deceptive recruiting

One minute you're saying, hmmm, maybe unplugging for a day is a good idea, and the next you're trembling in terror because you had an erotic thought or put down your Gemara for 3 seconds. They don't exactly tell you everything up front do they?

circumcision is equal to all the mitzvot of the Torah

Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi says: Great is the mitzva of circumcision, for there is no one who was engaged in mitzvot like Abraham our Patriarch, and yet he was called wholehearted only due to the mitzva of circumcision, as it is stated: “Walk before Me and you should be wholehearted” (Genesis 17:1), and it is written in the next verse: “And I will make My covenant between Me and you” (Genesis 17:2), and Abraham was then commanded with regard to circumcision. This indicates that he was not called wholehearted until he performed circumcision.

Alternatively, so great is the mitzva of circumcision that it is equal to all the mitzvot of the Torah, as it is stated at the giving of the Torah: “For according to these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel” (Exodus 34:27), and “covenant” refers to circumcision. Alternatively, so great is the mitzva of circumcision that if not for circumcision heaven and earth would not have been established, as it is stated: “If My covenant be not with day and night, I would not have appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth” (Jeremiah 33:25), and the covenant that exists day and night is the covenant of circumcision, as it is always found on the person’s body.

The Gemara comments: And this statement disagrees with the words of Rabbi Eliezer, for Rabbi Eliezer said: Great is the Torah, for if not for Torah, heaven and earth would not have been established, as it is stated: “If My covenant be not with day and night, I would not have appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth” (Jeremiah 33:25). According to Rabbi Eliezer, the covenant that exists day and night is the Torah, as it says: “You should contemplate it day and night” (Joshua 1:8).

Nedarim 32a

not ready for tefillin?

A Chabad guy told me that he had a tefillin stand in Yafo street and a kid from one of the BT schools used to come by to put on tefillin. His BT school didn't allow him to wear tefillin, defending the prohibition by saying that he had to learn more Torah first, learn what guf naki is.

You can explain guf naki to a sentient person in about 1 minute, as if the school explains much halacha anyway while they are doing their gemara lomdus. What I think really is going on is that they don't respect mitzvos. They figure what's the difference, it's only a mitzvah. Tell me, if he is not ready for tefillin, is he ready for Gemara? Does he have moach naki after growing up on television and likely pornography?

Also, there's the condescension and control of the BT, control being an essential part of running a cult, as is condescension, making the person feel small. So he sees the whole community putting on tefillin and he doesn't get to. He has to earn it so to speak. That's the attitude.

Chabad has a different attitude. You are a Jew. You don't have to earn the right to do mitzvos. And not only because it's your heritage, meaning Avraham earned it for you (the Manalist approach) but your neshama is holy, and it's your natural right. 

One approach - make you feel terrible. The other approach - make you feel good about yourself as a Jew. 

The superiority of mitzvos

 

Magical thinking

Guy goes to a Rosh Yeshiva at a very famous yeshiva in EY for aitzah. Here's the exact conversation.

Bachur: "I'm having trouble with my yetzer hara."

RY: "Two words. Mishneh Brerurah."

"What?"

"I have it on tradition that if you learn the Mishneh Brurah you won't have trouble with your yetzer hara."

So let's unpack this. Two words to solve one of the biggest challenges in life for men. And of course the answer is Torah learning. With rabbis like this, who needs a rabbi. The answer to every question is study Torah. If that's the answer, I can train a parrot to say it. 

How old can this tradition be? The Mishneh Brerurah is a century old. What did they do before that?

There are so many things he could have said. Watch your stress level. Why are you stressed. If it's excessive fear about gehennom, we can talk about that. If it's putting too much pressure to study Torah every second, we can talk about that? Maybe you need to get a wife. Maybe you are around too many provocatively dressed women. Maybe you need more sleep, more exercise. Maybe you concentrate on your connection with Hashem. All depends on the person. That's why a good mentor is so helpful. But that's not what happened here.

