There is something that is odd about the religious world, but it is hard to know what. Maybe the problem what Rav Nahman [Breslov]  noted about Torah scholars from the Dark Side [sitra achra]. But I am unsure if that is all. While on one hand, the express belief in Torah is good, But when the actions show that belief is hollow and a façade, --that tends to cause '' hilul hashem'' i.e. questions on Torah that they supposedly represent. [I avoid the religious world mainly because of personal experience. I think that if they already did as much harm to me and my family as they could then why trust them again?   Lie Charlie Brown thinking every time that Lucie  could be trusted not to remove the football at the last second when he wa no longer in a position to back out.                   ]

 Few one but a few fanatics want to fight Russia.  I know this from years of asking Ukrainians [IN UMAN central ukraine] if they preferred Russian rule or rule of Kiev. The answer was almost always that things were better under Russia. But I admit there  were a few exceptions. but in a city of 60,000 people, a couple of exceptions were not significant. But clearly Ukrainians in the USA or other countries are ultra nationalists-- they have nothing to lose.

But besides the few Ukrainian fanatics I can see no point in starting WWIII with Russia which in the already started stages of WWIII will be joined by China, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and to add to that the fact is a vast percent of people in the USA itself hate America and can not wait for a bit of chaos to start rioting, burning, looting and raping --as soon as things get unstable.  

musar books on ethics from the middle ages

 in musar there is given the idea that midot tovot are the prime obligation. good character. this helps to a large degree in understanding the of what the Torah considers to be of primary importance and what is secondary. but the main effect of musar nowadays is only in the area of hashgafa [world view] but not o much in translating that into action. but even that alone --that establishing a firm foundation of what is important in Torah is also of great importance.

Kant is in need of modification.

 

  Kant is in need of modification. That can be like Kelley Ross or Michael Huemer. i.e. the Friesian school [Jacob Fries, Leonard Nelson] or the intuitionists [Prichard]. You  have to start with the realization that Kant was too  much influenced by David Hume. Hume limited the scope of reason way too much. He was a teacher of Euclidian geometry and so though that reason can only see contradictions where they exist.  He repeats this claim many times without a shred of evidence or proof. Kant accepted this. But reason has another function. It perceives universals. They are qualities that things have in common like trees. the universals that i refer to here are the very things that Kelley Ross calls ''forms'' in his distinction between content and form. That makes up his theory of value where some things like pure mathematical logic are pure form with sentences A and B that have no content but can stand for anything.  Then you have math which has more content but less form since it can not be reduced to pure logic are Godel showed us. Then you have music and art which have more content but even less form until you get to God who has no form at all but is pure content. But these areas of perception are what Michael Huemer would bring into the category of area where things are partly known by reason--or being reasonable and empirical perception.

Robert Hanna has pointed out the poverty of modern philosophy and the way forward to Kant, -but that still leaves the problems inherent in Kant. Thus one needs either the Friesian School or the Intuitionists. 

 I have been thinking about my son Izhak and thought about how the story of Henry II relates to this. For when Henry II realized when he was losing everything that it was the blood of Thomas Becket that was crying out from the grave that was the root cause. So it is with all of us that Izhak was asking help, and no one wanted to help.

But there is also the importance of learning the valuable lessons of his life. For myself  I would like to concentrate on learning in depth that he emphasized. I would also like to set time to go through the two Talmuds with the basic commentaries and midrash, but at this point in time that does not seem to be of immediate possibility.]   [Why is learning Torah important? You can see the reason in the Yerushalmi כל חפצים לא ישוו בה  all the mizvot are  not equal to [even] one word of Torah, [chapter I of Peah]. I put in the extra word ''even'']

[I should also add that Physics and Metaphysics is a part of learning the Oral Law as Ibn Pakuda hints to and the Rambam write openly in the Yad (Mishne Tora) and the Guide.]

The problem with mysticism

 The problem with mysticism is that it attaches itself  to Torah. When you have people that are true tzadikim that may have mystic intuitions that is not Torah, even when these intuition are true, [which mot often they are not]-still that is not Torah.

[I do believe Rav Nahman had great insight and was a great tzadik. But "Torah" does not mean insight. Torah means the Written Law  and the Oral Law as contained in the two Talmuds and Midrash. "Torah" is not open to anyone adding to it at whim. But that is exactly what the religious do.]

 If you look at the chapters in Deuteronomy [5-12] about idolatry you will see why the Gra signed the excommunication.  Idolatry can be Jewish. What makes it to be idolatry is the worship of any being besides God-- the First Cause.--not dead tzadikim, [or live ones either.]