The four point system of Maimonides [Rambam]

  My idea of education is mainly based on the four point system of Maimonides [Rambam] with a few additions based on my parents.
With Maimonides we already know his four point system (1) the Written Law (the Law of Moses) (2) the Oral Law (the two Talmuds) (even just to read them in English with the Soncino edition is also good. I have heard from Rav Zilverman in the Old City about one good Torah scholar that went through the whole Talmud a bunch of times in that way.) (3) Physics [i.e. Field Theory]. (4) Metaphysics (Aristotle). (He did say he was talking about the Metaphysics of the ancient Greeks. I think he included Plato and Plotinus. I would  have to include Kant and Hegel, both sadly misused. In any case Hegel was trying to do what the Rambam was doing. To create a synthesis Reason and Revelation.

  Based on what I understood from my parents and brothers I would have to add a few things to this list. (5) Gaining a real skill that people will pay cold hard cash for. Not a fake skill and may make money but in reality does nothing for anyone. (6) Survival skills.(7) Some aspect of the Quadrivium  and Trivium (What the Gra and books of Musar call the seven wisdoms). (8) Musar. (Medieval Ethics plus the basic approach to ethics of the disciples of Reb Israel Salanter ) Musar was considered by Reb Israel Salanter to be the most important because it gets one to the two most essential aspects of Torah--good character and fear of God. Musar means the four classical books אורחות צדיקים חובות לבבות מסילת ישרים שערי תשובה plus the major works by the disciples of Reb Israel Salanter מדרגת האדם כוכבי אור . That is Joseph Horvitz from Navardok (that in trust in God should be the main emphasis), Isaac Blazer (that is fear of God and good character). 

  This approach more or less defines what I think people ought to learn in order come to what a person ought to be. It is a balanced approach and thus hard to fit into a daily schedule.   

  There are people that feel they can not be in between Torah and other studies and for a time I was like that. This reminds me of Reb Israel Salanter that דעת תורה is to be an איש מדיני but because of the difficulty in doing that one must concentrate on Torah alone. 

  
  I can see the point in the Torah alone approach, but in general I was not very impressed with the people involved in that path. Instead of coming to attachment with God, they seemed to be sanctimonious, and desperate for money of secular Jews. But in the religious world, even balancing values I saw did not work very well. Instead of balance, I usually saw pretty bad character traits combined with attitudes of imagined superiority.
  A lot of the religious world sees Reform and Conservative and Religious Zionism as bad things, but these last three I found a lot closer to actually keeping the Torah which include obligations between man and his fellow man. I would have to say the Religious Zionism and Conservative are closest to Torah. Reform seems a bit too far into "social justice." My brother thinks Temple Israel in Hollywood [where our family went to pray] is Conservative. It is true it had an aspect that was conservative. But at the time we were gong there, I thought it is Reform. Anyway it is a great place. Mount Sinai in Westwood, we also went from time to time [which is conservative].

  [I should mention that I found doing the Talmud in Aramaic was better for me, I did not understand the Soncino translation at all without doing the Gemara also in its regular Aramaic.]
Still the only aspect of the religious world that seemed kosher at all were the Litvak yeshivas in NY (Mir, Chaim Berlin, Torah VeDaat, Shar Yashuv). The rest of the religious world seems to be a disaster zone full with cults, שדיין of the Dark Side that were just lurking outside the walls of the yeshiva just hoping to catch some innocent unsuspecting yeshiva bachur [student].

Survival skills deserves a whole essay. My Dad's motto  was self sufficiency. He taught us boys and lived this way himself. 

Bava Metzia page 100

The ר''י holds  we have חזקה מעיקרא that pushes the time forwards along with חזקת רשות thus it belongs to the buyer. What works against this is חזקת השתא since the cow gave birth, we push that back in time and that helps חזקת מרא קמא.

