF "AMERICAN HISTORY", LEARN WHAT AMERICA IS ALL ABOUT IN THE FIRST PLACE. History is so easily distorted according to what ones agenda is. After all, it would be like reporting on N.Y. City. To show your agenda is right, you do not even have to lie. All you need to do is selectively report the incidents  that fit your narrative. [I mean lots of things happen every day in  a city with millions of people. What you report on, depends on what you want to show.]

But the one flaw in the Constitution is the desire of people to get other people's stuff. If you bring into the USA enough people that hate the rich, and do not want to work to better themselves, but rather to take away from those that have worked, then nothing can save the situation. 

That would be the time to celebrate Rosh Hashanah

September 17 at 2:00 PM is the new moon. That would be the time to celebrate Rosh Hashanah according to the Gemara in Sanhedrin page 10 that the new moon does not depend on the court sanctifying it.

the "Seder haLimud" [learning in the way of just saying the words and going on]

 I noted a few days ago and again today that Rav Natan, the disciple of Rav Nahman, faced a great deal of opposition. But not from Litvaks. See the "Sefer ha'Telaot". It was not at all people that were following the path of the Gra that were against him or against Rav Nahman.  

Which does bring the question to my mind what are the major great points of Rav Nahman that the Sitra Achra [Dark Side] was trying so hard to hide.

Well clearly the Tikun Klali [the Ten Psalms] and Hitbodadut [talking with God as one would talk with a good friend] would have to stand foremost. But I also think the "Seder haLimud" [learning in the way of just saying the words and going on] . Which presents a way of going through the entire oral and written law plus the natural sciences at least once during one's lifetime. And as Rav Nahman says in Sefer Ha'Midot what one does not understand or remember in this world. he will be reminded and made to understand in the world to come.

[Natural sciences I see as important but philosophy is more doubtful to me. It seems there is a lack of clarity about what is really valuable there.]



learning fast and also review and learning in depth. [

Even though Rav Nahman of Breslov emphasized learning fast there are also a few places where he does bring the idea of review and learning in depth. [Sefer Hamidot and LeM I:78] It does not seem that there is much of  question of which to emphasize since you can see in Conversations of Rav Nahman that the learning fast thing was his major emphasis. [section 76],
If you apply this to learning the natural sciences, Math, Physics, Chem, Biology, then the rule is clear. Learn fast with no review. Say the words in order from the beginning to end.
[Many Rishonim held from learning the natural sciences. That started from Rav Saadia Gaon and Ibn Pakuda.] 
So review is less well defined when and how to go about it.
I suggest in one of the regular sessions to have one session where review is done in the way of starting sta some middle point and working a few pages forward and also a few pages backwards.

[But one should avoid pseudo sciences and pseudo Torah. In fact outside of STEM, anything with the word "studies" attached to it is pseudo science. As for Torah, only the actual written and Oral Law are Torah. That is the actual Old Testament and the two Talmuds and midrashim. Everything else is false Torah or fake Torah.

natural science is pretty clear is most rishonim. However philosophy seems to be an area of contention. The Ramban [Moshe ben Nahman] did not like Aristotle at all. And that means all that followed his approach. But Ibn Pakuda [Obligations of the Hearts] differs as you can see on page one of his intro to his book.