This same fellow went to another RY who said, "Are you learning Tosfos in depth?" "No." "Well that's why."

So we see a disagreement. Is it Tosfos that saves you or the Mishneh Brurah? Each gave his answer as if that's THE answer. They can't both be right.

And of course neither is right. What they are offering is magical thinking. What they are pushing is lunacy that is so loony that you are tempted to think they have arrived at some kind of ultimate truth. This is the stuff of charlatans. And you are not allowed to question them of course. 

We don't know who actually said the following, but it applies:

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

after losing the big game

"You have some regret and sitting around for a week and knowing that the season may be over is a hard feeling. It's not good. And then to have life put back into you, knowing that you have that other opportunity. You gotta play with no regrets. So when you have a second shot at this thing that maybe you didn't have a week or two or three weeks ago it gives you that perspective that maybe you didn't have a month ago."

"If we are going to win this game we have got to play every single play like our hair is on fire. We got to play physical, we got to play tough, we've go to play fast. We have to execute at a high level in order to beat Georgia. "

 "When you win 11 straight games but lose that game, you feel like the season's a failure. It takes a little time to recover from . But we got right back into work. That's the only way you move forward, to get back into the game." 

"People are walking around with a purpose."

Commenting on play the defending the favored National Champs in their home turf: "All the above is going to be hard. Good, that's the way we have to look at it. The team that can handle the ups and downs, the good plays, the leads, the being from behind, the halftimes, all those ups and downs typically comes out on top."

OSU football coach Ryan Day.

Amalek in action

Of all the toxic ideologies in the world, one of the worst is neo-Litvish lomdisitis, the notion that the only worthy activity in life is Gemara lomdus on the yeshivish mesechtas and that you must do it every second of your life. You know, stick your feet in cold water, put broom sticks under your arms so you can stay awake to learn more Gemara. I remember hearing that in my first year in BT boot camp. 

What that produces is a contempt for everything else. You come to hate the entire world and everything in it. This is worse than Nazism. They Nazis looked down on and even abhorred everybody but them, but they did like themselves, their uniforms, their wine, their howitzers. With lomdisitis, you hate even your own life. You are annoyed at your own urge to sleep. Even Chumash is called bitul Torah. Everything is bitul Torah: work, errands, conversation. It's the ultimate nihilism. It's much worse than mere misanthropy. You come to despise all people, all cultures, all things, and all activities, anything that's not a yeshivish mesechta. And this is passed off as religious idealism! It's Amalek. As Rabbi Chananya Weisman wrote, "Whereas Esav wanted 'only' to destroy the Jewish people, Amalek set out to destroy the entire world. If he couldn't have everything for himself, on his terms, then he would bring it all down with him (Eliyahu Rabba 24:1)."

What happens to many people is that they give up all their interests and then become so crazy that they don't study Gemara either. They are left floating around the room, doing nothing but feel guilty. That's when really disturbing behavior can emerge. Idleness breeds vice. And people who feel rotten don't notice when they engage in rotten behavior. 

And that's just the way Amalek wants it. 

cult like

 I heard a story that somebody had an audience with a famous American 'gadol' who said the following:

Do you await Moshiach?

Yes.

Do you want him to greet you?

Yes.

Then you must learn the laws of brochos because he won't greet you if you don't know them.

So here's my take on that. You could say that it's a good encounter. For once, they talk about something other than Gemara lomdus. You need to know how to say brochos because that's gratitude to Hashem. He only means basic knowledge. That's the dan 'chaf zchus.

But that's a forced interpretation. Because what I really think is going on is messing with the head. The encounter is negative and confusing. Moshaich isn't going to talk to frum Jews because of a lack of knowledge. So it is about learning again. He didn't say Moshiach will greet you only if you SAY brochos, but if you KNOW the laws.

This is a frum person. They say brachos. 

And why brochos? All day long these guys pound you about Torah study and they even laugh at mesechta brachos. So why this? 

