I was in Breslov today and they were learning LeM vol. I chapter 15. There the gemara is brought up where it was asked which is better Sinai or one who uproots mountains? The gemara answers Sinai is better because everyone needs wheat. That is to say which is better? One who knows all the Mishna and Gemara or one who can go deeply into any given part? Or to put it more simply: bekiut or iyun? Fast learning or in depth?

In that context I made a suggestion of a sort of combination or both in which one learns every day a page of Gemara, Tosphot and Maharsha and the next day just goes onto the next page. That way is a sort of synthesis of in depth learning --as well as one can get in one fast reading-but also makes progress. 

[I am not claiming to be doing this. I have in fact found a lot of obstacles before me when it comes to learning Torah.]

The king Solomon says in Proverbs to check out the ants and learn from its ways. How far can you take this advice? A society comprised totally of women. They are the workers and the warriors. Forget about the men. The few that there are are for a one night with the Queen Mother and then left to die. And what women. They never think of themselves. Their whole line of thought is all about the good of the collective and to do their appointed jobs. The question, "What is in it for me?" never crosses their mind.

I think on one hand the Solomon was thinking that ants in fact go about their daily tasks without being ordered or told to do so. Still the men would have little place in such a world. It is a feminist's dream-except for the problem that when another colony of feminists invades and exterminates everyone.  Feminists' murdering other feminists. Perfect. 

It is however I should note that women nowadays do not resemble female ants very much in terms of altruism.  Perhaps Solomon was suggesting that we all could learn from the altruistic ways of ants.

[But I a should mention that their altruism is limited to their own city state. They make no alliance with other colonies. Rather they wage wars of total extermination one against the other; wars that that make WWI and WWII look like child's play. And also enslave weaker members of the conquered colony. And the older one is, the more expendable she is. The ones sent into war are the old ants.]

And these little critters give the words "baby food" a whole new meaning. --as in listing the ingredients..

 We find that common knowledge is sometimes used as a kind of testimony. This is even brought in the Shut of Rav Moshe Feinstein. There is a law about milk of a gentile. However because of  אנן סהדי common knowledge, Rav Moshe allows it. []Anything other than cow's milk would receive a fine from the government so it is a  case of "we testify"--common knowledge. But that can not make a marriage or a divorce as Rav Shach notes.  Even if we would have a case of a woman brining forth her divorce document in which case we would say that she received it in a proper way, still if witnesses came and said she found it in the trash, this would not be a case of two against two. 

So I suggest אנן סהדי common knowledge, is used a legal only in the case of a derabanan., not laws from the Torah.

[You can see how this is relevant when two people are married and then divorced without all the details of divorce. Then the woman remarries. Are the children of the later marriage mamzerim? I say "No", because of the above idea that the first marriage also did not have two valid witnesses.

 I heard an interview of Peter Scholze [one of the mathematicians of this generation] about learning math, and it seems to me his advice is more related to people that are particularly talented in that area. But what if one is not talented in that area? Should one give up? I think not. You can see this in a few rishonim where Physics and Metaphysics are considered to be part of the learning sessions that one ought to do every day. [Ibn Pakuda, Rambam, and others based on those of the geonim that held this way like Saadia Geon.] This is the whole point of Rav Nahman. What does one do if he or she is not as talented as others? What about us losers? Should we give up? No. There is always hope. אין ייאוש בעולם כלל. "There is no such thing as giving up." That is how I see his method of learning of saying the words and going on. There is always hope.

[I ought to add that there are plenty of rishonim that hold one ought to learn just Torah, but I have not been able to walk in that path. I am not sure why. It is not that I think that is wrong. Rather that it just did not seem to work for me. If maybe I had stuck with it, things might have been different. But after leaving it, I could not get back in. And Rav Nahman said, "If there is one posek [note 1] to depend on, you can depend on him". [That was in response to a question of Rav Natan to him about his fear of deciding a law because of the possibility of making a mistake. ] So I decided to go along with the other rishonim that hold from the importance of Physics and Metaphysics. 

[note 1] posek: a rishon that decided the law. The word "posek" can also loosely be applied to the very early achronim. Not like today where the word is applied to anyone.]

Rav Israel Salanter on learning a lot of Musar

 The idea of Rav Israel Salanter of learning a lot of Musar seems to make sense from the standpoint that in fact good character traits--"to be  a mensch" -is the essence of Torah. However, to know what are good character traits does not seem possible without Shas. Learning Gemara in depth. So when I have  a choice, I would rather learn the Avi Ezri or Tosphot which go into the depths of the Gemara. Musar seems for me to be along the lines of orientation, rather than an actual source of knowledge. [The Chazon Ish makes this exact point in his short Musar book.]

In fact, you can see, the main positive aspect of Musar is in yeshivot where it is learned as a side dish to the main thing--Gemara, Tosphot, and Rav Chaim from Brisk or the Avi Ezri. 

[Though I admit that learning a lot of the Hafetz Haim about the laws of Lashon Hara would make a lot of sense.]

"Kollel Erev", [evening kollel].

 I was in the nearby Na Nach place today, and someone mentioned that they would like to make a "Kollel Erev". Even though their suggestion was that it should be limited to Gemara, I still wanted to express my doubts. Somehow mixing Torah with money does not seem to work very well. Either people will learn --no matter what. Then when there is that degree of commitment, then  money just seems to appear. Or when there is not that degree of commitment, then no matter how much money your pour on it, the whole enterprise remains flat. 

[I mean to say that Rav Israel Salanter started the kollel idea as a temporary solution to the problem that people right after marriage --when they are supposed to be going up in spirit, have  to leave off learning Torah to go and work. But he did not mean kollel should be became the standard way of using Torah to make money as it has become. Often the result of pouring money into the "Torah world" is the creation  "Torah scholars that are demons" [in the memorable words of Rav Nahman. And that phrase just says it all.]

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