Rav Nahman made a very big deal about sexual purity, and I can see that he was right on one hand. But there is also the danger of adding and or subtracting from what the Torah commands, -as its says in Devarim Deuteronomy,  not to add or subtract from the law. after all in Torah there are things that are emphasizing and things which are less emphasized-- and it is not up to every individual to decide on his or her own what is really important and what is not.

For a simple and well know example: lashon hara [slander]. וויתר הקדוש ברוך הוא על עבודה זרה  גילוי עריות שפיכות דמים ולא וויתר על לשון הרע  God let go and forgave sexual sin, murder and idolatry in the time of the first temple but did not forgive them for lashon hara.

Even though there are specific conditions in which one can speak negatively about others as a rule anything one says about others that is negative comes under the category of lason hara.

So we see that there is a hierarchy of values in Torah and it is not just up to everyone to decide for themselves what is more important and what is less. 

For this reason it is worthwhile to learn the Gates of Repentance which gives a basic overview of the commandments and their degrees of being more or less important 

 I was interested in the issue of idolatry and thus learned Sanhedrin 64 and onwards until the next chapter, and also that Tosphot on shituf שיתוף. Shituf שיתוף is combing the name of God with another. This comes up in the Gemara and right there on the page Tosphot deals with Christianity. To Tosphot it is not idolatry since they worship God, but they join God with a representative. So it is shituf שיתוף.

at least that is one opinion in tosphot. but when i learned that tosphot with david bronson, he noticed that there seemed to be a few other approaches in that very same tosphot.

At any rate, the problems with Christianity are (bitul hamitzvot) nullification of the commandments -which comes from Paul, not Jesus. The other is worship of a person who is not the first cause. that is wrong even given that he was the Messiah son of Josef as held by Rav Avraham Abulafia. a person being considered ''divine'' is not against the torah as stated by the Ari Rav Izhak Luria about Avraham, Izhak yaakov and others who were souls of Emanation which is totally Godliness.  

 My impression in Ukraine was most people were more happy with living in the USSR rather than after the fall of the Soviet state. I base this on the fact that after Rosh Hashanah in Uman , i stayed there for long periods and whenever i went to the local markets i asked people if they were happy that the USSR was gone. And the answer was always the same except for two people. Everyone said ''Things were better under the USSR.'' The two people that disagreed with this were  a good friend of mine. The other was the home owner of the place I was staying at for seven years. He was of Tartar decent so I can see why his feelings would have been different.

 There is a good reason to support someone learning Torah. But there also a  problem about the mentality involved. Far too often people in kollel get the idea that they are the Patrician class while the rest of us plebeians only exist to give them money. But in authentic Torah thought, there is no class distinction. Anyone who wants to sit and learn Torah even on a beginners level  is equal to someone learning at the Mir or Brisk..

 After the Ukraine destroyed the bridge linking the Crimea with mainland, there is no question that russia will retaliate in a massive way including nuclear strikes to defend the four annexed territories. U really don't understand why someone does not try to  the lessen tensions instead of pouring on rhetoric that will ignite global catastrophe.

 I mentioned to someone in the local Breslov [Na Nach ] place that if I had known better, I would have spent half time in Shar Yashuv [a great Litvak yeshiva in NY] and half time in university. But in this conversation, it came up about what I would have majored in.  -- Philosophy. And he pointed out that therefore it was great that I did not go to university.--as we know nowadays how far philosophy has become ''obviously false'' [in the famous words of the great philosopher John Searle]

[Physics would not have been possible for me at that time since I was not aware of the way of learning of Rav Nahman of just saying the words and going on.  With that method I did in fact go to NYU university and majored in Physics]

 I realize that doing lots of review is an essential part of the Litvak world. I recall that when I mentioned the idea of fast learning [saying the words and going on] to Motti Friefeld, he made it clear that review is the proper way of learning. But in Shar Yashuv there was such an emphasis on deep learning and review that i sort of had to rebel in order to  make any progress at all. And this idea of review is mentioned in the Gemara about that disciple who had to learn one thing 400 times in order to get the idea at all.  

In the long run, i think  the general path of the litvak world is deep learning in the morning and fast learning in the afternoon --and that combination makes the most sense for me.

[fast learning means with tosphot,, just with less staying on the same page.]