In Breslov today, I was speaking with a fellow that is in the paratroopers units of IDF and the subject the religious world sucking money out of the state ( a well known sore spot) came up. [I suggested that the parliamentary system is at fault.]  At any rate, I think it ought to be clear that people ought to learn Torah; but to use Torah to make money is  different subject. The ideal way of learning Torah is to sit and learn and trust in God for parnasah [making a living]. But the trouble begins when people begin to see Torah as a means of making money. 

There is an argument if it is permitted it accept charity in order to learn Torah, but to use Torah to suck the state is not the same thing. But that is not just in Israel. There is a general problem in the religious world of using Torah for money and power.

See the Guide for the Perplexed: the parable about the king in his country

 In the approach of the Rambam you place Physics and Metaphysics on a higher plane than learning Gemara. You can see this in the Guide where his parable about the king in his country says this openly. [In that parable there are different levels of closeness to the king. Those outside the palace but inside the capitol city are closer than almost everyone else--except for those that are inside the palace. Those outside the palace are the Torah scholars. Those inside the palace are the Physicists. 

[The Rambam is depending on the Gemara about ר' יוחנן בן זכאי שלמד דבר גדול ודבר קטן מאי דבר גדול? מעשה מרכבה. ומאי דבר קטן ? מעשה בראשית]

But even closer to the king are the "philosophers and prophets." OK about the prophets. But philosophers? I have trouble seeing that. Philosophy today is in deep trouble. There seems to be something about philosophy that has a sort of Achilles heel. Physics I think the best way of learning this mainly saying the words and going on. But also some time one should do review.

God is not the same as the world.The meaning of the verse, "You were shown to known that the Lord is God, there is none other besides Him," means there are no other gods besides Him.

In Torah, God is not thought to be the same as the world. I do not know from where people get the opposite idea from. The meaning of the verse, "You were shown to known that the Lord is God, there is none other besides Him,"  means there are no other gods besides Him. But on a deeper level it means that  everything besides God can not exist without Him. This is clear in all Rishonim when they discuss the basic core beliefs of Torah. You can see this in all Musar books of the Rishonim. In the first seven laws of Mishna Torah you can see this also. There the Rambam explains "there is none besides Him" to mean the existence of everything besides God is dependent on God. 

None of that implies that God is the same as the world.

 In the Musar movement of Rav Israel Salanter, Fear of God was a major goal. I noticed today in the local Breslov shul a Torah lesson of Rav Nahman that echoes that point. He say that by bringing up Fear of God to its roots one merits to the secrets of Torah.  And he explains to bring "fear of God up" to mean not to be afraid of lower things but of God alone. In fact when I was in Uman I noticed a lot of Torah lessons of Rav Nahman revolved on the theme of fear of God  and from that I decided to dig more deeply into Musar. 

I have in my own life seen that fear of God is can be gained and lost and once lost does not come back easily. Even learning Musar does not seems to help a lot. It is as if the hand of the  fates is over one in such a way that regaining lost levels is against the grain.

On one hand learning Musar seems to be the only way to gain any idea of authentic Torah and to gain at first fear of God. But there is a sort of way of falling from that that does not return.

Some Rishonim [medieval authorities] like the Ramban [Nahmanides] would hold that to learn practical professions for the sake of making a living is OK.

Some Rishonim [medieval authorities] like the Ramban [Nahmanides] would hold that to learn practical professions for the sake of making a living is OK.  He himself was a doctor. It was just that this group of rishonim would not hold that learning Physics and Metaphysics are a part of learning Torah.

You only see the opinion that Physics and Metaphysics are are part of Torah in Saadia Gaon, Ibn Pakuda [author of the Hovot Levavot], Binyamin the Doctor, the Rambam.

Words of the Rishonim are thought to be valid even when they argue.אלו ואלו דברי אלקים חיים. But I tend to go with the opinions based on Saadia Gaon. 

But even if you go with Saadia Gaon, still how can one do physics which is hard? My suggestion is the idea of the Gemara לעלם לגרס איניש ואחר כך ליסבר אף על גב דמשכח ואף על גב דלא ידע מאי קאמר

Always one should just say the words in order and go on ["girsa"] and after that to go back and explain, even though he forgets and even though he does not know what he is saying.

x88 D minor    x88 midi  x88 nwc

x86 music file

 x86 E flat major mp3 x86 midi E flat major   x86 E flat major nwc