hang in there

"If you stay at the table long enough, the chips come to you."

Skip Brittenham

 A little while back, a neighbor of mine, a rabbi, gave me a lift in his car. He asked me what I have been doing lately. I said "mitzvos." He countered, "Torah and mitzvos." Evidently, it was not exciting to him that a Jew is doing mitzvos (even though Torah study is a mitzvah). You know and I know that if I had answered, "Torah," he would have said, "great, what mesechta?" He wouldn't have said, "What about mitzvos?"

I was at bar mitzvahs simcha, and the father kept talking about how his son is shteiging in Gemara. We heard nothing about the boy doing mitzvos. Even a bar mitzvah isn't about mitzvos anymore. I wanted to tell the father, it's not a bar Gemara, it's a bar mitzvah. Of course, the main subject of the Gemara is mitzvos, but people have found a way to get around that by turning all Gemara study into abstract lomdus. I don't blame the father really. He has been conditioned to ignore mitzvos. He gets propagandized constantly. 

It is quite amazing that a person should be made to feel like an apikoros only for asking that mitzvos be mentioned from time to time in the yeshiva world. As for mentioning Hashem, that's a dream. I have sat through multi-hour fundraising dinners for yeshivas where Hashem wasn't mentioned even 1 time! That includes Ohr Yehoshua dinners. 

The Chofetz Chaim, who was a yeshiva man, wrote an entire book for baalei batim about mitzvos. Evidently, he deemed the topic worthwhile. Times changed from the days of the Vilna Gaon, in whose time everyone did mitzvos, but maybe didn't study enough Torah. 

And long before that, Shlomo the king wrote, "The end of the matter, everything having been heard, fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the entire man." So I am going with Shlomo, the wisest of men, and with the Chofetz Chaim. We must value the mitzvos. And we talk about whatever we value. And if we don't talk about it, we don't value it. 

A Russian describes the BT experience

 "Hoped for better, turned out as always." Viktor Chernomyrdin

the difference

 This woman did a prank on her mother, asking people to honk and flip off her mother during a drive. Here are some of the hilarious and clever comments people left.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Rx6cfGtDyoA

She went from angry driver, to the Road Rage Warrior, to full on conspiracy theorist in one short drive.

She went from mildly annoyed, to truly angry, to genuinely concerned for the entire planet

“You know what? Fuck you! You goof!” Has got to be the best mom line in history

If I did this as a child I probably wouldn't be an adult right now.

You would not see funny and fun comments like this if the commenters were frum. You'd hear, what about civud av 'vaim? This is a chilul Hashem. It's not respectful. It's a sakanah.

All shame and being uptight. 

There's no humor, no fun, no happiness in the frum world. 

Doesn't have to be that way. But it is.  

In my view, narcissistic abuse means essentially that you are living in somebody else's world, prevented from being or developing yourself. Your own ability to think is crippled and your emotions twisted and repressed. This can happen when a megalomaniac has significant power over you. A parent certainly has significant power, but so can a religious leader or team of them with whom you have daily contact, particularly if you surrender your free will to those people as baalei teshuvah sometimes do. It’s that much worse if all this happens in a controlled and isolated environment. When religion is imposed on you forcefully, playing on your sense of guilt and fear, tremendous damage can occur to the psyche. You are trying to reconfigure your entire life to match a demanding religion to which you have opened the doors to your soul. However, when that religion is portrayed to you in a distorted way, a way that robs you of your individuality, autonomy and perhaps even your basic humanity, then you can become a kind of cripple. You are no longer you, and you can’t even make basic decisions about your own life. Your judgement has been undermined and your instincts shut out of the room of your life.

Kim Jong Un

 

chesed

 

childhood training

 

This is interesting and you'll know why. 

narcissists are killers

 

It's a death cult. They want to kill everything. 

affirmations

 

An affirmation for dating

 

I never force anyone to choose me. If you think you can find something better elsewhere then go ahead. I’m not holding you back. Life’s too short to hang on to someone who is not sure they want to stay. I believe in freedom, in the truth of feelings. If you must stay, let it be your heart tells you this is where you belong. Not because I asked you too. I want to be a choice. Not a default option. I deserve someone who sees my value, who understands what I bring to their life. I don’t want someone who stays with me out of fear of loneliness or out of habit. I want someone who stays for who I am, not who you want me to be. The door is always open. You are free to leave at any time.

