8.8.15
The most serious sin in regard to Torah is to attempt to redefine Torah according to one's preference.
It matters if one keeps Torah also. But even if one does not keep all or any of the commandments, the worst sin to to try to change Torah according to ones tastes. This was the reason that Gra signed the excommunication.
This also makes clear what is so wrong with the the insane religious world today which consists of many groups that have subverted the Torah to their own whims and have now tried to represent themselves as traditional.
Since it is hard to get a good idea of what Torah is about nowadays I recommend going into what is called "Rishonim." Rishonim are people that lived in a period before all the falsification of Torah began and spent their time and efforts in trying to verify and clarify what the actual approach of Torah is.
You could start also with the Geonim.
But in any case what I suggest to begin is what is called Musar. That is a generic term for medieval books of classical Jewish ethics. What makes them interesting is not the time period they were written in but the fact that their efforts were to understand what the ethics of the Written and Oral Law is without trying to falsify the subject to make it conform to their own tastes.
It matters if one keeps Torah also. But even if one does not keep all or any of the commandments, the worst sin to to try to change Torah according to ones tastes. This was the reason that Gra signed the excommunication.
This also makes clear what is so wrong with the the insane religious world today which consists of many groups that have subverted the Torah to their own whims and have now tried to represent themselves as traditional.
Since it is hard to get a good idea of what Torah is about nowadays I recommend going into what is called "Rishonim." Rishonim are people that lived in a period before all the falsification of Torah began and spent their time and efforts in trying to verify and clarify what the actual approach of Torah is.
You could start also with the Geonim.
But in any case what I suggest to begin is what is called Musar. That is a generic term for medieval books of classical Jewish ethics. What makes them interesting is not the time period they were written in but the fact that their efforts were to understand what the ethics of the Written and Oral Law is without trying to falsify the subject to make it conform to their own tastes.
7.8.15
Where Rav Elazar Menachem Shach and Rav Isaac Zev Soloveitchik disagree about the seventh year in Israel seems to be in this: Rav Soloveitchik holds land that was conquered by Jews coming out of Egypt but left by Jews coming back from Babylonia is obligated in all obligations of the land of Israel. And when it says They did not sanctify the land that means so the poor could have the fruits and vegetables that grow by themselves on the seventh year. Rav Shach does not like this. To him those lands are obligated also in tithes to the poor --not just ספיחים things that grow wild.
The way he gets to this like this: We have a Halacha to Moshe from Mount Sinai that Amon and Moav have to give tithes to the poor on the seventh year. This Rav Shach understands to be relevant to a time that those lands will be part of Israel from the Torah. That means to say that even in the future when that land will be part of Israel and obligated in all obligations that Israel is obligated in Trumah and Maasar etc still they will be required to give tithes to the poor in the seventh year. And also when such land is not part of Israel, still they have to give tithes to the poor because of a decree. From this we can understand the Gemara in Yevamot 16a. עמון ומואב מעשרים מעשר עני בשביעית דאמר מר הרבה כרכים כבשו עולי מצרים ולא כבשו עולי בבל דקדושה ראשונה קדשה לשעתה לא קדשה לעתיד לבא והניחום כדי שיסמכו עליהם עניים בשביעית
Amon and Moav gives tithes to the poor on the seventh year because many cities were conquered by those coming up from Egypt, but not by those coming up from Babylonia, and they left them so the poor would be able to depend on them in the seventh year.
That is the areas of עולי מצרים are required to give tithes to the poor on the seventh year. That is a proof that Amon and Moav also do so.
I wanted to point out that according to this way of understanding the Rambam Trumah I:5 you don't need the land to be obligated from the Torah. And we know that that is good because if we would need that that would conflict with what the Rambam says in the end of the chapter. This way we have the basic step of a halacha le'Moshe MiSinai and then a decree כעין התורה like the Torah that just like Amon and Moav would be liable in all obligation but added to that would be tithes to the poor so land of Israel proper but not conquered by עולי בבל has the same law because of a decree.
The main point that Rav Soloveitchik has I think is the fact that in מתנות עניים we doing find that the land of עולי מצרים is obligated in tithes to the poor. He only mentions Amon and Moav. On the other hand there are a few points that bring support to Rav Shach. One is the Gemara itself in Yevamot 16a. If we read it like Rav Soloveitchik it is a bit strained: "Amon and Moav give the tithe of the poor. How do we know this? Because the Jews coming up from Babylonia did not sanctify many cities so the poor would have support from them on the seventh year." According to Rav Soloveitchik what support do the poor have on the seventh year? Only the ספיחים what grows by itself. And when they returned there was no decree on the ספיחים anyway!