ר''י מחזיק יש לנו חזקה מעיקרא שדוחפת את הזמן קדימה יחד עם חזקת רשות ובכך הולד שייך לקונה. מה שעובד נגד זה חזקת השתא מאז שפרה ילדה, אנחנו דוחפים בחזרה הזמן וזה עוזר חזקת מרא קמא
In Ketuboth page 9 where this all comes up in Tosphot. The basic issue there is the fact that a Cohen finds his bride not to be a virgin, she is forbidden to him. The reason is we do not know if the act of sex happened before the kidushin or afterwards [in those days there was a long wait between kidushin and  Hupa]. If it was after Kidushin then she is forbidden even if it was rape. Tosphot asks why not go with חזקת כשרות? Answer: On the contrary חזקת הגוף
The truth is I am not sure what Tosphot means here. I think he means חזקת הגוף is what we normally call חזקא מעיקרא and that just like the mikve in Nida page 2 we would put חזקה דהשתא together with and another חזקה and together they have the power to defeat a חזקה מעיקרא. Thus she would be permitted to her husband. 

But if so what is Tosphot answering? That חזקה מעיקרא can defeat both חזקה דהשתא along with חזקת כשרות? That is I think not what Tosphot means. Rather I think he means that those two חזקות can not defeat חזקה מעיקרא but they can make the whole situation into a doubt. And after all that is all we are looking for in Ketubot.

 Rav Shach says when there is a doubt the חזקת השתא and חזקה מעיקרא cancel each other, and if you combine some other חזקה  with חזקת השתא then you get  a וודאי. But when there is no reason to start doubting anything in the first place, then you only look at חזקה מעיקרא and not at חזקת השתא at all. He also ties this with an argument between Rav and Shmuel. 

I am not sure if this change anything in our case here in Bava Metzia.

What I mean is that Rav Shach and R.Akiva Eigger disagree about the reason the wife of the cohen is forbidden to him. Tosphot brings two contrary חזקות and R Akiva Eiger asks why not add חזקה דהשתא to the חזקת כשרות to allow her? He answers צירוף חזקות only works if they both indicate the same thing. Rav Shach answers a different answer as I mentioned up above. You need to start with a doubt when the crucial event took place. How doe this relate to the way I look at Bava Metzia page 100? There we have 4 חזקות, two against two.
The way I think we can look at this is this. The Gemara puts the calf into an alley. Then the חזקה that determines ownership should be מרא קמא. And to the Gemara that would work except for the fact that the mishna is Sumchos. So I wonder why not bring in חזקה מעיקרא here to tell us the birth came later and to make ownership a doubt so the mishna could be the sages also? The way I have been thinking for about 24 hours is that this is the argument between the Ri and the Rashbam. The Ri holds we  have a doubt about when the calf was born and so חזקה דהשתא וחזקה מעיקרא mutually cancel. The Rashba holds until the animal was born there was no reason to doubt when it will be born. It is not like the mikve that is constantly getting less over a period of time and thus we have a doubt when it go to be less that 40 seah.
