There are three places in the writings of Rav Nahman that emphasize not to be extra strict. I realize this looking for extra things to be strict about is a fundamental flaw in my own personality. One is supposed to keep Torah plain and simple --not to add and not to subtract. However I would like to suggest that this is not to say there is nothing one ought to be strict about. Rather it is a matter of getting the priorities straight. Things that the Torah itself is strict, (like not to do idolatry), one ought to be extra strict. Good character also is high on the list of the things the Torah is strict about. As gaining good character trait is one of the reasons for the mitzvot as all the Rishonim that list the mitzvot go into [for example Sefer HaChinuch].
21.9.21
Henry VIII really could marry Catherine because that is the exact case of Yibum.
Henry VIII really could marry Catherine because that is the exact case of Yibum. Arthur had married Catherine but did not leave any children. So Henry was obligated to marry her. He did not need the excuse that the marriage had not been consummated. And when he wanted to annul it, he did not understand the verse that marrying one's brother's wife is a an "erva" [prohibition of the sex because of close family relations.]because that verse refers to a case where the brother has had children.
I should add that the sexual acts of Leviticus 18 are not all because of family relations. But all are under the category of "erva". E.g., a nida is an erva. [That is a woman who has seen blood. She is forbidden because of Erva until she dips herself into a natural body of water like a river or sea or spring. All the "arayot" are ae guilty of a " Karet offence, but not all get the death penalty. Nida is an example of that. It is Karet but not a death penalty. A homosexual relation is also an "erva but does get the death penalty.]"
Musar Ethics
19.9.21
my dad's contribution to science
I wanted to explain what was my dad's contribution to science besides the InfraRed telescope. That is this: a radio is imposing a signal on a preset signal. Thus laser communication is the same thing except that you are using laser frequency instead of radio frequency. This he developed at TRW until the incident with the KGB stealing secrets from TRW was revealed, and TRW lost all their contracts and became a car company for 20 years. All their aerospace technology was sold to the other aerospace companies.
[The paper trail I think was lost. However I was very well aware of his work because I saw it myself, and it was explained to me at TRW itself in some detail when I visited there. But I should add that even though this is an incredible advance comparable with radio communication because of the much wider band width, still the reason for its development was not to improve communications, but rather to keep secrets away from the Russians that could listen to radio waves that spread, while laser beams don't spread out much.]
I should mention that my dad was not embarrassed of his name Rosenblum. Rather he had decided to change it to something shorter [Rosten] when he had to sign the release papers of German civilians after WWII. [He was able to speak German fluently [since he grew u in a Yidish speaking home] and thus was placed in position to interrogate German civilians to make sure they were not part of the Nazi Party.] {Yidish is a off shoot of German so it is easy to switch from one to the other.]
"Seven Wisdoms."
There is an aspect of the Gra that is less known than the learning Torah part. That is the emphasis of the "Seven Wisdoms." [As mentioned by Rav Baruch of Shkolav in his introduction to his translation of Euclid's Elements. {the Gra: "According to the lack of knowledge in any one of the Seven Wisdoms, one will lack knowledge of Torah a hundred fold. "}
So while Litvak yeshivot tend to follow the Gra in many important aspects, there is still this part that tends to be left out.
Why? One reason is that to gain any real expertise in any field there is the 10,000 hour rule. [Which almost equals four years of college in that field.]So to gain any real understanding of Torah, one requires at least a good four years in an advanced Litvak yeshiva.
So the lack of emphasis is not a problem, but rather a lack of awareness of this approach of the Gra--such that at least after the basic four years, one can start to begin his or her education in Mathematics and Physics.
The "proletariat" [the lower class workers] is interchangeable with anyone that wants to claims to be oppressed. {As we see today in the USA.}
Trotsky believed that Marx and Lenin achieved the highest spiritual level possible for mankind.[Thus he wrote in his My Life] And this is what seems to me to point to a sort of self contradiction in his thinking. He believed that Communism was the perfect system. --Or at least the most perfect up until that stage of development of mankind. (It was thought to be the natural development of Capitalism. Thus there is no reason to say that it might not lead to some further advance in that kind of Marxist thought.]
Yet in the thought of Trotsky, Stalin had subverted and uprooted the Communist Revolution. [He called it the "Thermidor".] So one might be inclined to ask how is it that the will of one person can uproot the "Perfect System?"
Besides this there is another flaw in this system. The "proletariat" [the lower class workers] is interchangeable\ with anyone that wants to claims to be oppressed. {As we see today in the USA.}
It thus starts with a world in which there in unlimited plenty, and assumes that the only reason anyone does not have plenty of stuff is because they are being oppressed.