A Passover offering can only be a male. So let's say one consecrates a female for a Passover offering and she gives birth to a male. This is one of those issues where the Rambam seems to contradict the Gemara directly.

A Passover offering can only be a male. So let's say one consecrates a female for a Passover offering and she gives birth to a male. 

This is one of those issues  where the Rambam seems to contradict the Gemara directly. Yet there are ways of answering for him.

The issue is this. The Rambam decided the law that if the mother sheep was pregnant or not, the sheep that was born is sold.[The money is then used to bring a peace offering].  This is not like R. Elazar who said in the case she was pregnant (at the time of consecration), the born sheep can be brought as a Passover offering. Ravina [in Temura page 19 side a] says the reason for R Elazar is the sheep that has not been born yet is thought to be separate from the mother. So it certainly looks that the reason the sages said the born sheep can not be brought is that they hold the sheep in the womb of the mother is considered as part of the mother.

Yet the Rambam decided like the sages in Temura pg 19, but also that the unborn sheep is separate from the mother.

This looks to be a contradiction. Rav Isaac Zev [son of Rav Chaim of Brisk] says to answer the Rambam we can say the sages agree that the unborn sheep is not part of the mother, [in spite of the clear implication of the Gemara]. But that just like when the mother was not pregnant yet and then became as such then the unborn is dragged along with her category--to be sold and the money used to buy a peace offering. So they say the same thing even when she was already pregnant.

Rav Shach asks the question that this clearly not like the opinion that the unborn is not part of the mother. He attempts to find a different answer for the Rambam. --that  the fact that the mother sheep could only be sanctified as far as monetary values goes, that is what causes the unborn sheep also to be dragged along with that.

Here the Rambam seems to be at odds with the Gemara. It would be simpler to say that the sages hold the unborn sheep is part of the mother.  But the Rambam is interested in the law, and so  here he is wondering what R. Yohanan would answer for the sages.  And he has a reason to say the law is like R. Yochanan, that the unborn sheep is not a part of his mother. 

We know how Ravina explains the argument between the sages and R. Elazar. But how would R Yochanan explain it? Clearly he would not say that the sages disagree with him. So we come to this idea of Rav Shach that the act declaring the mother sheep to be Passover offering which can only mean monetary value must transfer to the unborn sheep also.  

the idea of learning Torah as being the highest ideal.

 I think is a sad fact that people do not have the idea of learning Torah as being the highest ideal. This is an essential approach of the Litvak world [based on the Gra]. But I have wondered about how this fits with other aspects of Torah. For example, attachment with God? Or other things in Torah which seem to be prime values. 

One is the land of Israel. That is after all an open verse [in Deuteronomy in the section called the Section on Fear.] "Do all these commandments in order that you should come to the Land and dwell in the Land."

Also the sages of Musar pointed out that great importance of good character. This comes even before the commandments as it says to walk in His ways and to keep his  commandments. The first thing in the verse comes first in preference as we see in the seven types of fruit that the Land Of Israel was praised for. 

Plus, I have also noted that the command to learn Torah is wider than is thought [because to some Rishonim it includes Physics and Metaphysics]. And it more narrow than what it thought because as the Rambam says Just like there is no adding or subtracting from the written Law so there is no adding or subtracting from the Oral Law. "That means the only things that are authentic Torah are the Old Testament the two Talmuds, and the various midrashei Halacha an Midrashei Agada. So anything written after about 500 AD does not count as Torah.  

defending Taiwan.

 There is a kind of difference between democracies. While I can see the importance of supporting democracy, that does not mean the same thing everywhere. So to give one example I can see the importance of defending Taiwan. Some might object because of the USA involvment in Vietnam. But that is not the same thing as defending South Vietnam. (It was about as a corrupt democracy as one could imagine. Thar is exactly why many people in South Vietnam supported the North.) Others might object to the USA involvment in Afghanistan. But defending Taiwan is not same thing as trying to create a Democracy in Afghanistan.

