Belief in God is rational. Everything has a cause. So unless there is a first cause, then you would have an infinite regress. And then nothing could exist. Therefore there must be a first cause. Therefore God, the first cause, exists. QED.
23.5.22
The issue of my core belief system came up today and I wanted to mention that the way I see Torah is that what matters is "to be a mensch" midot tovot. Everything else is secondary. So I really do not care much how one comes to good midot. This idea is based to some degree on the books of Musar [mediaeval books about morality] but also on the Gemara itself that says the commandments do have known reasons. But the Gemara does not give them. The later rishonim give the reasons for the commandments and they are in short--to be a mensch. But to be a mensch of course means a lot more than being a decent human being. So one does have to learn the basic core books of Musar to understand what being a mensch means.
Being a mensch should be common sense, but I guess that is no longer common.
22.5.22
כתובות דף י''ט. רמב''ם הלכות מלווה ולווה פרק ב' הלכה ו' Ketuboth 19 Rambam 2:6
כתובות דף י''ט
לוי borrows from ראובן and ראובן borrows from שמעון. Comes time of payment and ראובן has no money. You take from לוי and give to שמעון. If both לוי and ראובן say the loan was paid you pay no attention to them since they might be conspiring against שמעון. The ר''ן asks: Why not collect the document שטר of the loan from ראובן and give it to שמעון? He answers because the document itself is not money. I was wandering around at the sea shore and it occurred to me that there is a very good reason not to collect the document of the loan from ראובן and give it to שמעון as the ר''ן asks. If שמעון would have the שטר then he could collect the משועבדים the property that לוי sold after he borrowed money from ראובן. So why does the ר''ן not answer this answer which seems like a better answer?
[Just to make this clear: Just think about it. Giving the document to שמעון would make it seem that the original loan was from לוי to שמעון. And thus all of לוי's property would be obligated in that loan. But that is way too much. The only thing that ר' נתן says in כתובות י''ט is that if ראובן has no property we take from לוי and give to שמעון, not even property that לוי sold. And even more so. If שמעון could גובה from property that לוי sold, you would have an infinite regress. No one would buy anything. So on one hand giving the document to שמעון does not give to שמעון any more power than ראובן had. But still שמעון might at some future date borrow from someone else and also have no money to pay back the loan, and so on and so forth forever. The property of לוי would never be safe.
Ketuboth page 19. Rambam Laws of Loans. 2:6
Levi borrow from Reuven and Reuven borrows from Shimon. Comes time of payment and Reuven has no money. You take from Levi and give to Shimon. If both Levi and Reuven say the loan was paid you pay no attention to them since they might be conspiring against Shimon.
The Ran asks why not collect the document of the loan from Reuven and give it to Shimon. He answers because the document itself is not money.
I was wandering around at the sea shore and it occurred to me that there is a very good reason not to collect the document of a loan from Reuven and give it to Shimon as the Ran asks. If Shimon would have the document then he could collect the Meshuabadim --the property that Levi sold after he borrowed money from Reuven. So why does the Ran not answer this answer which seems like a better answer?
[Just to make this clear: Just think about it. Giving the document to Shimon would make it seem that the original loan was from Levi to Shimon. And thus all of Levi's property would be obligated in that loan. But that is way too much. The only thing that R. Natan says in Ketuboth 19 is that if Reuven has no property we take from Levi and give to Shimon, not even property that Levi sold. And even more so. If Shimon could collect from even property that Levi sold you would have an infinite regress. No one would buy anything. So on one hand giving the document to Shimon does not give to Shimon any more power than Reuven had. But still Shimon might at some future date borrow from someone else and also have no money to pay back the loan, and so on and so forth forever. The property of Levi would never be safe.
כתובות דף י''ט
לוי לווה מראובן וראובן לווה משמעון. מגיע זמן התשלום ולראובן אין כסף. אתה לוקח מלוי ונותן לשמעון. אם גם לוי וגם ראובן אומרים שההלוואה שולמה, אתה לא שם לב אליהם מכיוון שהם עלולים ליצור קשר נגד שמעון. שואל הר''ן: למה לא לגבות את מסמך שטר ההלוואה מראובן ולתת אותו לשמעון? הוא עונה כי המסמך עצמו אינו כסף. (שטרות לאו בני גוביינא נינהוא). הסתובבתי על שפת הים ועלה בדעתי שיש סיבה טובה מאוד לא לאסוף (לגבות) את מסמך ההלוואה מראובן ולתת אותו לשמעון כפי שהר''ן מבקש. אם לשמעון היה את השטר, אז הוא היה יכול לאסוף את המשועבדים (את הרכוש שמכר לוי לאחר שהוא לווה כסף מראובן). אז למה הר''ן לא עונה על התשובה הזו שנראית כמו תשובה טובה יותר
רק כדי להבהיר את זה: רק תחשוב על זה. מתן המסמך לשמעון יראה שההלוואה המקורית תהיה מלוי לשמעון. ולפיכך יתחייבו כל רכושו של לוי באותה הלוואה. אבל זה יותר מדי. הדבר היחיד שאומר ר' נתן בכתובות י''ט הוא שאם לראובן אין רכוש, אנחנו לוקחים מלוי ונותנים לשמעון, לא רכוש שמכר לוי. ועוד יותר מכך. אם שמעון היה יכול לגבות מנכס שלוי מכר, הייתה לך נסיגה אינסופית. אף אחד לא היה קונה כלום. אז מצד אחד מתן המסמך לשמעון לא נותן לשמעון יותר כוח ממה שהיה לראובן. אבל בכל זאת שמעון עלול באיזשהו תאריך עתידי ללוות ממישהו אחר וגם לא יהיה לו כסף להחזיר את ההלוואה, וכן הלאה וכן הלאה לנצח. רכושו של לוי לעולם לא יהיה בטוח.
Rittenhouse trial: Key state witness admits he pointed a gun at Rittenhouse before he was shot
KENOSHA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The sixth day of the Kyle Rittenhouse trial shifted focus from the first shooting to the second and third. Witnesses recalled the moments when Anthony Huber was shot in the chest and killed, and Gaige Grosskreutz testified about being shot in the arm and surviving. Grosskreutz was the most anticipated witness called to the stand so far.
The state tried to show Grosskreutz was not a threat and even had his hands up when he approached Rittenhouse in the street. But the defense got Grosskreutz to admit he had a loaded gun in his hand, and that Rittenhouse did not shoot him until Grosskreutz lowered his hands and pointed that gun at him.
Eyewitness video from the scene shows as more people approached Rittenhouse, he was knocked to the ground. Grosskreutz was roughly five feet away, with his Glock pistol in his right hand and his cellphone in his left hand. At first, his hands were raised.
Prosecutor Thomas Binger asked him on the stand, "What was going through your mind at this particular moment?" Grosskreutz replied, "That I was going to die."