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ר''י מחזיק יש לנו חזקה מעיקרא שדוחפת את הזמן קדימה יחד עם חזקת רשות ובכך הולד שייך לקונה. מה שעובד נגד זה חזקת השתא מאז שפרה ילדה, אנחנו דוחפים בחזרה הזמן וזה עוזר חזקת מרא קמא. In כתובות דף ט  this all comes up in תוספות. The basic issue there is the fact that a כהן finds his bride not to be a virgin, she is forbidden to him. The reason is we do not know if the act of sex happened before the קידושין or afterwards. In those days there was a long wait between קידושין and  חופה. If it was after קידושין then she is forbidden, even if it was rape. תוספות asks why not go with חזקת כשרות? Answer, on the contrary, חזקת הגוף works against it. What does תוספות mean here? I think he means חזקת הגוף is what we normally call חזקא מעיקרא and that just like the מקוה in נדה גף ב' ע''א we would put חזקה דהשתא together with and another חזקה and together they have the power to defeat a חזקה מעיקרא. Thus she would be permitted to her husband. But if so what is תוספות answering? That חזקה מעיקרא can defeat both חזקה דהשתא along with חזקת כשרות? That is I think not what תוספות means. Rather I think he means that those two חזקות can not defeat חזקה מעיקרא but they can make the whole situation into a doubt. And after all that is all we are looking for in כתובות. רב שך says when there is a doubt the חזקת השתא and חזקה מעיקרא cancel each other, and if you combine some other חזקה  with חזקת השתא then you get  a וודאי. But when there is no reason to start doubting anything in the first place, then you only look at חזקה מעיקרא and not at חזקת השתא at all. He also ties this with an argument between רב and שמואל. How does this relate to our case here in בבא מציעא. What I mean is that רב שך and ר' עקיבא אייגר disagree about the reason the wife of the כהן is forbidden to him. תוספות brings two contrary חזקות and ר' אקיבא אייגר  asks why not add חזקה דהשתא to the חזקת כשרות to allow her? He answers צירוף חזקות only works if they both indicate the same thing. רב שך answers a different answer as I mentioned up above. You need to start with a doubt when the  event took place. How does this relate to the way I look at בבא מציעא  דך ק' ע''א? There we have 4 חזקות, two against two.The way I think we can look at this is this. The גמרא puts the calf into an alley. Then the חזקה that determines ownership should be מרא קמא. And to the גמרא that would work except for the fact that the משנה is סומכוס. So I wonder why not bring in חזקה מעיקרא here to tell us cow gave bith came later and to make ownership a doubt so the משנה could be the sages also? The way I have been thinking for about 24 hours is that this is the argument between the ר''י and the רשב''ם. The ר''י holds we  have a doubt about when the calf was born and so חזקה דהשתא וחזקה מעיקרא cause mutual cancellation. So in an alley when there are only three חזקות the מרא קמא has ownerhip. The רשב''ם holds until the animal was born there was no reason to doubt when it will be born. It is not like the מקוה that is constantly getting less over a period of time and thus we have a doubt when it got to be less than a volume of  forty סאה