Have You Lost Yourself?

Proof: if you are feeling that you are not yourself – then who are you and who is doing the estrangement? The narcissist’s introject.

Introjecting the entraining narcissist generates a schizoid state (emptiness) which mimics the narcissist’s.

Schizoid state as adaptation to narcissistic abuse. Split negative internal objects become identified with the Self and the victim defends against these negative thoughts by dissociating the Self altogether. 

Yet, if the narcissist’s introject is in charge, takes over – why the estrangement? Owing to encounters with repressed former self.

Approach-avoidance repetition compulsion with an objectified, mythologized, idealized self (relic of narcissist’s idealization and nostalgia).

Alienating self-consciousness and introspection.

 

set times

Granted, a “career in Torah” might not be for everybody; not everyone is on that level or can even aspire to reach it. Still, when you do study Torah, you can attain it, even if you do so once in the morning and once in the evening. Because when you do study, you can ensure nothing else exists in your world besides Torah. We see numerous examples of this in human nature: when someone decisively resolves that for a particular minute, fifteen minutes, or an hour, he’s completely dedicated to a specific thing – whatever it may be – he can indeed succeed. It’s entirely possible, and you need not be anyone special to achieve it.

But this raises the question: How can it be considered a “career in Torah” when you know, that just before you sat down to study and immediately afterwards you’ll be in a completely different state of mind? This is explained by the Alter Rebbe in Tanya that a union with G-d exists eternally above. When you engage in Torah and its commandments, although there was a time before you put on tefillin, for example, which is symbolic of all of Torah, and a time when you will remove them, and no longer wear them, nevertheless the “union” with God you created through them is eternal, an everlasting union.

There’s nothing miraculous to it; in fact, it’s quite self-evident. If time and space were both created for the purpose of fulfilling Torah and its precepts this is proof that Torah and its precepts exist on a higher plane than time and space. So, when you fulfill a commandment even though it was performed within a specific timeframe and not earlier or later – as stipulated by Torah – its effect is not subject to these limitations, given that the commandments are higher than time and space, which were only created for their sake, they are higher than the limitations of time and space.

The lesson from all of this is clear: everyone has their set times for Torah study, which they will surely make their best effort to increase. But practically speaking, your Torah study should reflect a “career in Torah.” 

Lubavitcher Rebbe

a respectful civilized conversation

 

Remember these? Been a while huh?

forty for understanding

 “At forty for understanding, at fifty to [give] counsel." Avos 5:21

So how does a 29 year old baal teshuvah, six years out of Trinity College have a right to start his own yeshiva, design it in a way that's unlike every other yeshiva for baalei teshuvah, be the main disseminator of hashkafa, stick it in on a barren field with no other shuls or yeshivas around, fail to have a library, fail to have any guest speakers, not take the bochurim to meet any other rabbis, and ban the few other rabbis on staff (the ones who are able to teach Gemara unlike him) from talking to students?

And the answer is, he doesn't. 

control of your life

The fastest way to take control of your life is to stop controlling everyone around you. You have no idea how time and energy and attention you are wasting trying to control other people. You have no idea how much energy you are burning through thinking about, worrying about, obsessing about what other people are doing, what they’re not doing, what they’re feeling, all which you have zero control over.[1]

 Mel Robbins, Youtube shorts, mIenms0ifuo and 57xRRIzY-3o. She calls this the “Let Them” theory.

---

[1] Youtube shorts, mIenms0ifuo.

