Musar movement to gain Fear of God. [Musar I should make clear is not the Gemara, but it contains the teachings of the Gemara as related to Fear of God and being a mensch--i.e. having good midot character.]

In the Musar movement it is thought that the way to gain Fear of God is by learning Musar. And this has always seemed to me to be a weak plea. Where do you see such a thing in the books of Musar of the Rishonim? No where. Just the opposite, they all repeat the claim to contemplate the amazing works of God," is what brings to fear of God. And what is this contemplation according to the Rambam in the Guide and Mishna Torah? Learning Physics and Metaphysics as these subjects were understood by the ancient Greeks.   

But you have to piece this together from various places in the Guide. In one place he equates learning the Work of Creation (Physics) with attaining Fear of God. And learning the work of the Divine Chariot [Metaphysics] with Attaining Love of God. But it is in the introduction that he explains that what the sages called "the Work of Creation" is Physics as learned by the ancient Greeks. [Just that that knowledge was lost from Israel he explains.] And "The Divine Chariot" is Metaphysics as learnt by the Greeks. [This at least refers to the set of books of Aristotle called the Metaphysics.]

I admit my own studies in these directions have taken a hit. By the time I got around to step into the waters of Physics and Metaphysics my time and energy were depleted. [Not even to mention the fact that to really get into Physics, it helps to have a high I.Q., which I do not have. But that is not to say that a high I.Q. is the only way. The better way is through Fear of God which helps as the verse says, "The Beginning of Wisdom is the Fear of the Lord." But then we have gone in a circle --since as mentioned above, learning Physics is the path to Fear of God. So in the long run, we have to conclude that Rav Israel Salanter was right-that even to get the foot into the door of Fear of God is by Musar.--the books about being a mensch, having good midot and fear of God authored by the Rishonim.I should add that the main Musar book is the Obligations of the Hearts by Ibn Pakuda but that translation by Ibn Tibon is hard. Still it is worth the effort.

Intellectuals of social studies departments and and the religious world denigrate STEM because they want the power and prestige that comes to physicists and mathematicians

Critical Race Theory is supposed to sound scientific. Something like "The Theory of Relativity." So the people that are teaching "critical race theory" are supposed to be on the same intellectual plane as Nuclear Scientists.https://www.blogger.com/blog/stats/week/7094454024638111815

 

But this is just one example of a much wider phenomenon: "Physics Jealousy" People that want the same prestige and power that comes to physicists and mathematicians, but they can not get it. (This includes the religious world.) So they make up some system by which they can denigrate the natural sciences and prop up their own garbage. 

It is unreasonable to imagine that intellectuals of the social social studies departments who debates mean nothing to anyone [including themselves' do not desire power.  Just the opposite. It is all about power.

students of the 60's

 The students of the 60's themselves were influenced by the Frankfurt School. Their books were the popular books of the 60’s like The One Dimensional Man. They thought if one is not a Marxist, then he is a Nazi. They said everyone and all society of the USA, unless they are radical Marxists, then they are Nazis. [They came from Weimer Germany where such a world view was true.] But not in the USA. For in the USA there was and still is a Middle.

It is incongruous to think of Sunny Southern California as Nazism in disguise.

So the lesson is: most of what passes today as "Torah" is not authentic

 I was thinking about Shar Yashuv today and it occurred to me that Rav Freifeld had a tremendous insight for how to make a yeshiva that would help new comers understand authentic Torah. That is to leave out the fluff. To get people into authentic learning of Gemara and Tosphot as soon as possible. 

And further it occurred to me that great insight of the Rambam that just like one can not add to the prophets so can one not add to the actual Oral Law--the two Talmuds, the Midrashei Halacha and Midrashei Agada,

So while the commentaries are valuable in so far as they are the process of learning and understanding Torah, they still are not the actual Torah which is only what is the actual books handed down by the sages of the Mishna and Gemara.

So the lesson is: most of what passes today as "Torah" is not authentic

Critical race theory is pseudo science and just a tool for blacks to destroy the white race.

 Karl popper's idea here makes sense. He approached Adler and asked how does he know his psychological theory to be true? The answer: I have many clinical cases which show it to be true. Popper answered: Then if you would have one more case that would be another proof. Then it occurred to him that real science can only be that which can be disproven. Thus in the case brought here CRT, the same idea is applicable. People start out with an axiom [that all whites are racists] that no amount of evidence will ever be able to refute. So CRT is pseudo science, since it can not be disproven by any conceivable experiment.

If people would learn authentic science  by the way of Rav Nahman (--i.e., saying the words and going on,-)they would never be fooled by pseudo science. The only reason people do not do this already is that they have no faith in themselves. They think because they do not understand complex Mathematics at first glance, that means that they can not understand it. But that is simply short sighted small mindedness. All they need to know is that by saying the words, eventually the understanding enters into one in the subterranean lays of the mind and soul.

So how did American curriculum get lost in mud?  American curriculum was a lot better in the old days–the three R’s Reading Writing, and Arithmetic. And the Sputnik came along and there was an extra emphasis on STEM in society. But somewhere along the lines some agenda seeped in from somewhere. I heard the suggestion that it all came from the Frankfurt School and the Fabian Society. These were those that came from Weimer Germany. They thought if people were not extreme Left Communist, then they were in secret really Nazis. 

Critical Race Theory is just away for blacks to destroy the white race.

repeating every chapter of Gemara ten times.

In the Conversations of Rav Nahman  76. is brought the system of learning of saying the words of what you are studying as fast as possible and to go on. Review in this method only applies after one has finished the book completely.

It seems that this method can be applied to the hard sciences also--or at least that is what I have tried to do or myself.

But I wanted to mention that hearing and learning from an expert is also important.  

I have mentioned this before in regard to Shar Yashuv and the Mir Yeshiva in NY--where, thank God, I found grace in God's eyes to grant to me to learn from gedolei Torah [great sages in Torah] R. Naphtali Yeager, R. Shmuel Berenbaum, and later in Uman with David Bronson.

Still I should add that one also needs an depth session. I heard from Rav Freifeld the idea of repeating every chapter of Gemara ten times. And in fact later at the Mir I used to repeat every Pnei Yehoshua at least ten times. This system of learning of lots of review I feel is very important --but only when it is possible. Sometimes you realize that no matter how much you review, it will not help and just bog you down, But there are times when lots of review can be extremely important. [The idea of review I found very helpful when I was at the Polytechnic Institute of NYU doing Physics.]]

In movies, it is often the father who is the evil jerk. In Western Society to look down on one's parents is thought to be a good thing. 

That does not fit with  "Honor your father and your mother."

So sometimes to do the right thing, one has to go against society 

[In this regard I want to mention that while I was at the Mir Yeshiva in NY I got the idea about the centrality of  good character ("midot tovot") in Torah. And that certainly was exactly what my parents were telling to be "a mensch".]

 And I must add that by not walking in the path of ones parents, one is certainly not honoring them.