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ר''י מחזיק יש לנו חזקה מעיקרא שדוחפת את הזמן קדימה יחד עם חזקת רשות ובכך הולד שייך לקונה . מה שעובד נגד זה חזקה דהשתא מאז שפרה הולידה, אנחנו דוחפים בחזרה הזמן וזה עוזר חזקא דמרא קמא . בכתובות דף ט' זה עולה בתוספות. הסוגיה הבסיסית: יש את העובדה כי כהן מוצא כלתו לא להיות בתולה, היא אסורה לו. הסיבה לכך היא שאנחנו לא יודעים אם קיום יחסי המין קרה לפני הקידושין או לאחר מכן. בימים ההם  היתה המתנה ארוכה בין הקידושין והחופה. אם זה היה אחרי קידושין ואז היא אסורה, גם אם זה היה אונס. תוספות שואל למה לא ללכת עם חזקה דכשרות? תשובה, להיפך, חזקת הגוף עובד נגדה.  מה תוספות מתכוון כאן? אני חושב שהוא מתכוון חזקת הגוף היא מה שאנחנו בדרך כלל קוראים חזקא מעיקרא וכי בדיוק כמו מקוה בנדה דף ב' ע''א  שמים חזקה דהשתא יחד עם עוד חזקה ויחד יש להן את הכוח להביס חזקה מעיקרא. כך בכתובות היא תהיה מותרת לבעלה. אבל אם כך מה הוא תוספות מענה? כי חזקה מעיקרא יכולה להביס הן חזקה דהשתא יחד עם חזקת כשרות? כלומר אני חושב שזה  לא מה שתוספות מתכוון. במקום זאת אני חושב שהוא מתכוון ששתי אלו החזקות לא יכולות להביס חזקה מעיקרא אבל הן יכולות לעשות את כל המצב לספק. ואחרי הכל זה הוא כל מה שאנחנו מחפשים בכתובות.  רב שך אומר כשיש ספק חזקת השתא וחזקא מעיקרא אחת מבטלת זו את זו, ואם אתה משלב עוד חזקה עם חזקת השתא אז אתה מקבל וודאי. אבל כאשר אין שום סיבה להתחיל לפקפק את הדבר מלכתחילה, אז אתה רק מסתכל על חזקה מעיקרא ולא השתא בכלל. הוא גם קושר את זה עם הויכוח בין רב ואת שמואל.  איך זה מתקשר לענייננו כאן בבא מציעא. כוונתי היא כי רב שך ור' עקיבא אייגר חלוקים בנוגע לסיבה שאשתו של כהן אסורה לו. תוספות מביא שתי חזקות נוגדות  ור' אקיבא אייגר שואל למה לא להוסיף חזקת דהשתא אל החזקה של כשרות על מנת להתיר לה? הוא עונה צירוף חזקות עובד רק אם שתיהן מצביעות אותו דבר. רב שך עונה תשובה אחרת כפי שציינתי למעלה. אתה צריך להתחיל עם ספק כאשר האירוע התרחש. איך זה מתקשר אל בבא מציעא דך ק' ע''א? יש לנו 4 חזקות, שתיים נגד שתיים. הדרך אני חושב שאנחנו יכולים להסתכל על זה היא זו. הגמרא מעמידה את העגל לתוך סמטה. ואז החזקה הקובעת בעלות צריך להיות מרא קמא. וכדי שהגמרא יכולה למעט את זה היא לומר כי המשנה היא כסומכוס. אז אני תוהה למה לא להביא חזקה מעיקרא כאן כדי לספר לנו הפרה הולידה מאוחר יותר כדי להפוך את בעלות לספק כך שהמשנה יכולה להיות כחכמים גם? הדרך שבה אני כבר חושב על כ -24 שעות היא שזהו הטיעון בין ר''י ואת רשב''ם. ר''י מחזיק יש לנו ספק לגבי כאשר העגל נולד וכך חזקא דהשתא וחזקה מעיקרא גורמות לביטול הדדית. אז בסמטה כאשר יש רק שלוש חזקות למרא קמא יש בעלות. רשב''ם מחזיק עד שהחיה נולדה אין כל סיבה להטיל ספק כשזה ייולד. זה לא כמו מקוה כי הוא מקבל כמעט באופן קבוע פיחות על פני תקופה של זמן ולכן יש לנו ספק כשזה התחיל להיות פחות נפח של ארבעים סאה