So it's intimidating, demoralizing, frightening, and confusing. Cult-like. 

more on the importance of physical mitzvos

 Briefly, the explanation of this is as follows: Mitzvahs can be performed only with physical substance. For example: tsitsit [tallit fringes] are made of physical wool, the Four Species waved on Sukkot are physical plants, and a mezuzah is written on physical parchment. Through doing mitzvahs with physical objects we can transcend the separateness of the physical that we perceive with our senses and realize our true nothingness in relation to G‑d: that the created existence is nothing and the Creator is the true existence. Then G‑dliness can be revealed through us and to us.

When we meditate upon the verse "I, G‑d have not changed" (Malachi 3:6), we understand that the apparent change (during Creation from spiritual into physical through the concealment of the spiritual) is only from our perspective; from G‑d's perspective, however, there is no darkness or concealment of His Infinite Light.

From the teachings of Rabbi Sholom DovBer Schneersohn of Lubavitch; adapted by Moshe Kravitz

D'var Yerushalayim

Planning now for it's Jubilee anniversary - 50 years - D'var Yerushalyim is one of the original modern day schools for baalei teshuvah. Even so, not everybody has heard of it. Most of us know about Aish and Ohr Somayach, but not necessarily Dvar. And that's a shame, because it has its own niche. It offers something that perhaps no other BT school does and that something is freedom to be oneself as well as a general philosophy of Torah Im Derech Eretz. 

Most BT schools force an outlook on the students. In some places the genesis of this is simply that the people who run the schools don't have much life experience and give over what they know. In some places, the genesis is arrogance. The guys who run the schools think they have the one medicine that all people should take regardless of their medical profile. Oh they'll tell you otherwise on their websites. They'll tell you how they'll help you to develop your own perspective, to achieve individual 'greatness' or whatever. But the guy who writes up the web page is not necessarily the same person you'll meet in classroom. 

As I post here on the top of this blog, according to Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky, the goal of the kiruv professional should be simply to help the baal teshuvah take on the mitzvos. He should not impose conformity or eradicate the essence of the person. Rav Yaakov said that it is important that the BT feel normal. He said that, for example, the typical BT will not feel normal if he does not complete his or her college education. Thus, he or she should not be discouraged from doing so.

More than any other place, Dvar Yerushalayim takes this approach. There's a former student who advertises for the school now. He tells the story of how he came to Rav Horowitz and said he'd only come if he didn't have to go to any classes, daven, or wear a yarmulka. He would spend his time on the beaches of Tel Aviv with spending money from Dvar. Here's his story. 

And so he came and he became Torah observant and now he's a nice frum Jew. It's not just Rav Horowitz, another rebbe over told me that a guy came in a said he only wanted to study Talmud Yerushalmi. Now, it many places, maybe all of them, he would have been told, no that's not for you, you are ready for that, you have to first learn Bavli. But that's the approach at Dvar. They said, fine. And he learned Yerushalmi for a while, and now he's learning Bavli, cranking out mesechta after mesechta, as it was explained to me. 

There's an expression in Zen Buddhism. If you make the fence too small, the cow will want to jump over it. BTs come from such a different culture than FFBs. Even after decades in the frum world, I feel like I'm with Martians most of the time. Imposing an outlook on the brain can have disastrous results. Rav Horowitz, in his humility and in his training as a Yekke, gets that. 

Here's Rav Horowitz:

You see this visualized in the Dvar Yerushalayim library. It's extensive and broad for a yeshiva library. Here's some books on Tefillah, which is a very important topic for BTs, for everyone, as we spend two hours a day davening.  

Here's a shelf of Artscroll Gemaras. I went to one place that wouldn't allow us to use any English Gemaras. I offered free Artsrolls to another place that declined them. 

Here are Steinsoltz Gemaras:

Some places won't allow Steinsoltz. Rabbi Aaron Feldman went on a tirade about him in his book of tirades. So I'm here to tell you that Steinsoltz is fine. You can use his Gemaras and read his other books too.