Jessica Kirson on the Jewish personality sometimes

 Why I HATE performing for OLD JEWISH people in Florida — Jessica Kirson (full special part 2/7) (youtube.com)

encouragement

 here's tom brady making sure his receivers are not discouraged

these are muscle men who make millions of dollars

so what about a  jewish boy who goes to yeshiva and the entire day he is nothing but discouraged?

that's what happens in most bt yeshivas

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/B7d7OxERgSI?feature=share

NO SHORTCUTS

 “Lest the people reconsider when they see war and return to Egypt. And Hashem led the people around by way of the desert” (13:17-18)  Egypt was the source of heresy and immorality, and the exodus from Egypt involved abandoning the tumah of Egypt in preparation for matan Torah. In every generation anyone who repents undertakes his own private yetzias mitzrayim from the tumah of his previous deeds.  When someone wants to become a baal teshuva he may reconsider when he sees war, the battle which has to fight against the evil inclination, he may then change his mind about changing his lifestyle and revert to his private “Egyptian” way of life. That is why Hashem led the people around by way of the desert. One cannot take a shortcut all in one go. Teshuva has to be undertaken gradually. If one takes the roundabout route, one will not be frightened by seeing the distance that still has to be covered. On the other hand, although this is the general rule, each individual should assess his own level, and if he feels capable of accepting the yoke of Torah completely in one go, he should do so, based on the guidance of gedolei Torah.

Based on droshos by Rav Moshe Sternbuch shlita, raavad of Yerushalayim. To receive these weekly divrei Torah email benipray@netvision.net.il. 

פ' בשלח תשפ"א 

watch out for bt rabbis

 Rav Avigdor Miller said, “Now when a convert or a ba’al teshuva comes to the Jewish people, he has to know that he has to be a follower – he has to listen.  But sometimes a ba’al teshuva comes in and he takes over.  Right away he wants to teach all the old-time Jews how to be real Jews!  He knows better!  So what does he do?  He follows the models that he formed in the gentile world or in the non-religious world.  It happens.”[1]

---

[1] Rav Avigdor Miller, Tape # 30, August 1973. 

where will you be

 You are Joe from Chicago. You start keeping mitzvos and slowly incorporating Torah values into your thinking. You don't have to become a Mir Yeshiva man or a Belzer Chosid or a Religious Zionist, replacing your wardrobe and your speech patterns with theirs. You can if you want, but you are not required to. It might not even be advisable. You might be told to forget your career plans, drop your hobbies, lose your friends, and even to cut off relations with your family and to dedicate your life to Gemara study. You might even be tempted if you are enjoying the Gemara study and feel that you have entered a new world that is embracing you. But beware, all of that might fade to large extent and then where will you be?  

The trajectory of feminism

grandmother - If you are happy I am happy.

mother - If I am happy, you are happy.

wife - I am happy.

a fair chance

 

a fair chance

 "I think that the definition of a good society is where everybody has a fair chance at life's happiness. Now as you know  most people mess it up. They have the chance but for this or that reason they mess it up. And they ruin their lives even though they had a chance."

Norman Finkelstein, INTERVIEW: Norman Finkelstein | The sickness of capitalism, Israel's war in Gaza & German complicity, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G__W0B_8ZoA, 1:05:32

If she balks, I walk.

To the sick mind healthy people are boring. They want excitement. They want to be cool. They don't want to live in places like Montana or West Virginia. Too many Churches. They want Hollywood, Manhattan, Miami. You know a person by what he wants. And shallow, pretentious people need excitement to feel alive. They don't know what to do with themselves in quiet places. They don't want to be a state assemblyman in North Dakota. They want to work for a Congressman on the Beltway in DC near all the psychopaths who vote for military aid to dictatorships.

With Orthodox Jews, the sick ones, it's New York or Israel. Every other place is just laughable. But the joke is on them, because New York grinds you down with greed. And Israel is all war, war of every kind, all day long war, but mostly a war against religion. 

Next time I go on a shidduch, I'll ask, how would you feel about living in St. Louis, Missouri. If she balks, I walk. 

a fair chance

 "I think that the definition of a good society is where everybody has a fair chance at life's happiness. Now as you know  most people mess it up. They have the chance but for this or that reason they mess it up. And they ruin their lives even though they had a chance."