Appendix: background information. If one dips in a river or ocean that is fine as a mikve. But if the rain water is collected in one spot you need a few things. 40 seah volume which is not much. I forget the actual amount about it is around 1^1^1.5 meters. Also it can't be a swimming pool because it can be lifted whole and stick together since it is made of concrete. It also has plastic under it which separates it from the ground. The best thing I think is to go to a nearby ocean--and loose garments are not a separation.At any rate, the issue here is if a mikveh is measured and found less than 40 seah. The question is do we push the present state back in time?  
The other issue is the wife of the cohen. She was found not to be a virgin. The kidushin makes a woman married but she does not live with her husband until Hupa and in ancient times there was a long wait. So the question is when did the act of sex happen? If after kidushin then she is forbidden to her husband because even if it was against her will she is forbidden. If we would be talking about a Israel, not a Cohen then there would be two questions, If it was before or after kidushin and if it was after if the act of sex was willingly or not. So it is a ספק ספקא  a doubt of a doubt and so she is permitted.

End chapter nine in Bava Metzia בבא מציעא.

End chapter nine in בבא מציעא. There ר' יהודה holds we are not  דורשים טעמא דקרא. Against that opinion is ר' שמעון בן יוחאי holds we go by the reason for the law דורשים טעמא דקרא.  When there is an argument between ר' יהודה and ר' שמעון  the הלכה is like ר' יהודה. In a פסוק in the Torah it says not to marry any of the seven nations. Or more exactly do not give your children in marriage to them so they will not turn the heart of your children towards idolatry. ר' יהודה who does not look at the reason for a verse says we go by the literal meaning. It forbids only the seven (Canaanite) nations. ר' שמעון says it forbids all nations that do idolatry because we go by at the reason for the verse, not by its literal meaning. So why does the רמב''ם decide marriage with all nations that do idolatry is forbidden? The key factor to notice is the case of a king. The פסוק says he should not have many wives "לא ירבה לו נשים". The  חכמים, say that means not to have more than שמנה עשרה 18 wives. ר' יהודה says, he can have as many as he  wants as long as they do not tilt his heart. ר' שמעון says even one that tilts his heart he must not marry. So when it says "לא ירבה לו נשים" it means even like Abigail. רב שך points out that here the חכמים and ר' שמעון agree.  The  sages obviously agree with ר' יהודה that we do not go by the reason for the law.  But here we see ר' יהודה does go by the reason for the law because the reason is written explicitly. So what does ר' שמעון do when the reason is given openly? He  learns from both the regular פסוק, and he learns something extra from the reason. So even though in general the חכמים go with ר' יהודה, but in  a case when the reason for the law is given openly, then they go like ר' שמעון.  This now gives us enough information to explain the  רמב''ם. That is this. When the reason for the law is given openly in the פסוק the חכמים agree with ר' שמעון. And that is exactly the case with intermarriage. So in that case the חכמים will agree with ר' שמעון that all nations that serve idols are forbidden, not just the seven nations. And that is how the  רמב''ם decides. He decides this not because it is the opinion of ר' שמעון but because it is the reason of the חכמים

סוף פרק תשעה בבא מציעא. יש ר' יהודה מחזיק אנחנו לא דורשים טעמא דקרא. נגד הדעת הזאת הוא ר' שמעון בן יוחאי שמחזיק שהולכים לפי סיבת החוק, דורשים טעמא דקרא. כשיש ויכוח בין ר' יהודה ור' שמעון, הלכה היא כמו ר' יהודה. בתוך פסוק בתורה כתוב לא להתחתן עם מישהו שבעת העמים. או לייתר דיוק לא לתת לילדים שלך בנישואים להם כדי שהם לא יהפכו את לב ילדיך כלפי עבודה זרה. ר' יהודה שאינו מהסתכל על הסיבה של פסוק אומר נלך לפי המשמעות המילולית. הוא אוסר רק את שבעת העמים. ר' שמעון אומר שזה אוסר כל הגוים אשר עושים עבודה זרה, כי נלך לפי הסיבה של הפסוק, לא לפי המשמעות המילולית שלו. אז למה עושה את רמב''ם מחליט נישואים עם כל העמים שעושים עבודה זרה אסורה? הגורם המרכזי הוא לשים לב במקרה של מלך. הפסוק אומר שהוא "לא ירבה לו נשים". החכמים אומרים לא יותר משמנה עשר נשים. ר' יהודה אומר שהוא יכול להרבות ככל שהוא רוצה, כל עוד שהן לא נוטות את לבו. ר' שמעון אומר אפילו אחת  שמטה את לבו אסור לו לשאת. אז כאשר הוא אומר לא ירבה לו נשים זה אומר אפילו כמו אביגיל. רב שך מציין שכאן חכמים ור ' שמעון מסכימים. החכמים ברור שמסכימים עם ר' יהודה כי אנחנו לא הולכים לפי הטעם של החוק. אבל כאן אנו רואים ר' יהודה אימו מתחמק מסיבת החוק כי הסיבה כתובה במפורש. אז מה עושה ר' שמעון כאשר הסיבה ניתנת בגלוי? הוא לומד גם את הפסוק הרגיל, והוא לומד משהו נוסף מן הסיבה. אז למרות באופן כללי החכמים אומרים ללכת עם ר' יהודה, אולם במקרה כאשר סיבת החוק ניתנת בגלוי, ואז הם הולכים כמו ר' שמעון. זה עכשיו נותן לנו מספיק מידע כדי להסביר את רמב''ם. כלומר זה. כאשר סיבת החוק ניתנת בגלוי בפסוק החכמים מסכימים עם ר' שמעון. וזה בדיוק המקרה עם נישואי תערובת. אז במקרה זה חכמים  מסכימים עם ר' שמעון כי כל העמים אשר משרתים אלילים אסורים, לא רק שבעת העמים. וזה איך שרמב''ם מחליט. הוא מחליט זה לא בגלל כי זו הוא דעתו של ר' שמעון, אלא משום שזו הדעת של חכמים.