 

[ I am referring to the problem that China seems intend on conquering Taiwan like it did Hong Kong. What is it that I have against  Communism? It is that not everyone that claims to be exploited has been exploited. Some have and some have not. If you attribute validity to anyone who claims to have been exploited, you end up with the way the USA is becoming nowadays.]

Even though there is a lot of great insights and advice in the books of Rav Nahman, still there area few areas where there is a problem. The idea of "graves of the righteous" seems to be problematic.

 Even though there is a lot of great insights and advice in the books of Rav Nahman, still there area few areas where there is a problem. The idea of "graves of the righteous" seems to be problematic. See the Nefesh Hachaim of Rav Chaim of Voloshin [a major disciple of the Gra] that one that intends to tie his soul with even the greatest of saints is doing idolatry. 

There is some aspect of "being connected with the soul of a tzadik" that is a problem. And even more so the soul of a saint who has died.

The reason is there is a sort of "kelipa" [force of uncleanliness] that is attached to people that have died. {Normally this is called the "angel of death".} So we hope the souls of our loved ones who have passed on have found a better world to exist in. But in this world, there is a sort of uncleanliness that is attached to the dead. You might take a look at the Book of Numbers to see this and also in the Mishna Seder Taharot, tractates Kelim and Tents. 

On the other hand there is plenty of advice in the books of Rav Nahman that I find to be indispensable. sine qua non. [Private talking with God, method of learning, etc.] 

To Ibn Pakuda and the Rambam there is an aspect of math and physics which come under the category of "Learning Torah."

 To me it seems that the IUT Inter- Universal Teichmuller Theory and also the Scholze Langland's Program connection between Geometry and Algebra are important advances.  But I do not have anything to say about either since I am involved in trying to study both.  [That is even though recently I decided to quit the study of the Langland's program in order to have a bit more time to look into IUT.

Why is this important? u might ask. Answer: To Ibn Pakuda and the Rambam there is an aspect of math and physics which come under the category of "Learning Torah."

This is seen in Chovot Levavot Gate of Behina chapter 3, and in the Mishna Torah concerning the idea of dividing one's learning time into three parts. And right there the Rambam says "the things called Pardes [ field of fruit trees] are included in Gemara" and he defined "Pardes" in the first four chapters of Mishna Torah as Physics and Metaphysics. There however, it is possible to mistake his intension. But In the Guide for the Perplexed his intension is much more clear.

[I am starting to see that Shinichi Mochizuki's IUT is built on a lot of previous results that I need to work through.]]

a decree that is not accepted by all Israel has not validity

Ezra made a decree not to give the first tithe to the tribe of Levi (but rather to the kohanim priests) because they did not come with him to Jerusalem. This decree was ignored as there are plenty of places in the Gemara where maasar [tithe] was given to a Levi. That includes the famous event of Rabban Gamliel and his friends were on a ship and he separated the first tithe to give to R. Yehoshua who was a Levi.

This fits well with the law stated in the Gemara that a decree that is not accepted by all Israel has not validity. Even is so even though at first it was thought that the decree was accepted, and then the courts went out and checked and saw that people did not in fact accept it.

The implication for us nowadays is that we ought to concentrate on keeping the laws of the Torah which are divine, and be aware that much of what people think are obligatory decrees from the later sages are no longer applicable since most of Israel do not abide by them.  [That is the case even though the religious imagine that only they are Israel and everyone else is a goy.]

But even though Forward to Kant looks like a very good development, still I would be more happy if Hegel was included

 There is a movement in Philosophy to get back to basics. Back to Kant. Or "Forward to Kant" as Robert Hanna puts it. Very different from the Post Kantians. But also not taking Fries and Leonard Nelson into account. But at least the destitute Analytic Philosophy about words is over. The sooner the better.

Still there is still the tendency to see Kant as being all about the human mind, not about access to the ground of Being-as a way to get beyond us humans into what is actually the basis of actual reality.

But even though Forward to Kant looks like a very good development, still I would be more happy if Hegel was included. (And why is it that there are no more Right Hegelians? To me this looks odd since the simple reading of Hegel I think is a kind of modification of Plotinus.