Even though there is such a thing as positive religious value, unless  it is tempered down with reason, it gets attached to the Dark Side. That is why in the Middle Ages, the connection between Torah and Aristotle and Plato was a major emphasis. Especially you see this in the Obligations of the Hearts and the Rambam.

There is such a thing as insane religious fanaticism --. Rav Nahman brings out this point on the verses before the giving of the Torah. פן יעלו בהר "Least they go up into the mountain." In Breslov this is refered to as "ריבוי אור"{ribuy or} "too much excitement" [literally: "Too much light"].

In the major book of Rav Nahman there is brought the fact that most religious leaders are demonic Torah scholars. That is in the LeM I1:2 and I:28. But this sort of problem has been around longer.

In the Five Books of Moses we find that Korah had a bunch of people with him [250] that were against Moses.  The Midrash says those people were the heads of the sanhedrins. [I mean to say that Moses had picked out judges to provide for small courts and larger courts of appeal. These very same people were the ones that later went against Moses.

I do would not trust religious authorities if they told me the sky is blue.

Nowadays if you want to know what the Torah requires of you there the best way of finding a good Litvak yeshiva based on the Gra and Rav Shach and sitting and learning there for a few years. There is a somewhat shorter approach by getting the basic set of Musar books [Ethics] from the Middle Ages plus learning the Tur with the Beit Yoseph and Bach. [The Tur was the son of the Rosh. His is the best book on law that I know of. It certainly helped me gain clarity about scores of issues.]

 

 I think "woke-ism"is on a mission to wipe out the white race from the face of the planet.  This is upsetting to me because I have great admiration for Western Civilization. [And I guess I have a certain compassion for others.] Nor do I see other cultures as being superior. On one hand I have always had great admiration for the Indians of the USA  in terms of the living off the land, and being in harmony with nature, but I also am aware of their wars one with another. [I tried recently to get an idea of the history of Ohio Indians.] I just do not see the way of painting everyone not white as lily white,- and all whites as black as demons  as being accurate. 

In fact I see everything about woke-ism as having one single objective that is approached from many different angles. First the perversion of Western Civilization, then the enslavement of the white race, then the final eradication of the white race as the final step..

 Chametz leavened bread is any one of the main five types of grain that has sat in water for more that 18 up until 24 minutes.  So if one takes pure oatmeal and makes boiled porridge, that is not chametz. And not only that but after one has made boiled porridge it can never become chametz. 

 There does not seem to be a good reason to seek for extra restrictions.לא דייך את מה שאסרה תורה? As the sages said:" It is not enough for you what the Torah has forbidden that you seek to find new things to forbid?] 

Temura 18. On the subject of the Passover Sacrifice. And if one sanctifies a female sheep for that purpose.

 The way Rav Shach sees things is that there are two different kinds of "pushing off" in terms of sacrifices.  That explains the law of the sages (against R. Elazar) that when one sets aside a female pregnant sheep for a passover, the baby sheep and mother must be put to pasture. [That is so even though in terms of a sin offering עובר לאו ירך אמו a fetus is not part of the mother. That is: if you sanctify a pregnant female sheep or cow or goat as a sin offering, she or her infant can be brought as a sin offering--but not both.] So this looks like a direct contradiction..

The answer of Rav Shach is  that  the Rambam goes like the opinion בעלי חיים אינם נדחים but in the case of the female sheep, the essence of the holiness is already pushed off. It is a different sort of being pushed off.

That is where he disagrees with Rav Isaac Zev Soloveitchik.  R.I.Z. wrote in order to answer for the Rambam that even though בעלי חיים אינם נדחים  still when one sanctifies a female sheep that is pregnant, the fetus is one sacrifice with the mother. Rav Shach asks on this. 

The regular case of pushing off is when a sheep is owned by two owners. and one sanctifies his half, then buys the other half and sanctifies that. The sheep can be brought as a sacrifice. That is obviously different from sanctifying a female sheep for a passover--which must be a male sheep. 

If you consider Rav Isaac Zev' answer, it does make some sense. But the answer of Rav Shach makes much more sense since it takes into account something apparently unnoticed by Rav Isaac Zev, these two kinds of "being pushed off".And besides that Rav Isaac Zev's way seems like just away of sneaking עובר ירך אמו into what is in fact the law that עובר לאו ירך אמו

 I found the religious world to be similar to Pangloss all talk. Talk the talk but not walk the walk. That is what in fact has provided a challenge to me in terms to of learning and keeping Torah.  For I found the religious world to be somewhat "cultish", that is partaking of all of the characteristic of small maniac religious Eastern  Cults, but simply more successful in term of numbers.  

In fact I had to study the cult of Adi Ad and Scientology for a while to be able to see what the religious world is really all about .--and it is not Torah. But that does not mean that there is no one that is not sincere and loyal to Torah, but it is not those making a song and dance about it.

The actual trouble with the religious world is not at all obvious to new comers- with tons of enthusiasm and idealism, but low on experience with fraudsters. If fact, the better the homes they were brought up in, the less of the ability to discern fraudsters they will have. That is part of the conundrum of human experience.

 [In short, joining the religious world is the same as joining the Adi Da cult or Scientology. The rituals are different but the essence is the same. ]