This picture is blurry, but if you can make it out, there's the incredible work Dynamics of Dispute. This book helps you work through some of the larger questions on the Talmud, such as why are they arguing all the time if the Torah is from Sinai. It's a very helpful book and every BT school should have it. I see here also Reading the Talmud. These books provide an introduction to Talmud. Some schools just have you open up and begin -- Neanderthal style, without educational method. Many people do better with introductions and overviews. 

Here's books on Chassidus! Chabad and Breslov are included. 

Here's Rav Hirsch, an entire shelf. Rav Horowitz himself is a Yekke which helps explain why he has such a sensible approach to running a BT school. He was one of the translators of Horeb. 

Here's books by Aryeh Kaplan and a book on mitzvos. Kaplan is essential reading for BTs and the topic of mitzvos, as its own subject, is essential. You can't just learn a few pages of yeshivishe mesechtas of the Talmud. You have to study mitzvos. The Chofetz Chaim wrote his own book on the topic, that's how important it was even for the FFBs of his day, so certainly it's important to the BTs of our day. 

Dvar is just loaded with books. In fact, when you enter the front door, you enter a large room full of books. 

That's one side of the room. The other is shown above, the photo with the Artscroll gemaras. Maybe the shelves could be neatened up a bit, but that's not the important thing. The important thing is to have the books themselves. Here's more. 

 

And more. 

And none of that is even the Beis Midrash. Those are library rooms. There's lots of books in the Beis Midrash too.

Having been to nearly every BT school, I'd say that Dvar's library is one of the best. Only Ohr Somayach and Yeshiva University rival it. YU of course has a large university library, but it's not full of introductions to Orthodox Judaism. You find some of those books at different locations on campus, not all in one spot. 

Dvar also has a nice campus. Here's the building.

Here's the entrance.

Beis Midrash

Dining Room: spacious, clean, with a great view of the mountains. Suns comes right into the room. 

Lunch: not bad at all:

Looks like chicken, rice, and salad. Shown here is the serving table after everyone took their portions. 

Here's a lovely garden:

A shiur given outside:

Here's the schedule:

Let's see. Sefardi halacha, Introduction to laws and customs, Talmud Succah, Ulpan - different levels, Mishneh Berurah, Pirkei Avos and a second choice of Gemara - Chulin, Daf Yomi, Chofetz Chaim on laws of speech, parsha insights and questions, world events.

That's a well rounded curriculum. A class on Tanach would be nice. Rabbi Horowitz told a guy I know decades ago that certainly we should study Tanach.BTs in particular should do this because we can't just start with Gemara -- we have to go along the kind of progression that FFBs get before they study Gemara. 

Dvar has long been a leader in teaching Hebrew to BTs.

As for instruction in bitachon and musar, they address that with the parsha insights and periodic classes like this one.

  

And this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=babgQnHVNcA

You'll see that Rav Horowitz has a broad education. He can weave Torah thought with positive thoughts from gentile thinkers. He's a real Hirschian. He talks about Hashem with wonderful articulation.

Not having a full out musar class is arguably a good approach. One has to go easy on the musar with BTs. I know of one place that beats them up with it. That's not healthy. You get disastrous results. Some schools beat you up with Gemara, meaning they overwhelm you with all day Gemara study. That's another way to break people. Dvar has Gemara, but the entire day doesn't have to be built on it. That's up to you.

Dvar has content on its website. You can check out classes there.  http://dvar.org.il/index.php?lang=en. They are on youtube too.  

Channels:

https://www.youtube.com/@DvarYerushalayim

https://www.youtube.com/@baruchhorowitz8432

Classes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN8aZmGg7K4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuvxLn1Xqec

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ayPSp0IGgs

As you can hear in these shiurim, Rav Horowitz is an English gentleman. He doesn't shout, he doesn't oppress.