I should mention the Tur says simply only the seven nations are forbidden as the simple explanation of the sages is. That is we do not go by the reason for any verse but by what its says openly. Therefore only the seven (Canaanite) nations are forbidden. No other nations.
I can not say that my answer here is what Rav Eleazar  Shach meant in his essay. In any case that is what I thought makes sense based on ideas that were triggered in me when I read his essay.

Take a look yourself at Rav Shach's essay on the Rambam in הלכות אסורי ביאה. Maybe what I wrote here is what he means, but so far I cannot tell.

I am not trying here to go into all the issues. I am simply trying to understand the Rambam. And  I believe the answer here is right. The answer I had before I saw the essay of Rav Shach was really crummy. And other answers I have seen did not hold much water.

Musar (Ethics) from the Middle Ages. Musar pours ice cold water on people's illusions of grandeur and obsessions.

By nature I have always been interested in worldview kinds of issues more so that more practically minded people.  I have tended to see human affairs as downstream from people's world views.
So to understand the basic world view of the Torah is feel is important. The clearest statement of the way the Torah looks at the world I found is best given in books of Musar (books on Ethics) from the Middle Ages and the later classics by the disciples of Reb Israel Salanter.
The reason is the same reason why people get package deals at the supermarket. You could buy all the ingredients of cold cereal in the morning and make it all by yourself, but you would rather that someone else do most of the work of preparation and leave you just to pour the milk. You could in the same way go through the whole Tenach (Old Testament)  and the entire Oral Law, the two Talmuds, the Midrashei Hagada and Midrashei Halacaha until you are about 90 years old and then maybe get a clear enough idea, or you can trust the judgment of the Rishonim, [Mediaeval sages] to have done that work and to offer the same result in simple form. That is Musar.

The importance of the Rishonim [Medieval sages] in this regard is because their view of Torah was without alternative agendas. The problem with achronim [books on world view of Torah written after the Rav Joseph Karo after around 1520] is the trouble of agenda. The purpose is usually not to understand the world view of Torah but to change it into some form more palatable to their tastes and to convince others of their mistakes.
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You actually see this clearly in practice. Yeshivas that have Musar as art of their seder [schedule] are light years apart from place that do not learn Musar. You only need to walk into a real authentic Litvak yeshiva at in the morning and you get blown away by the powerful spirit of Torah that is there.

One thing Musar is definitely right about, Torah is the religion of good character. {Menschlichkeit.} People of Type A personalities of schizoid personalities are definitely not gong to be drawn towards Musar and will in fact actively oppose it.  Musar pours ice cold water on people's illusions of grandeur and obsessions.  

The trouble with the Jewish religious world is that it is full of demons that infest the teachers.

The trouble with the religious world is that it is full of demons and demons spirits that infest it and especially the teachers. It does not take a genius to see this. If they would be keeping Torah plain and simple like it says, I would have nothing to complain about but the trouble is not just that it is a scam but positively evil.  There are a few exceptions however like the NY Litvak yeshivas and Ponovicth and the religious Zionist yeshivas. But as a rule I think the religious would is just way too much demon possessed.  I might mention that Reb Nachman to his great credit brought up this issue quite often in his Lekutai Moharan and so I am not the only one to notice this problem.

Clearly Reb Nachman had a great vision of what Torah is supposed to be about and his great advice is not confined to just pointing out the evils of תלמידי חכמים שדיים יהודאיים. {Demonic Torah Scholars}. Still still the fact that the movement based on him got absorbed in the movement the Gra put in Cherem reduces the effectiveness of his advice to almost nothing.  

