Rav Avraham Abulafia was a figure shrouded in mystery.

Rav Avraham Abulafia was a figure shrouded in mystery.  He was one of the most famous mystics of the Middle Ages and he had a definite positive attitude towards Yeshua (Jesus of Nazeret). But that is not what made him subject to scrutiny. It was rather his mystic approach. 

The Rashba definitely was against him and also Yehuda the Tailor. [Yehuda Hahayat]. Yehuda Hahayat was the one who collected all the writings that were  thought to be part of the Zohar that were scattered in his time.[The way the Zohar was a originally published by Moshe De Leon was that he would sell page by page of it for a high price. So it was never put together until much later by Yehuda the Tailor.

These two people were very much against Rav Abulafia.

The major reason that Rav Abulafia got to be considered important and kosher was that the later mystics like Rav Moshe of Cordoba quotes him extensively in his Pardas and also Rav Haim Vital quotes him at length in his שערי קדושה חלק רביעי
The Chida [Rav Haim David Azulay] brings this whole controversy. He wrote a book listing all the great sages [Shem Hagedolim], and he brings Rav Abulafia. And there he says "The Rashba was against him, but I do not know why because he as in fact a great man."

Now I can say what I think Rav Abulafia was thinking. It is clear he held Yeshua [Jesus] was what is called in the Talmud, "messiah son of Joseph." But that does not mean anything like the Trinity. Rather the idea is more along the lines that you find in Rav Nahman's books [of Breslov] about the ideal of "believing in a true tzadik." That is he would be thinking of Jesus more than what we would call a saint, but less than what Christians think about the Trinity.  That is a "tzadik emet" a true tzadik is one whom by means of believing in him-there is imparted to one's soul a certain amount of the holiness of that tzadik.

I might mention that the Ari clearly held the same opinion as Rav Abulafia as you can see in the end of Genesis where he discusses Joseph [HaTzadik] ben Jacob. [There are three books from the Ari which discuss the verses of Torah, and in all three of them he mentions this. However it is well known that the Ari himself did not do the actual writing, but it was Rav Haim Vital who wrote, and then Rav Shmuel Vital (his son) who organized the whole thing into the famous Eight Gates שמנה שערים


What makes this such an emotional issue to people is beyond me. It seems to me simple that once Rav Abulafia and the Ari have expressed their opinion concerning this matter, that would be the end of the discussion.


The reason I ought to add why this does not imply the Trinity is well explained in the Obligations of the Hearts about the difference between אחד האמת The true One and something that is one  by accident--very Aristotelian concepts.
Simply that means God is not a composite, and that he is the true One in that his essence is oneness.

Learning Torah requires saying the words-not just reading them

Learning Torah by saying the words is brought in the Talmud as the only legit way of learning. Just reading is not thought to be in the category of learning Torah at all. אין התורה מתקיימת אלא למוצאיהם בפה

Once I got the idea from Maimonides [Rambam] about the importance of learning Physics and Metaphysics as these subjects were understood by the ancient Greeks, I began to apply the same idea to learning Physics.

Furthermore I saw in the אורחות צדיקים [a mediaeval book of Ethics/ Musar] the importance of just saying the words and going on and not to worry if I understand or not. [But combined with this one should also have a separate time to review --ten times every paragraph.]

Not that this takes the place of learning regular Torah. So what I think is that one ought to divide his time in such a way that he gets through the two Talmuds, the Midrashim, Rif, Rosh, Tur, the Avi Ezri of Rav Shach -- plus the basic set of Physics and Math up until and including String Theory.

[The importance of Rav Shach's Avi Ezri is that it is the best representation of a kind of learning that was implicit since the commentaries on the Rambam but began to be more explicit in Rav Haim Soloveitchik's Hidushei HaRambam.] That is to bring to light the reasoning of the Rambam and its place among the other Rishonim [mediaeval writers especially Tosphot.] This approach of Rav Haim of Brisk is now the golden standard in all Lithuanian type of yeshivas



[I think the idea of learning fast by just saying the words and going further was also brought down in בנין עולם  a book printed in Bnei Brak a few years ago that brought this idea from a lot of great people in Torah thought.]

In the Obligations of the Hearts,  [Hovot Halevavot], Rav Ibn Pakua brings the obligation to learn Aristotle's Metaphysics as necessary for Torah in his introduction [on the very first page]. But at that point he does not sound like he thinks the same about Aristotle's Physics or Biology. But later in שער הבחינה it is clear that he is thinking of the natural sciences as brought in Aristotle's also as obligations but for a different reason.  The first--the Metaphysics he understands as being necessary in order to understand Torah properly. The second--the natural sciences-he understands as the way to fulfill
 coming to love and fear of God.
[The fact that the Hovot Levavot and the Rambam have the same opinion here is I think because they are both depending on Saadia Gaon . ]

[If the Obligations of the Heart had been written in Christian Spain, we would not know what he was talking about. For Christian Europe only had limited books of Aristotle. But the fact that he was writing in Muslim Spain makes it clear. Also he does not mention specifically Aristotle because these subjects had been developed by later people like Al Kindi and Farabi--so Ibn Pakuda wanted to make clear he meant the whole subject matter, not just the actual writings of Aristotle.]

Two arrows of time and two arrows of entropy.