Some notable people have taught here including Rav Aryeh Carmell z'l, author of Strive for Truth and Aiding Talmud Study and Rav Yoel Schwartz z'l, author of over 200 books and pamphlets on Jewish law, aggada and midrashim. He's an article on Rav Schwartz in the Jerusalem Post. 

On staff these days is Rav Baruch Horowitz, Rav Dovid Gilberg,  Rav Yitzchok Horowitz, Rav Adam Sommer, Rav Harari, Dr. Mori Bank, and Rav E. Stein. 

Here's a video for their jubilee celebration. 

and more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrpVolMwRQo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROCTI4K7kQY

A simcha at Dvar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Rkf_7W6Avk

One  caveat, they are fairly Zionistic at Dvar, so if you are anti-Zionist or just not turned on by the topic you won't feel comfortable there. Same with Darche Noach/Shapells which is probably even more Zionistic. 

What is your attitude to us settling in Eretz Yisroel?

 

Rav Avigdor Miller

Q:

What is your attitude to us settling in Eretz Yisroel?

A:
And the answer is, it depends. If you are influenced by the Zionists, then you have to know you are a victim of propaganda. If you are doing it because of daas Torah it’s a different story but I want to tell you, very few people settle in Eretz Yisroel because of daas Torah. Actually it is a form of patriotism engendered by the non-religious groups. 

Now, I will explain it to you. If you want to better your ruchniyus, you want to learn more Torah, you want your children to be better Jews, and that is why you are going, then I’m all for it. But first the question is, is it so? Is it the very best place for children to grow up in the Torah way? If after investigating it thoroughly you discover that is the case, then certainly, there’s no question.

For some people, however, it is definitely not so. Some people will find their success not in Eretz Yisroel; they will learn and they will make progress in Torah and mitzvos – and their children too – elsewhere.

And therefore, it depends what’s your purpose. A Rosh Yeshiva once told me, “Just to go to Eretz Yisroel without having a specific place in mind where you want to settle is like to going to Chicago.” Because there is a Chicago in Eretz Yisroel too. You want to settle in Tel-Aviv?! And therefore it depends where you are going.

Now, they’ll tell you maamarei chazal – if you walk four amos in Eretz Yisroel then it is better than anything else in chutz laaretz. Don’t misunderstand these things; our sages themselves remained in chutz laaretz because they had good reasons to be there. Ezra refused to go to Eretz Yisrael כל זמן שברוך בן נריה קיים. As long as his rebbe was alive he wouldn’t budge. Now, that’s a consideration. In Eretz Yisroel they were building the second Bais Hamikdash and Ezra didn’t come because his rebbe was still in Bavel and he needed his rebbe; as long as his rebbe was alive he wouldn’t budge. So you see there are other considerations that take precedence.

And you have to know why do you want to go? Is it just because of a Zionist dream? Then it’s a false dream, and who knows what is going to happen. You think it’s going to be forever the Jewish state? You don’t know what is going to happen. The little state there is wobbling. Who said there is security there? Who said you are safe there? And therefore, if you go because you want ruchniyus so you disregard other considerations; but otherwise you’re just a victim of propaganda. 

TAPE # 408 (June 1982)

Finding Your Zivug

Finding Your Zivug (Mate) Yitzchok & Rivka: The Torah's View of Finding a Mate by RABBI JEFF FORSYTHE