People do not give enough credit to the Dark Side almost to the degree of denying its existence. Thus that leave them all the more open to it. In the Jewish this is particular common. People always decide their particular leaders has powers from the Bright Side of Holiness. They never consider the opposite. 

vision of the Rambam

I have mentioned the vision of the Rambam, that is to learn every day the Oral Law (the Two Talmuds), the Written Law (the Law of Moses plus the prophets), Physics and Metaphysics.
I want to add to this list, Musar (mediaeval Ethics) plus survival skills.
And to mention that this is to bring to human perfection, but there is no guarantee. You can notice the lacks of each discipline, and think to yourself that the right combination would work wonders and make up for all the lacks.  But that to me does not seem realistic. There still is going to be free will. As Steven Dutch puts it: "I am completely unable to conceive of any legal or social system that can’t be subverted or abused. People who crave power or status will gravitate toward whatever confers those rewards. And they will always discover ways to get the rewards without paying their dues." 

I think the amazing thing about the Rambam is he combined several traits-the visionary prophet, the scholastic attention to detail, the Socratic Critic of logical fallacies he saw in the Kalm and the Warrior against abuses he saw in the religious world.

[The trouble the Rambam saw in the religious world of his time is described in detail in his commentary to Pikei Avot in ch 4. Mainly he saw that the people that invariably go to use the Torah to make money are the types that are incapable of accurately understanding any Gemara or Halacha. They are the most dull, the most stupid, and the most morally depraved. Thus there is no profession open to them except to to use Torah as a means to money, power, and influence. See the Rambam there in Pirkei Avot where he goes into detail, but he also mention this briefly in the Mishne Torah. His description is as accurate now as it was when he wrote it. The bad name they give to Torah makes it almost impossible for anyone to learn Torah sincerely. The religious world is a crooked racket, a fraud, and scam, and invites comparisons to the Mafia. Any sincere believer in Torah would be well advice to stay away from the religious, insane world as far as possible unless he happens to be near an authentic Lithuanian yeshiva, Mir Chaim Berlin, Torah VeDaat, Ponovitch.

I wanted to go into the basic idea of the Rambam in terms of learning. Mainly his program starts as simple as possible. The Mishne Torah itself. [Metaphysics means Aristotle's book called the Metaphysics. Physics also. However I hold modern Physics is included [i.e.Quantum Mechanics, String Theory, Quantum Field Theory]. Similarly in terms of Metaphysics I hold Kant and Hegel are included. Preferably Hegel.] In terms of Torah the main thing after  a basic introduction in Gemara I think Rav Shach's Avi Ezri is the most important thing. 
[If I could complement the religious world for adhering to the Torah I would do so gladly. The trouble is I have found it to be highly inimical to Torah values. They do everything possible to destroy your family and children while at the same time claiming to support family values. See the excommunication that the Gra signed for further information. The problem seems to be the flawed vision of themselves as super human beings gives them a flawed idea of what other people are like. They see the rest of humanity as fit only for servile beasts of burden.]

Concerning the previous essay I would like to say that I think Rav Shach was forced into a difficult position because he had to defend the Rambam and the Rambam equates ערירי and כרת.
I was going to the nearby river to go to the mikve and it occurred to me that I am not forced to answer for the Rambam. Rather based on Rav Shach's insights and the Rashba that he brings, I have a much better answer for the braita in the beginning of Yevamot. That is, that it is going like שמואל ורב אסי and in fact hold עשה דוחה לא תעשה שיש בו כרת.
So my answer would be thus. Just like the Rashba says Shmuel and Rav Assi that hold הותרה ונאסרה והותרה אסורה would be holding that עשה דוחה לא תעשה שיש בו כרת and even for אשת אח מאביו the איסור of אשת אח continues but simply is pushed off by the עשה של יבום. But the הלכה is like רב ור' חנינא that הותרה ונאסרה והותרה מותרת. and this is going like the opinion אין עשה דוחה לא תעשה שיש בו כרת. This makes the most sense because normally we understand יבום to be like נדה in the way that after the time of the איסור there is no איסור at all, not that it is pushed away.
\ Rav Shach had available to him a much better answer, but ignored it because he felt the need to make the Rambam fit with everything. But that forced Rav Shach into a position that seems to me to be untenable. When a positive mitzvah pushes off a negative mitavah we do not say the negative mitvah has a time limit. If Rav Shach had not been forced to answer for the Rambam, he could easily have said what I have written here.