The wording of the Rambam is ולא פטרום. The idea in itself seems to be relevant to the next Halacha in the Rambam where we have that Beit Sh'an and Ashkelon were פטרed- left to be not obligated. So here the Rambam is saying in opposition to that that the area of עולי מצרים they did not פטר.
It is hard to create a place of Torah. I have gained a certain amount of respect for people that were able to make authentic yeshivas after seeing how the whole concept of a yeshiva is so easily derailed and most of them are cults. I can see also why Rav Chaim Solveitchik was against the Musar Movement after seeing how easily Musar itself can be sidetracked into all kinds of lunacies.
I certainly can't create a place of Torah where I am. But I think if there are people that can get together to make something real like this it is good idea to do so.
What is a place of Torah? Mainly it looks like Brisk. That is you are learning the Babylonian Talmud in the morning from around 10 A.M. until 1:30 P.M. in depth. Then from 4 P.M. until 8 P.M. fast.
There was a considerable debate whether to introduce Musar [Jewish Ethics] into this. Reb Chaim said not to. But others did so. Today most Lithuanian yeshivas have introduced a very small amount of Musar into the program. But one way of the other, the day is spent on the Talmud.
Something so simple should be relatively simple to make. Why it is hard? It is that people prefer to make money of the back of the Torah. Their major effort is to look as if they are learning Torah and use that image to scam and defraud secular Jews into giving money. The amount of scammers makes doing the real thing very difficult.
In order to be able to tell the difference between the frauds and the real thing you almost have to be a Torah scholar yourself.
What you mainly need to start with is someone who has learned how to learn by spending the proper amount of time in Ponovitch, Brisk, or the three great NY yeshivas Mir, Chaim Berlin, Torah Vedaath. That is the foundation stone. And it is in this first step that most yeshivas fail. The rosh yeshiva is usually a charismatic Am Haartz [ignorant fraud] who simply know how to act the part of the real thing.
I certainly can't create a place of Torah where I am. But I think if there are people that can get together to make something real like this it is good idea to do so.
What is a place of Torah? Mainly it looks like Brisk. That is you are learning the Babylonian Talmud in the morning from around 10 A.M. until 1:30 P.M. in depth. Then from 4 P.M. until 8 P.M. fast.
There was a considerable debate whether to introduce Musar [Jewish Ethics] into this. Reb Chaim said not to. But others did so. Today most Lithuanian yeshivas have introduced a very small amount of Musar into the program. But one way of the other, the day is spent on the Talmud.
Something so simple should be relatively simple to make. Why it is hard? It is that people prefer to make money of the back of the Torah. Their major effort is to look as if they are learning Torah and use that image to scam and defraud secular Jews into giving money. The amount of scammers makes doing the real thing very difficult.
In order to be able to tell the difference between the frauds and the real thing you almost have to be a Torah scholar yourself.
What you mainly need to start with is someone who has learned how to learn by spending the proper amount of time in Ponovitch, Brisk, or the three great NY yeshivas Mir, Chaim Berlin, Torah Vedaath. That is the foundation stone. And it is in this first step that most yeshivas fail. The rosh yeshiva is usually a charismatic Am Haartz [ignorant fraud] who simply know how to act the part of the real thing.
6.8.15
(1) The Sitra Achra [the Dark Side ] can be and often is dressed what looks like mitzvot. The Sitra Achra dresses and hides itself in Sitra DeKedusha the side of holiness. And holiness is hidden everywhere--even in secular things. Even in bad stuff.
(2) Reb Chaim from Voloshin thought that the only Divine service is learning Torah and everything else is to bring to the level of numinosity that comes into the world by means of learning Torah.
He thought that before the giving of the Torah one could serve God through and with anything. But after the giving of the Torah it is upon us simply to keep the Torah to the best of our ability.