https://www.shemayisrael.com/rabbiforsythe/zivug/yitzrivka.htm

This article is pretty good and it brings to mind the following implication. If success in marriage is dependent largely on the wife’s inclination to do chesed, how does a man figure out if the woman he is doing is so inclined? Dating in America, particularly in New York, consists of the man doing EVERYTHING. This ranges from approaching the woman at a singles event (where she likely sits in a circle with her friends), to calling the shadchan (women generally wait to be called), to calling the woman, to driving to her, to finding an activity that pleases her (many times women complain afterward to the shadchan about his choices), to possibly then driving from her house to the activity which many women require to be in another city (she lives in Passaic but forces him to drive to Teaneck even though he came in from Brooklyn), to making sure she is irrigated, fed, warm or cool, and generally completely comfortable throughout the date. When the date is over she is asked, how did he treat you? He is asked, how did you treat her? Every phone call after that is initiated by him. She’ll only call back. He has to ask her out again and do this all over again. The contrast between their orientation is so extreme that one time when I asked a woman (after 5 dates) if we could talk about the relationship, she said that was my job to do, not hers. Even that fell on that man in her opinion. How can a man figure out if the woman is selfish if the entire structure of dating is that the woman takes? And the answer is, he really can’t. In the old days, in the old West or wherever, the gentleman would come calling and the lady would make a picnic. She contributed something. In frum dating, the woman contributes next to nothing. In my experience, the woman don’t contribute to the conversation either. They expect the man to drive that and to do it perfectly. If she asks him anything, mostly it’s to grade him on his religiosity, his closeness to his family, his earning power. Sound cynical. This is how it works. This is the reality. I used to keep a spreadsheet to record which women said thank you after I took them out. It was 15%. 85% didn’t even say thank you. This is the madness of frum society today when it comes to shiduchim. On top of that is all the prejudicial slander of the men, that there are more good women and all that nonsense. They make the women paranoid about the men, as well as condescending toward them.

The Hidden Theme of Chanukah - נגלה ונסתר בחנוכה - שיעור של הגרי"ד סולובייצ'יק זצ"ל

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L96rbF-Rsrs

272 views Dec 15, 2022

A powerful drasha from 1952, in which the the Rav deflates the conventional wisdom about the holiday. 0:00 – 2:57: The revealed and the hidden worlds 2:57 - 7:04: The conventional understanding of Chanukah 7:06 - 11:14: Why the conventional understanding is wrong 11:17- 14:50: Destruction vs defilement of the Temple 14:54 - 23:10: R. Hanina Ben Teradion's Sefer Torah - Parchment burns and letters fly 23:10 - 29:53: Contrasting the Romans with the Hellenizers 29:53 - 33:20: The hidden but real theme of Chanukah

litvacks talking about mitzvos

The Brisker Rov, in addition to inculcating his students with the desire to be immersed in Torah and medakdek bemitzvos, would also frequently speak about the situation of his generation and our duty to fight the machinations of anti-religious elements.

Rav Sternbach

“It is a time that is most auspicious, more than the rest of the year, for hatzlacha in Torah and mitzvos,” the letter said.

Rav Gershon Edelstein

What's that spell?

When you consider becoming becoming frum, they tell you things like "anything you are good at now, you'll be even better at." You are told that you'll enrich your existence with an array of divine commandments. You are told that you'll encounter men of unimaginable wisdom who love every Jew with all their heart. 

But here's what happens when you go to manalist BT yeshiva or if you are around manalist people.

1) You are told to erase your brain. Forget everything you know. It's all 'narishkite.' That's a word you'll hear often. Whatever you acquired in college, in school, in sports, in literature and film, whatever you heard from your uncle, forget it all. It's nonsense. You will fill your head with Torah, the only truth.

2) You are told to hate everything. This includes all the goyim, all your childhood heroes, your hobbies, sports, the theater, classical music and certainly rock n'roll - even the inspirational songs. [This gets really confusing when you go to frum Chasunas and see rabbis dancing to rock or club music set to posukim.] How could goyim produce anything inspirational? That's impossible.

But not only that, you'll be conditioned to disparage most of the frum world. This includes Chassidim - especially Chabad and Breslov, Sephardim, and Modern Orthodox, also baalei teshuvah and geyrim. You'll laugh at Yekkes. Only Litivsh yeshiva men are worth anything. And among them there are two kinds of any worth: great scholars and wealthy men who give money to their yeshivas. The second type is a joke too, but we flatter them anyway to get at that money. 

The rest of the world isn't even worth a joke. We don't mention any of it, except rarely to ridicule it. The entire universe is nothing. Only Torah is anything. 