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My answer for the ברייתא in the beginning of יבמות. That is,  it is going like שמואל ורב אסי and  holds עשה דוחה לא תעשה שיש בו כרת.
So my answer would be thus. Just like the רשב''א says שמואל and רב אסי that hold הותרה ונאסרה והותרה אסורה would be holding that עשה דוחה לא תעשה שיש בו כרת and even for אשת אח מאביו the איסור of אשת אח continues but simply is pushed off by the עשה של יבום. But the הלכה is like רב ור' חנינא that הותרה ונאסרה והותרה מותרת. and this is going like the opinion אין עשה דוחה לא תעשה שיש בו כרת. This makes the most sense because normally we understand יבום to be like נדה in the way that after the time of the איסור there is no איסור at all, not that it is pushed away.

תשובתי על הברייתא בתחילת יבמות. , זו הולכת כמו שמואל ורב אסי שמחזיקים עשה דוחה לא תעשה שיש בו כרת. אז התשובה שלי תהיה בכך בדיוק כמו שהרשב''א אמר ששמואל ורב אסי מחזיקים הותרה ונאסרה והותרה אסורה וזה יהיה בגלל שקבעו כי עשה דוחה לא תעשה שיש בו כרת ואפילו אשת אח מאביו איסור של אשת אח נמשך, אבל פשוט נדחף על ידי עשה של יבום. אבל הלכה היא כמו רב ור' חנינא כי הותרה ונאסרה והותרה מותרת. וזה הולך כדעת אין עשה דוחה לא תעשה שיש בו כרת. זה הכי הגיוני כי בדרך כלל אנחנו מבינים יבום להיות כמו נדה באופן שבו לאחר הזמן של האיסור אין איסור כלל, לא כי הוא נדחף משם.

So the basic idea of the braita in Torah Kohanim I am leaving exactly as it sounds that there is a difference between the brother from the mother and the brother from the father and that both their wives are in כרת but the wife of the brother from the mother is not in ערירי. So in essence  the Rambam comes out OK also. That is the Rambam holds that both on the wife from the brother from the mother and the wife of the brother from the father have כרת and thus both are required a sin offering.
In any case I have never felt I had to answer for the Rambam at all cost. And we do not need to say he disagrees with the Braita in Torat Kohanim anyway.  And in any case I believe Rav Shach answers the Rambam somewhere else in the Avi Ezri in a different fashion.

The basic thing is this. Though the whole kind of learning of Reb Chaim Soloveitchik to justify the Rambam is great and amazing, still my orientation from the beginning of yeshiva in Shar Yashuv in NY and also my books on Bava Metzia and Shas have mainly been to concentrate on understanding Tosphot.  If an answer for the Rambam comes up--as it has often, then I am happy. But I am not aiming for that.
However when it comes to the Guide for the Perplexed, I think that was the Rambam's best work and led the way to synthesizing Faith and Reason. Clearly Aquinas owes to him and to Saadia Gaon a great debt, and so does all Western Civilization. Aquinas, I should mention, did not always quote Maimonides by name, for example in his proof of the existence of God [which I think is accepted he derived from Maimonides] he does not quote his name. But he does quote his name in other cases, as when giving the reasons for the commandments of the Torah. In any case, clearly the Rambam was able to bring Aristotle into the mainstream, and not just as a side note to Plato.

Maimonides and Saadia Gaon are the founders of a balance between Faith and Reason. Before that one approach of the other was over emphasized. And often they were considered incompatible.
The vision of the Rambam is still far beyond the sight of this generation. His four fold approach of learning the Written Law of Moses, the Two Talmuds, Physics and Metaphysics is still too radical for anyone to accept. I fear it will take a long time --if ever--for people to catch up with his vision