Learning Torah is important but it is something that can not be relegated to others. The trouble is that the religious world spends most of its time and efforts to try to get money out of Secular Jews because supposedly they are "learning Torah." Most of the time this is impossible to check up on because pseudo yeshivas are generally in Israel, but they do all their collecting in the USA.
In doing this, they do not often mention their own anti-Israel agenda and anti-Secular Jews agenda. They make a song and dance about how, "We are all brothers." But when a secular Jew needs help, they always act in the most brotherly fashion possible. [That is the terrible sin of the religious is they make tremendous effort to show they are your friends when they need your money, but when in positions of power they do as much damage as possible to you]
The whole business is a terrible scam and all under the pretense of learning Torah. What a joke.
In doing this they blacken the name and reputation of Torah. For after all, the only reason people learn Torah is to learn how to be a "mensch." When they religious act in such disgusting ways, this reflects on the holy Torah.
The best advice is to learn Torah at home on your own, and forget about the pseudo institutions.
[That is unless the institutions are legit, like Ponovitch, or the three NY yeshivas, Chaim Berlin Mir, Torah VeDaat]. In any case, any institution that is anti Israel, you can cross off your list of places to donate to. If they are against service in the IDF, all the more so. But also anything under the Cherem [excommunication] of the Gra also should be off the list. And the main thing is, "No Compromise."
I should mention my own approach to Torah is more or less based on my parents and the Rambam, which can be summed up in one word "balance." That is to try to have a balanced day, learning Gemara, Rashi, Tosphot, Avi Ezri, Musar, Math, Music, Exercise, Survival Skills.
We can go far astray often with practically disastrous consequences, (particularly in medicine and agriculture) when we haughtily ignore taxonomy (calling things by their right name), disregard the small but distinctive differences among real species and things, and falsely assume that all looking basically alike, and coming from the same broad region, must be the "same" animal.
In doing this, they do not often mention their own anti-Israel agenda and anti-Secular Jews agenda. They make a song and dance about how, "We are all brothers." But when a secular Jew needs help, they always act in the most brotherly fashion possible. [That is the terrible sin of the religious is they make tremendous effort to show they are your friends when they need your money, but when in positions of power they do as much damage as possible to you]
The whole business is a terrible scam and all under the pretense of learning Torah. What a joke.
In doing this they blacken the name and reputation of Torah. For after all, the only reason people learn Torah is to learn how to be a "mensch." When they religious act in such disgusting ways, this reflects on the holy Torah.
The best advice is to learn Torah at home on your own, and forget about the pseudo institutions.
[That is unless the institutions are legit, like Ponovitch, or the three NY yeshivas, Chaim Berlin Mir, Torah VeDaat]. In any case, any institution that is anti Israel, you can cross off your list of places to donate to. If they are against service in the IDF, all the more so. But also anything under the Cherem [excommunication] of the Gra also should be off the list. And the main thing is, "No Compromise."
I should mention my own approach to Torah is more or less based on my parents and the Rambam, which can be summed up in one word "balance." That is to try to have a balanced day, learning Gemara, Rashi, Tosphot, Avi Ezri, Musar, Math, Music, Exercise, Survival Skills.
We can go far astray often with practically disastrous consequences, (particularly in medicine and agriculture) when we haughtily ignore taxonomy (calling things by their right name), disregard the small but distinctive differences among real species and things, and falsely assume that all looking basically alike, and coming from the same broad region, must be the "same" animal.