Norman Finkelstein, INTERVIEW: Norman Finkelstein | The sickness of capitalism, Israel's war in Gaza & German complicity, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G__W0B_8ZoA, 1:05:32

Sfas Emes - doing mitzvos takes primacy over studying them

 

Baba Matzia 85

Yehuda HaNasi was punished with intestinal problems for saying "Go for this you were created," to a terrified calf that was on the way to the slaughter house. He was cured only after he later instructed a maidservant to spare a weasel that she was chasing from the house, saying "His compassion is on all His works." 

Believe it or not this is part of Judaism. I suspect that the Litvish world picked up some of the cruelty of Eastern Europe and, in their way, attempted to convert it to religious philosophy. And so they have made a mantra of pain, that everything is supposed to be painful. When you go to these guys for aitzah, they tell you to take the most painful course of action. Of course, they don't do that to themselves. Hypocrisy they didn't get from Eastern Europe. That's just yetzer hara. 

The Baal Shem Tov came long to return us to the ways of old, a Judaism that is suffused with mercy and love. So of course, some Litvacks went to war against this as they learned from the Russians a tendency toward combativeness and arrogance. 

narcissisim

 word salad, not answering a question directly, not being able to explain the why of any behaviornot taking responsibility for misbehavior, lacking empathy -- showing only a drop of empathy that is dropped whenever the pressure is on

selfishness, grandiosity, attention seeking, manipulativeness,

vengefulness, obsessing about appearance and reputation

showing a nice face to the world that contradicts the one shown at home

shallow emotion, shallow intellect

blaming others for misbehavior

hot temper, easily triggered

disorganization in one's life

domination of others

Aliyah?

 

dealing with abusive people

 

Three ingrates

 Three are ingrates: The earth, the woman, and the soul. The earth, as it is stated: “The earth is not sated with water” (Proverbs 30:16). The woman, from where is it derived? “[So is the way of an adulterous woman:] She eats, and wipes her mouth, and says: I did not do wrong” (Proverbs 30:20). The soul, from where is it derived? “But his soul is also not filled” (Ecclesiastes 6:7). Three take abundantly and give abundantly: the earth, the sea, and the government. 

Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin said in the name of Rabbi Levi: “Soul” is written here six times corresponding to the six days of Creation. The Holy One blessed be He said to the soul: ‘Everything that I created during the six days of Creation, I created only for your sake, and you emerge and sin? “When a person will sin.”’

שְׁלשָׁה נוֹטְלִין בְּשׁוֹפַע וְנוֹתְנִין בְּשׁוֹפַע: הָאָרֶץ, וְהַיָּם, וְהַמַּלְכוּת. אָמַר רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ דְּסִכְנִין בְּשֵׁם רַבִּי לֵוִי, שִׁשָּׁה פְּעָמִים כְּתִיב כָּאן נֶפֶשׁ, כְּנֶגֶד שֵׁשֶׁת יְמֵי בְרֵאשִׁית, אָמַר לָהּ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לַנֶּפֶשׁ, כָּל מַה שֶּׁבָּרָאתִי בְּשֵׁשֶׁת יְמֵי בְרֵאשִׁית לֹא בָרָאתִי אֶלָּא בִּזְכוּתֵךְ וְאַתְּ יוֹצֵאת וְחוֹטֵאת, נֶפֶשׁ כִּי תֶחֱטָא.

Vayikra Rabba 4:2

teshuvah

 teshuvah

Understanding Cults: The Basics Steven A Hassan PhD Freedom of Mind

 

IDENTITY

Email

To help others, it is important to understand mind control and undue influence.

KEY POINTS

• No one joins a cult; they are recruited by systematic social influence processes.
• Destructive individuals and cults use deception and undue influence to make people dependent and obedient.
• Not all influence is bad. There is a difference between due and undue influence.
• Cult leaders are typically malignant narcissists and want people who will be obedient to them. 

