The religious world bears only a superficial resemblance to Torah. But at least  those that follow the Gra get most things right. But not all.  They learn Torah in depth and love Torah for it's own sake.  They are aware that good character [to be a mensch] is the essence of Torah--. But by ignoring the herem [letter of excommunication] of the Gra, they tend to fall into the same Dark Side trap. [Sitra achra]

[I admit that I could be wrong about my particular liking of Rav Nahman of Breslov in that he might be thought to be in the category of te excommunication of the Gra. But I tend to believe that he stands outside of it. In fact I have seen that the Litvak world in general considers him to be a great tzadik.]

first night of pesach

 Next Tuesday night should be the first night of Pesach according to the approach of the gemara in Sanhedrin page 10 side b.--that is you go by the conjunction of the moon with the sun on the same longitude.[not the same latitude also because that would be  lunar ellipse]. And that is the first opinion of Tosphot over there. But if you go by the gemara in Rosh Hashana, there it is clear you go by the time when you can see the new moon, and that would be a day later. [That is the gemara that Tosphot bringc to argue on that first opinion. [ But in my opinion,  that Gemara in Sanhedrin disagrees with the Gemara in Rosh Hashana]  But none of that has anything to do with the calendar. All this means is if there would be a court that had authentic semicha from Sinai then they would go by one of these opinions the conjunction or when they see the new moon

 A lot of people that present themselves as ""talmidei hachamim" are actually from the dark side but there is a way to be rescued from them. That is by inviting true Torah scholars into one's home. That is--at any rate, what I gathered today by reading the Le.M. (Lekutei Moharan) of Rav Nahman of Breslov vol I chap 28in the local Na Nach place

Even though I hold that the basic absolute Litvak path is correct and important, there are some issues where I disagree...e.g. the Land of Israel, the of Israel, the approach to Rav Nahman, the calendar, the herem of the Gra, sitting in kollel(1) Living in Israel is important as stated by all rishonim.(2) the state of Israel also is important.(3) Rav Nahman was an important tzadik-- but the insane world of Breslov is different story, [and most of his advice is good and true, but some of it was given to individual people and not meant for everyone.(4) The herem of the Gra is certainly still valid. but due to my reading of the several herems that were issued in Villna, I do not think they apply to Rav Nahman.(5) The calendar was never instituted by Hillel II. If it had been, why would the Gemara have been silent about it?(6) Kollel is a hard issue to determine. My own path goes with the opinion that one should learn Physics and Math and make a living doing that. But those that learn Torah all day in the great Litvak Yeshivot are also doing well.

 Among some mediaeval authorities, learning physics and metaphysics  is important, e.g. Chovot Levavot, Rambam, ibn Gavirol and the commentaries on the Guide who were also Rishonim [mediaeval authorities]. But later Musar [Ethics] books tended to leave that out. You must have noted this in the Ramchal. so when Rav Israel Salanter  took up the goal of reintroducing and revitalizing Musar, this emphasis was lost. My own experience was to be part of the great Musar yeshiva, the Mir in NY. But eventually, I did not find anyplace for me, so I depended on the Rishonim [mediaeval authorities] like Rambam to begin  Physics studies at NYU. [But that was interrupted]. However, I think the whole issue comes down to what is known as a ''מחלוקת ראשונים'', [an argument among mediaeval authorities]. אלו ואלו דברי אלקים חיים that is what the gemara says about an argument among tenaim. --''these and those are the words of the living God.''

[[the issue goes back to the geonim- saadia on one side [with ibn pakuda's chovot levavot ] and hai gaon on the other.]

 The news media reports what Ukrainian commanders in the field say to them--as if that has any connection with reality, Right! I am sure the Russians are beaten with their nuclear submarines off the coast of California and New York right now. Right. Keep up the self delusion.

People are sadlly unaware of the facts on the ground and under the sea, They mistake Russian restraint for  weakness.  Just like the last attempt to cripple the Russian economy which just boomeranged  backwards to cripple the economy of the USA and strengthen the ruble. People have no idea what they are dealing with. .

The religious world is based patrician against plebian the upper class superior beings against the common folk.

The religious world  is based patrician against plebian the upper class superior beings against the common folk. But it is in the interest of the patrician to hide this dynamic.     The problem with the religious is that they imagine that they are keeping Torah. The addition of endless rituals have of course, no root in Jewish Law. But more so, two of the major requirements of Torah are Monotheism which means belief in God alone, not the endless parade of phony "tzadikim". Another is Midot Tovot [good character]which means to be a mensch, not a backbiter. Not to be   forcing secular Jews to pay for their kollels against their will. They can make this happen by the form of government in Israel, but that does not mean secular Jews give willingly. And that comes under the category of "Hamas" [Yes, it is the same word] which means to force someone to give you money against their will. For example, to take something from someone and then offer to pay for it.