But what's Torah. You'll be taught to laugh at much of the Torah itself: Tanach, Midrash, even the Aggadata of the Gemara, which is 1/6 of it. You'll laugh at the non-yeshivish mesechtas such as Brochos and Moed Katan. You won't even bother to study the halacha that is a primary subject of the Gemara. You'll do Gemara lomdus and Gemara lomdus alone. There is no other worthy activity in life.

What about mitzvos? They aren't equal to one word of Torah. We don't really want to do them. Sometimes, we have to. Torah learning is the thing we want to do.

You are not allowed to question this. The gadolim declared it so and that's it. Question them and you go to hell forever. Question this and you won't get a shiduch, meaning you'll be lonely and sexually frustrated forever. 

Who are the gadolim? Well, they are not people that don't agree with the gadolim. So if you have world class scholars like Rav Soloveitchik, Rav Herzog, Rav Kook, or the Lubavitcher Rebbe, we don't call them gadolim because they don't agree on everything that the real gadolim say. And if you have gadolim that we call gadolim like Rav Shlomo Zalman Aeurbach, we don't listen to them when they say things like study Tanach because the gadolim don't agree with that even though we call him a gadol when we need him.

So it's gemara lomdus for you. But we won't teach you how to do it. You'll buy this huge volume that is written mostly in encoded Aramaic without vowels or punctuation. Open the book and begin. We'll give no teaching aids. That's goyish. Just break your teeth on it. Break your brain on it. Break your spirit on it. Key word here is break

See how far we are now from 'whatever you are good at now, you'll be even better at?'

Let's see: deceptive recruiting, isolation, personality breakdown, thought stopping, phobia inducement, total surrender of the personality to self-appointed, unchecked authorities, life control, us versus them mentality, radical elitism. What's that spell? What's that spell? What's that spell?

Give me a C, give me a U, give me an L, give me a T. 

What's that spell? What's that spell? What's that spell?

OK, I'll spell it for you.

C-U-L-T

doesn't matter, even if

 Is study the greatest mitzvah? even if it is, doesn't mean you do it all the time. Shabbos is the holiest day of the week, but we don't make every day Shabbos. Shabbos fuels the other days. 

the charm of the psychopath

 from  https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/08/europe/viktor-bout-putin-importance-analysis-intl/index.html

Analysis by Nick Paton Walsh, International Security Editor, CNN

I interviewed Bout in 2009 after months of negotiations while he was imprisoned in Bangkok. He is a polyglot who is loquacious, charming and can rhapsodize endlessly about the list of political characters he has personal relationships with globally.

I have seen videos of Bout in the Congo and across Africa, where he was pretty close to the conflicts there. He is accused, by multiple analysts and UN investigations, of proliferating small arms across that continent during the 90s and early 00s, which he denied. There were accusations he even armed al Qaeda, which he also denied. There was little he was not accused of doing, and few things he didn’t deny. He became a bogeyman of sorts, and the focus of a film starring Nicolas Cage called “Lord of War.”

Don't be fooled by charm. Some of the worst people have it. 

look at the switch here

from a certain person's divrei Torah

Yaakov tells the messengers to say to Eisav, “With Lavan I dwelt (garti), and I stayed there until now.” (Bereshis 32:5). Rashi famously comments that the Hebrew word garti (I dwelt) equals 613 in gematria, as if to tell Eisav, “even though I lived with the wicked Lavan, I kept the 613 commandments there and did not learn from his evil ways.” Yaakov telegraphs a message to his brother, “You should know, I was living with uncle Lavan. He is a wicked person. I had to put up with all of his shenanigans all this time. I was away from any support system. Who knows what could happen to a person spiritually under those circumstances? But you should understand that I lived with him all this time and it did not affect me. I remained an Erliche Yid (honest Jew), despite the fact that no one was watching. I learned nothing from him!”