But in the Rambam we see the mitzvot themselves are dependent on their reasons. This indicates that the reasons for the mitzvot are the things to aim for and the mitzvot themselves are to bring to these hidden purposes. (Also Reb Chaim is not taken seriously. Before you give money to a yeshiva ask what they would do if you would show up at their door and all you would want would be to sit and learn Torah and not ask for a penny what would they do? You know what they would do. They would throw you out on your nose. They don't believe in learning Torah. They believe in using Torah to get your money. )
(3) the Torah is hidden in everything and one can serve God though and with everything.
(4) But the Sitra Achra is dressed and hidden in the side of holiness. When you walk into a synagogue you are going to encounter the Dark Side.
(5) There is such a thing as Torah of the Sitra Achra. Torah of the Dark Side. You go to hear a Torah lesson from a rabbi. The probability is you will be hearing the Torah of the Sitra Achra.
(6) So we see the idea is to find the purpose of your life from the side of holiness. And to avoid the purpose that the dark side has in mind for you.
(7) So we have that in your life there is a meaning that comes from the side of holiness. But there is danger of finding and cleaving to the meaning that comes from the side of evil.
To give a few examples might be helpful. Shmuel Berenbaum you would have no trouble in discerning what was the meaning of his life. Right. Learning and teaching Torah. We don't expect that it would have been better of had becomes a mechanical engineer. As far as we can see in this case he found the meaning and numinous aspect of his life from teh side of holiness.
Albert Einstein would be another example of a person that found the proper meaning and purpose of his life--also from the side of holiness--but in a different way than Reb Shmuel.
(8) On the surface they look like two disparate purposes. But they are not. They both found the aspect of numinous aspect that applies to them from the side of holiness. Just in Physics the numinous aspect of holiness is hidden
(9) Last but not least I might mention my parents. They were not like Reb Shmuel. They did not see learning Torah as the one purpose of life though they had great faith in Torah. My Dad though a scientist was not like Albert Einstein either --not just the genius part but also he did not see science as his one and only purpose. His major meaning and the meaning of life for my mother also was in being good parents. That might not be so obvious to many people what that means. And I would have a hard time explaining it.
(2) Reb Chaim from Voloshin thought that the only Divine service is learning Torah and everything else is to bring to the level of numinosity that comes into the world by means of learning Torah.
He thought that before the giving of the Torah one could serve God through and with anything. But after the giving of the Torah it is upon us simply to keep the Torah to the best of our ability.
But in the Rambam we see the mitzvot themselves are dependent on their reasons. This indicates that the reasons for the mitzvot are the things to aim for and the mitzvot themselves are to bring to these hidden purposes. (Also Reb Chaim is not taken seriously. Before you give money to a yeshiva ask what they would do if you would show up at their door and all you would want would be to sit and learn Torah and not ask for a penny what would they do? You know what they would do. They would throw you out on your nose. They don't believe in learning Torah. They believe in using Torah to get your money. )
(3) the Torah is hidden in everything and one can serve God though and with everything.
(4) But the Sitra Achra is dressed and hidden in the side of holiness. When you walk into a synagogue you are going to encounter the Dark Side.
(5) There is such a thing as Torah of the Sitra Achra. Torah of the Dark Side. You go to hear a Torah lesson from a rabbi. The probability is you will be hearing the Torah of the Sitra Achra.
(6) So we see the idea is to find the purpose of your life from the side of holiness. And to avoid the purpose that the dark side has in mind for you.
(7) So we have that in your life there is a meaning that comes from the side of holiness. But there is danger of finding and cleaving to the meaning that comes from the side of evil.
To give a few examples might be helpful. Shmuel Berenbaum you would have no trouble in discerning what was the meaning of his life. Right. Learning and teaching Torah. We don't expect that it would have been better of had becomes a mechanical engineer. As far as we can see in this case he found the meaning and numinous aspect of his life from teh side of holiness.
Albert Einstein would be another example of a person that found the proper meaning and purpose of his life--also from the side of holiness--but in a different way than Reb Shmuel.
(8) On the surface they look like two disparate purposes. But they are not. They both found the aspect of numinous aspect that applies to them from the side of holiness. Just in Physics the numinous aspect of holiness is hidden
(9) Last but not least I might mention my parents. They were not like Reb Shmuel. They did not see learning Torah as the one purpose of life though they had great faith in Torah. My Dad though a scientist was not like Albert Einstein either --not just the genius part but also he did not see science as his one and only purpose. His major meaning and the meaning of life for my mother also was in being good parents. That might not be so obvious to many people what that means. And I would have a hard time explaining it.
