n58 music file in mp3 [n58 in midi format]  n58 nwc

 r65 midi file This was written in Uman in May of 2016.I was at the time learning with my learning partner, David Bronson, somewhere in Shas. [All that learning eventually became a second little book]

You might ask why did he not write anything? The reason is he never thought he had any great insights. His questions  and insights on Tosphot or Gemara were to him completely obvious. But I was familiar with the learning done in the great Litvak yeshivot and realized tat his insights were anything but common. I figured if I did not write them down along with my own input, they would be lost forever.

[I should mention that my actual learning time was small. He did all the work on the subject before I got to the tziun of Rav Nahman where we were learning. And the actual learning session was just one hour.]

e64 in mp3 format

 e64 Music File [in midi format]This I think was written around 2011 for that was the end of writing the e series.

That was the time I was learning Bava Metzia with my learning partner David Bronson. I still regret leaving that period for we were nearing the end of perek HaMkabel and I was writing down the ideas we were developing together and writing them down in the little booklet Ideas in Bava Metzia עיוני בבא מציעא

After a year we started again [on general ideas in Shas], but that Bava Mezia thing was never finished. I still wonder what amazing idea I would have heard from him if we had continued on in Bava Metzia. 

 I hate to be critical of Rav Nahman of Breslov who was great tzadik, but I think that to merit to Torah one needs to be in a Litvak Yeshiva based on the Gra. And you can see this in the writings of Rav Nahman himself who said that before Abraham anyone could come close to God. But after Avraham, one needed to come to God through the path of Avraham. Same with Isaac and Jacob. And then Moses. So after the tzadik has come into the world, the path towards God is through that tzadik. So the path of Torah is through the Gra. But one may obtain great and important advice from Rav Nahman, but to get to Torah is through the Gra.

The reason this is important is that there is something about the Litvish environment that is wholesome and clean. So even if not for oneself, it is good for one's children. 

 In the Scroll of Ester you can see the decree of the king could not be changed. He told Ester that she could send another letter, but not change the original decree. So she wrote that  Israel could defend themselves. But the enemies still had the original decree, plus almost a full year of warning. So did they defend themselves? From the Scroll itself all you see is that the enemies of Israel were wiped out. Did no one defend themselves? Apparently the ones that were the most afraid decided to convert. But that is about it.

I wanted to mention that this אחשוורוש is Xerxes [that is how Xerxes is said in Persian] of the 300 Spartans. So if you look in Herodotus you will see an event with an advisor of Xerxes.  The name looks suspiciously like Mordechai. [ The king was having second thoughts about invading Greece. He was warned from heaven that he must go ahead. Then he put Mordechai on his throne at night to see if he would have the same dream. He did.]

not to hurt feelings אונאת דברים

One is required to hear every word of the Scroll of Ester. The interesting fact about this is that in the Mir in NY the person that read the scroll was from the old Mir in  Europe. But he read in such away that you could barely hear him. Even if someone coughed or scratched their shoe, you lost the whole thing.   So instead of going through that, I went to Rav Avigdor Miller's place next door. In the meantime people complained to Rav Shmuel Berenbaum, that few people could fulfill their obligation. But year after year, Rav Shmuel refused to replace that fellow. Why? So as not to hurt his feelings. [Or in Litvish jargon שלא לפגוע בכבודו של בן אדם 

Of course this was an important maxim at the Mir, but this is just one example.

Yu might ask, in a completely justified way, "How was that permitted?"I would imagine that it comes from גדול כבוד הבריות שדוחה לא תעשה שבתורה."Great is the honor of creatures for it pushes away even a prohibition of the Torah." Plus: אונאת דברים היא לאו דאורייתא "Hurting with words is a prohibition of the Torah."

Not to be stubborn about anything in the world.

 שלא להתעקש על שום דבר שבעולם Not to be stubborn about anything in the world. This I noticed last night in the book "The Life of Rav Nahman". He brings there that this is like when a teacher telling the child "Remember! Remember!" Eventually the child begins to think the  proper translation is "Remember."

Still one must have a hierarchy of values. What is the thing to emphasize and which ones are the things not to to be stubborn about. 

For the Gra, the thing to emphasize is learning Torah and this makes a of of sense to me.