I basically try to walk as much as I can in the path of my parents who were Reform Jews. That is ,-- I long for the the straight path of Torah, but I think the so called "religious" have nothing to do with Torah at all.

 I was reminded about the book Or Israel [The Light of Israel] on Rav Israel Salanter by his disciple Rav Isaac Blazer that had a powerful effect on me. I was thinking what was it? The basic thesis of the book is that the fear of God is the key to everything--all good in the world to come and to Torah.  I was struggling with Gemara at the Mir and I think that that was part of the effect this book had on me. It was giving me the key to come to understand Torah--and that is by fear of God which comes by learning Musar.  And even more so, it was showing that all good in the world to come is dependent on fear of God. People are not automatically moral. Rather--as Michael Huemer puts it, people are basically Amoral. They just learn to talk in moral terms but what really matters to them is not right and wrong what so ever. Only very few individuals have any real moral sense and because of them, others gain some vague sense of morality. [Kelley Ross would put it differently. He would say the people know moral principles but do not know that they know. This is Socratic ignorance that we do not know consciously  what we really deep inside do know. Our knowledge need to be brought into the open like the slave boy that did in fact know the answer to an geometric problem but did not know that he knew until Socrates by careful questioning brought his knowledge into the open.

[But I should add just for the sake of disclose that I basically try to walk as much as I can in the path of my parents who were Reform Jews. That is I  long for the the straight path of Torah, but I think the so called "religious" have nothing to do with Torah at all and if anything are on teh opposite extreme from Torah. All except teh straight Litvak yeshivot.]

z25 music file

 z25 C minor  midi   [z25 mp3]  [z25 nwc]

 The Gra said to Rav Chaim of Voloshin not to be afraid in the issues involved with the law--pesak din. Therefore I do not pay attention to what is politically correct in the religious world. When it comes to issue of the Law of the Torah --right against wrong, public opinion is worthless. 

I should add here that there is an amazing spirit of Torah that can be found in yeshivot that walk in the path of the Gra. [Commonly known as Litvak yeshivot because of coming from "Litva" as said in Russian  or "Lithuania" in English.] The way this can be understood is the idea of numinous. I am really not sure if any words can really capture the spirit of Torah that I felt in an immediate and powerful way. But I can see that it takes a certain sort of overcoming of obstacles to be able to stick with this path. Plus a kind of appreciation for it that I fell from. But for right now I would like to try just to convey this kind of power of holiness that can be found in such places. [Though I can see that a lot depends on the place --since they are not all so great, and the person.] So perhaps I might just mention my own experience. I was in one Litvak yeshiva Shar Yashuv where I really began to feel this intense aspect of Torah. I could draw myself away from learning Gemara only with great difficulty.  The same goes for the Mir in NY. That also had this sort of intense feeling of the primal necessity to learn and keep Torah in the most simple straightforward way. I fell from this after a few years, but those years were something I imagine the Garden of Eden must be like.

 I noticed that the old Orion idea of using atomic energy to power space flight is back.

Also see this NASA site

  My feeling about space flight is that it is great and important, --that is to have a base on the Moon and Mars, but for a long time I have hoped there would be some insight on how to get to the stars. Part of my motivation for learning the Physics of String Theory is is that hope. [Also there is the opinion of some medieval authorities that learning Physics and Metaphysics is a part of learning Torah]. But the main hope for getting to the stars seems to me to be due to a suggestion that ER=EPR that is an Einstein Rosen Bridge is the same thing that keeps atoms entangled.   If this is true, then there are plenty of wormholes around. The question would be then how to expand them and put them together and then get them to attach themselves to "somewhere else". 

i do not know if my dad was involved in this particular project, though there were projects between the U-2 and Star Wars SDI that he was involved with but they were so top secret that he did not share anything about his work with his children. The only thing i knew about was his camera on the U-2 and the later work at TRW on Star Wars,--In between i was aware later that he also was involved in top secret projects for the USA government but never knew what they were. [It was not that he was so educated.  True he had gone to Cal-Tech. But the fact is that the USA wanted his talents in inventing stuff- not because of any academic degrees, but because in invention  he was a genius as they had already seen in his inventing the Infra Red Telescope.  

Even though the Musar movement was based on the idea of learning the four basic Musar books חובות לבבות, אורחות צדיקים, שערי תשובה, מסילת ישרים ,  I found the Light Of Israel and other books by the disiples of Rav Israel Salanter to be of the most help to me. Musar also helps to understand what Torah is all about. It is all too easy to go off on confused  directions because of lack of understanding the hierarchy of principle in Torah.  

[Though I do find the books of Rav Nahman very helpful even though they are  not a part of the regular Musar books still I should add that I think Rav Nahman is mostly good if people already have a good background in Gemara, the Ari, and Musar. --But I do not deny that he can be helpful for everyone also. Still without the prerequisites, there is a tendency to go off in odd directions.

[Musar is based on the idea of learning these books of morals from the Middle Ages, Obligations of the Hearts, Gates of Repentance, Ways of the Righteous and also the book of Rav Moshe Haim Lutzato The Ways of the Just.

 There is a connection between Devekut [attachment with God] and learning Torah even though this is often denied. In fact I think that the sort of learning in depth at Shar Yashuv and the Mir were for me a sort of bridge towards a deep attachment --devekut [attachment with God]. But talking with people you always hear how learning Torah is dry intellectualism as opposed to real attachment with God. I think this dichotomy is false. In fact I believe the only real path towards authentic attachment with God is by learning Torah.

And the enemies of the Gra and the straight Litvak path  I think are in deep self delusion that their idiocies somehow amount to attachment with God. In fact, you can see the exact opposite of their claims. Good character is connected with true attachment with God. Since good honest character is found in the Litvak world therefore by definition that is where you will find true attachment with God. [I am not saying good character is universal in the Litvak world but rather that it characterizes that world. Exceptions do not discount the rule.] [I admit the Dark Side has enter into the Litvak world. however there still is a trace of authentic Torah.]

 The actual source from where Rav Nahman [Breslov] (LeM vol I ch 12 annd 28 ) brings the idea of Torah scholars that are demons does not say that exact idea. The actual Zohar [Parshat Pinchas] does say there are demons that are expert in Torah. But then Rav Nahman deduces that since there are Jewish demons and Gentile demons thus it seems that these demons can enter into people and take over their minds and souls. Actually there are plenty of examples as we know about some murderers that actually feel that their minds were taken over. 

The problem with demonic Torah scholars I think is that they ruin the reputation of Torah when it becomes clear to people what they actually are under the fancy clothing and pretense. [This is think is the reason you see this subject raised in the LeM  so many times.--Not however always in the same way. Sometimes he talks about מפרסמים של שקר famous religious leaders that are deceivers. Sometimes he talks about not giving authority to those who are not fit. 

My impression is that if people would simply pay attention to the signature of the Gra on the famous letter of excommunication and to Rav Shach, they they would be better off. After all the general Litvak yeshiva world is about straight Torah with no pretenses or claims. What you see is what you get.

[There is no question that Rav Nachman undderstands that there are demonic forces in the world a a large portion of them occupy the souls of people that look and act like Torah scholars. Thee is however a way to be saved from them and that is by  faith in the wise. That is to believe that the Gra must have had some reason for putting his signature on the letter of excommunication even if we may not understand the reason right now. --However I think I can see the reason. The Gra saw through the façade of deception.