The question that must be asked is the following: When you want to impress someone, you must speak that person’s language. If you want to impress someone who is wealthy you need to indicate to him how wealthy you are. When you are speaking to a sports hero, don’t tell him that you know the Talmud by heart. “You play football at MetLife Stadium. I finished Shas at MetLife Stadium.” That will have no credibility to someone who is a linebacker for the New York Giants or Jets! 

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Look at the switch here. The posuk, midrash, and rashi talk about 613 mitzvos and this contemporary rabbi, who i like normally, explains it by talking about finishing Shas. 

And again here:

"Yaakov Avinu is saying to Eisav, “No. For you it may be a façade, but for me it is not a façade.”

"Rav Druk gives an example. He says that he used to say a shiur in a certain Yeshiva for twenty or thirty years. One day, he was running late and was about to walk into the Yeshiva. Across the street was a shul. The Shamash of the shul came out looking for a tenth man for their Mincha minyan. He approached Rav Mordechai Druk and asked him to come inside and make the minyan. Rav Druk apologized, “I am sorry. I say a regular shiur here. I am late for the shiur as it is, I can’t come in. People are waiting for me.” The Shamash said to him, “Ach! Have you ever done anything in your life for free? You are going to say the shiur because you get paid for it. Come to daven Mincha and nobody is going to pay you. That is why you are passing up Mincha and going to say your shiur.”

Somehow again all explanations contain imagery of learning and shiurim and even here at the expense of davening.

Yaakov kept 613 commandments 9 - Bereishis 32:5

5And he commanded them, saying, "So shall you say to my master to Esau, 'Thus said your servant Jacob, "I have sojourned with Laban, and I have tarried until now.		הוַיְצַ֤ו אֹתָם֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר כֹּ֣ה תֹֽאמְר֔וּן לַֽאדֹנִ֖י לְעֵשָׂ֑ו כֹּ֤ה אָמַר֙ עַבְדְּךָ֣ יַֽעֲקֹ֔ב עִם־לָבָ֣ן גַּ֔רְתִּי וָֽאֵחַ֖ר עַד־עָֽתָּה:

I have sojourned: Heb. גַּרְתִּי. I did not become an officer or a dignitary, but a stranger (גֵּר). It is not worthwhile for you to hate me on account of your father’s blessing, [with] which he blessed me (27:29): “You shall be a master over your brothers,” for it was not fulfilled in me (Tanchuma Buber Vayishlach 5). Another explanation: גַּרְתִּי has the numerical value of 613. That is to say: I lived with the wicked Laban, but I kept the 613 commandments, and I did not learn from his evil deeds.

גרתי: לא נעשיתי שר וחשוב אלא גר, אינך כדאי לשנוא אותי על ברכות אביך שברכני (לעיל כז כט) הוה גביר לאחיך, שהרי לא נתקיימה בי. דבר אחר גרתי בגימטריא תרי"ג, כלומר עם לבן הרשע גרתי ותרי"ג מצות שמרתי ולא למדתי ממעשיו הרעים:

Yaakov didn't say I lived with Lavan but I studied Torah but rather I kept all the commandments. 

the big difference

 “We all need some help. We all need you know also I believe in the choosing of friends, who you get involved which makes the big difference for everyone in life.”  Wilt Chamberlain  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NB6Ihyajh4 11:28

Ever heard of Wilt Chamberlain? He was a 7 foot tall basketball player in the 1960s. They say he was the strongest man to ever play the game. He could bench press 500 pounds. He dominated the court. He once scored 100 points in a game. Yet, he knew we all need some help. 

all the mitzvos

 Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says: All of the mitzvos that Bnei Yisroel perform in this world will testify for them in the World to Come. This is evident from the verse: They will bring witnesses and be vindicated - referring to Bnei Yisroel, and: They will hear and say, “It is true,” refers to the idolaters.

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says: All the mitzvos which Bnei Yisroel perform in this world will come and beat the faces of the idolaters in the World to Come.

avodah zara 4b