I do not see how people can distinguish between civilians and military in the Ukraine. My own landlord in the Ukraine said to me openly that if the Russians would ever come there he would sniper them from his windows.

And for many years people that were in the majority in the cities saying privately [to me] that things were better under the Russians.

In the open marketplace I could not find a single person that said things were better under after the fall of the USSR. Everyone that I asked said things were better then, not now.

SO who speaks for the Ukraine? The average women selling their fruit and eggs at the market who always say things were better under Russian rule, or the violent fanatics that threaten to murder anyone who voices support for Russia? 

And I can even say why this was the case--the Ukraine was a kind of  place of no law. Theft is the accepted norm. I can see that Western people that volunteer will be surprized when they find their money and possessions stolen --when they thought they were coming to help the Ukrainians.

 In the book of Job we find God sided with Job, even though he was wrong. Not with Elihu the son the Esau even though he was right.  Elihu had said exactly as the Gemara itself says אין  ייסורים בלי עוון There are no afflictions without sin. So we see it is not what one believes or says that is the key difference. Rather it is what one is, his essence--his deeds.

 [I am referring to the end of the Book of Job where God sides with Job in spite of everything his friends had said was true. 

Acta non verba-actions not words is what matters. 

 שיחו בכל נפלאותיו (speak of all of His Wonders) psalms105 It is hard to imagine that to speak of the wonders of God would not include his wonders in the way He created the Universe. The Laws of Physics. And Rav Nahman clearly had a idea about this saying the there is hidden Torah in the ground. טבעו בארץ שעריה [the gates of Torah sank into the ground. Now the hidden Torah is sunk into the Laws of Physics.] 

[I am referring to one of the last Torah lessons in volume one of the LeM] 

 z63 midi file  e21 in midi

s7 [in midi]

I want to thank those looking at my blog for your interest in the music has given me motivation to continue to edit older pieces. But z63 is more recent. e21 is from around 2005 but needed editing

music file j1 and e21

j1 midi file

e21 

These were written in Uman. I did not find any place where I could sit and learn Torah as I had desired, so I just found some corner in Uman where I could spend some time learning Torah with a learning partner [David Bronson who spent all of his time at the ziun of Rav Nahman], and then spend my time alone writing music. [That learning session with Bronson was only an hour a day, but I gained a tremendous amount by learning from him.]]

 Even though I saw the greatness of Torah, it was clear that people that assumed the role for pay of religious teachers were what Rav Nachman said were Torah Scholars that are demons. LeM I:12, 28 [note 1] it was clear to me that there is a difference between those that learn Torah for its own sake and those that get a paid salary for being religious teachers. But I am in no way against kollel leit [people] that are learning Torah for its own sake--but to do so much accept a kollel check.

Rather the issue is the phony semicha ordination that is meant to defraud people. For real semicha ceased sometime during the period of the amoraim [sages of the Talmud]. Anything called ordination now automatically shows its bearer to be a fraud. [One should run from anyone bearing the title of a religious teacher, as one runs from cancer.]

So the issue you might say is that I do not agree with using Torah as a means of making money, but more accurately you should say I saw something off in those that do so. [I simply had no mental tools to understand the problem them in until I saw Rav Nahman's description of Torah scholars that are demons. Then it all started making sense. 

 [note 1] This issue is brought in other places in the LeM of Rav Nahman. LeM I:8, 61 II:1, 8 and that last one is the last Torah lesson Rav Nahman every said. So he saw this issue as important.]  

n65 music file

 n65 midi 

n65 mp3  n65 nwc

This is another old file from long ago. I just decided to share old files with people since I am not writing anything new. I am what Rav Nahman calls in מוחין דקטנות [a state of a fallen mind.]