Feynman thought his diagrams reflected an actual reality. So what are the particles that travel backwards in time? Are they not tachyons? Is that not what Relativity implies? The faster a particles goes, the slower it goes in time. So going faster than light means going backwards in time. And now we see in String Theory that the structure of D-branes of dimension 24 are made of tachyons.

[I would imagine that eventually there will be found a dimension in which entropy also goes backwards because for some reason or other the equations of motion with just backwards time do not reveal anything of interest as Feynman noticed in his 1948 paper. But putting negative entropy along with time going backwards does result in very interesting things.

But outside of a small circle of legitimate things most of what passes for Kabala is pure Sitra Achra [powers of darkness.]Especially people known kabalistic expertise are certainly all from the Dark Side sent to make innocent people unclean

The main place where the Sitra Achra [Dark Side] gets it façade of legitimacy from is Kabalah.
But there are some authors there that  are legitimate, and even worthwhile to learn like Shalom Sharabi's Nahar Shalom, Rav Yaakov Abuchatzeira, Issac Luria and the books of the Gra on Kabalah.[Also Rav Luzato. the author of the Mesilat Yesharim on Kabala are very good.] But outside of a small circle of legitimate things, most of what passes for Kabala is pure Sitra Achra [powers of darkness.] Especially people of known kabalistic expertise are certainly all from the Dark Side sent to make innocent people unclean. This is the reason one ought to run from the religious world as far away as possible since the whole shebang was taken over  long time ago, and they use their supposed religiosity to hide their inner rot and fungus revelations


[I ought to add that Rav Nahman's ideas were from the realm of holiness, but when taken without the straight Litvak context, tend to get people off track.]

In any case, to actually see and learn the wonders of God in his creation , I think it makes more sense to do Physics and Math. This idea is certainly that of the Rishonim [mediaeval authorities]before the Zohar was published as you can see in all books of Musar that were written before the Zohar was made known.

Even before the Sitra Achra became totally entwined with kabalah, it was still hard not to get sidetracked. All the more so nowadays, it just is not worth it to endanger one's soul for the sake of the delusional "high" that Kabala gives one.

To make yeshivas on the name of the Gra and Rav Shach would be in the category of "bringing merit to many."

There is a yeshiva in the old city of Jerusalem that goes by the Gra totally. That is the Aderet Eliyahu of the Zilverman's. But it seems to me that to start study halls in other places in the world especially Israel makes sense. The reason is that the regular Litvak path, while fairly decent, still lacks that emphasis on the Gra that would save a lot of people from the Sitra Achra (Dark Side).
this is not meant to disparage the great ideas of Rav Nahman of Breslov, but rather to help people come to straight authentic Torah. With the context of straight Torah, many of Rav Nahman's ideas can be very helpful. But when taken outside that context, it usually gets people off track.


[The idea here is that sometimes it happens that one is not able to learn Torah as much as he should. if at least he or she could help contribute the creating places of study that go by the Gra specifically, this would at least be a step in the right direction.]


Besides that it would be good for me if there was a study hall or yeshiva in my area on the name of the Gra so that I would be able to learn a little bit of Torah. As things stand today I am afraid of walking into any religious place because the Sitra Achra has taken over most of them. But places on the name of the Gra or which go by the straight Litvak path are safe. 

I also noticed the Obligations of the Heart says all you can use reason for about God is that he exists and is One and eternal; but after that, we can only know Him by his works. All other questions about God are not knowable to Rav Ibn Pakuda [the author.] (note 1) But even more so. He says thinking about God any further that those three facts makes one insane. And that it clearly why the religious world is in fact insane in a collective way.

(note 1) The concept of location does not apply to God. Rav Ibn Pakuda makes a point of this fact. Asking, "Where is God?" is like talking about the color of air. He is not in space or time at all but also space and time are not empty of Him. Place is simply not applicable.

But this is really just one example of the problem that Rav Nahman of Breslov goes into concerning the issue of Torah scholars that are demons that falsify the teachings of Torah. Thus it came about that the entire religious world is built on false Torah [ Or as Rav Nahman puts it "Torah of the Sitra Achra."] because of this problem with Torah scholar demons.

To find authentic Torah is not easy unless you just want to get the basic books yourself and learn at home. Obviously the great Litvak yeshivas of NY and also Ponovitch get the closest to the real authentic light of Torah.

The problem is that it is almost impossible to find any place to study Torah that has not been infiltrated by the Dark Side.

I met one fellow who had blue threads on his garment [tzitzis]  and and asked if that was of the Gra or Breslov. He said of the Gra. How was I surprised! [That is to say the blue thread they make in Efrat is different from the one they use in Breslov. This led to a short conversation and he suggested that it would be  a good idea to make study halls or yeshivas on the name of the Gra and Rav Shach in Israel.[That means places that would specifically go by the path of the Gra with no compromises.]
I was pleased to hear that there are people interested in the Gra besides the Silvermans in the Old City of Jerusalem.

From my point of view, it would be great to have a study hall nearby that would be going by the Gra so that I could start to learn authentic Torah. The problem is that it is almost impossible to find any place to study Torah that has not been infiltrated by the Dark Side. So to have a place nearby that would go by the Gra and Rav Shach would be for me a great joy.


[The type of blue that is use in Breslov seems to me to be not from the original Khilazon [the kind of creature that was used to make the dye], but rather the kind used by the people that go with the Gra. I had looked into this some years ago and that was my conclusion.] The Gra kind of blue thread is made from a fish. The Breslov one is not from a fish but a kin of small octopus.