Man searches for meaning. Sometimes he finds it in some kind of numinous value [some religious value]. Sometimes he finds it in politics or global warming, or some kind of vendetta he or she has towards someone. I have seen all kinds of varieties. The existentialists borrowing from Thomas Aquinas thought existence comes before essence. That left them free to find their own values or to deny the existence of value.
Liberal Arts colleges are to some degree appealing to this aspect. They are hoping to find meaning in Shakespeare or more modern novels.
During the Middle Ages it value was for Jews in Torah [the Oral and Written Law--not in Jewish identity nor in Jewish nationalism.] For Christians it was in the church.
The Rambam in the Middle Ages and Saadia Gaon in the early Middle Ages wanted to expand the area of numinosity in Torah to include Physics and Metaphysics or Aristotle.
I think there is such a thing as bad numinous value; the Sitra Achra. The Dark Side. And I think all good values receive their values from Torah. But all good values can be subverted into the Sitra Achra. The point is how to avoid that difficulty? And how to detect if a group that is on the face of it supporting Torah values but in fact has become tool of the Sitra Achra?
True holy numinous value is deeply hidden in everything ---even in the Sitra Achra. הסתרה שבתוך הסתרה. He brings that from a verse in Deuteronomy ואנכי הסתר אסתיר פני ביום ההוא That is where God says to the Jews that after they will turn from him he will hide his face. But in the Hebrew you have the infinitive and then the verb. That means He is saying he will hide the hiding. That means people will be so far from God that they will not even know that he is hidden.
Then what can one do in such a case?
My advice is to talk with God as you talk with your father and mother . That is not just to pray to God, but to talk with Him in an informal way. Prayer tends to be formal. And when prayer is formal, then it loses its energy. It is best to find time with God alone. The best place is a forest, but any place will do as long as there are no people around. Even your own room before you go to sleep at night. Under your covers is a good place to talk with God.
\
I would suggest other things, but almost anything I would suggest could be subverted into a tool of the Sitra Achra. Learning Torah, Kabalah. Nothing is immune. But if you talk with God sincerely and ask to be saved from the Dark Side, I think nothing can subvert a sincere prayer.
In fact, it is a rule that what ever organisation claims to be able to save one from the Sitra Achra is itself a tool of the Sitra Achra. That is money in the bank. You can count on this.
Liberal Arts colleges are to some degree appealing to this aspect. They are hoping to find meaning in Shakespeare or more modern novels.
During the Middle Ages it value was for Jews in Torah [the Oral and Written Law--not in Jewish identity nor in Jewish nationalism.] For Christians it was in the church.
The Rambam in the Middle Ages and Saadia Gaon in the early Middle Ages wanted to expand the area of numinosity in Torah to include Physics and Metaphysics or Aristotle.
I think there is such a thing as bad numinous value; the Sitra Achra. The Dark Side. And I think all good values receive their values from Torah. But all good values can be subverted into the Sitra Achra. The point is how to avoid that difficulty? And how to detect if a group that is on the face of it supporting Torah values but in fact has become tool of the Sitra Achra?
True holy numinous value is deeply hidden in everything ---even in the Sitra Achra. הסתרה שבתוך הסתרה. He brings that from a verse in Deuteronomy ואנכי הסתר אסתיר פני ביום ההוא That is where God says to the Jews that after they will turn from him he will hide his face. But in the Hebrew you have the infinitive and then the verb. That means He is saying he will hide the hiding. That means people will be so far from God that they will not even know that he is hidden.
Then what can one do in such a case?
My advice is to talk with God as you talk with your father and mother . That is not just to pray to God, but to talk with Him in an informal way. Prayer tends to be formal. And when prayer is formal, then it loses its energy. It is best to find time with God alone. The best place is a forest, but any place will do as long as there are no people around. Even your own room before you go to sleep at night. Under your covers is a good place to talk with God.
\
I would suggest other things, but almost anything I would suggest could be subverted into a tool of the Sitra Achra. Learning Torah, Kabalah. Nothing is immune. But if you talk with God sincerely and ask to be saved from the Dark Side, I think nothing can subvert a sincere prayer.
In fact, it is a rule that what ever organisation claims to be able to save one from the Sitra Achra is itself a tool of the Sitra Achra. That is money in the bank. You can count on this.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)