Ever had an experience with a cult or controlling relationship? Have a friend or family member caught up in a black-and-white, all-or-nothing conspiracy cult, multi-level marketing, religious or political group?

To help them or yourself, you need to learn how the mind works and how people can be programmed into a destructive authoritarian cult. Not all are destructive, some are benign. There are specific strategies, patterns, and behaviors used by cultic groups to recruit new members and manipulate and control them.

continue 

Understanding Cults: The Basics | Psychology Today

flexibility

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TK_mWS-CPS0?feature=share

equivalent to all the other mitzvos

 

וְאָמַר רַב אַסִּי שְׁקוּלָה צְדָקָה כְּנֶגֶד כׇּל הַמִּצְוֹת שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר וְהֶעֱמַדְנוּ עָלֵינוּ מִצְוֹת וְגוֹ׳ מִצְוָה אֵין כְּתִיב כָּאן אֶלָּא מִצְוֹת

And Rav Asi says: tzedakah  is equivalent to all the other mitzvos combined, as it is stated in that verse: “We also established mitzvos upon ourselves.” A mitzva is not written here but rather mitzvos. (Baba Basra 9a)

The Schar Syllogism

The Schar Syllogism

 

Schar is divine reward. According to the Oxford dictionary, a syllogism is “an instance of a form of reasoning in which a conclusion is drawn (whether validly or not) from two given or assumed propositions (premises), each of which shares a term with the conclusion, and shares a common or middle term not present in the conclusion (e.g., all dogs are animals; all animals have four legs; therefore all dogs have four legs ).” 

The Jewish world has syllogisms of its own, including invalid ones. One of the latter goes like this: This purpose of this fleeting world is only to earn some unspecified reward in the world of eternal bliss via collection of mitzvah points. Gemara study, specifically   contemporary pilpul, or Brisker lomdus on yeshivishe mesechtas, produces more mitzvah points than all your mitzvos combined, so we should spend all our time, if possible, on that. 

One result of this formula is that mitzvos get pushed aside as do one’s interests and talents. Those don’t produce the greatest schar, so why waste time on them? But that contradicts Koheles which tells us that “The end of the matter is to fear Hashem and keep His commandments. That is the purpose of man.”[1] 

Why would Koheles contradict the schar syllogism if the latter is Torah truth? After all, you hear it all the time so it must be true. That’s because the schar syllogism is a fallacy and a perversion of basic Torah principles. Maimonides lists knowledge of God first in his list of mitzvos[2] and the first of his Thirteen Principles. As Rabbi Assaf Bednarsh writes, “Rambam, however, views knowledge of God as a ‘mitzvah’ itself, as an end and not a means, as an ennobling spiritual experience and a connection to the Divine. It is no wonder, then, that Rambam counts the first words of God’s revelation not only as the first of his thirteen principles, but as the first and most glorious of the 613 mitzvot of the Torah.”[3]

We see this in the posuk from Koheles because, as Rabbi Avigdor Miller explains, fear of God means awareness of God.

 

The awareness of Hakodosh Baruch Hu, to be aware of God, is the prime purpose of our existence in life. We are in this world chiefly to attain a clarity of perception of Hakodosh Baruch Hu. Reishis chochmah yiras Hashem. The highest of all wisdom is to be aware of Hashem. We call it yiras Hashem, but that’s a form of awareness of Hashem. [4]

 

Torah study is a fundamental tool for acquiring knowledge of God for if the goal is knowledge, study will play a major role in it. That’s obvious. But you need to perform mitzvos too for our observance of them helps us attain the humility to acquire knowledge, and observance of mitzvos brings knowledge into our ruach and neshamah so that we enrich our daas, or experiential knowledge. True knowledge consists of chochmah, binah, and daas. You see this again in Koheles, as we are told to fear God (have awareness of Him) and keep His commandments. They go together. Full knowledge of God requires observance of commandments. As Rabbi Chaim Navon writes, “the Rambam maintains that perfection of the soul cannot be achieved without perfection of the body.”[7]  So, we can’t spend all our time on pilpul. However, the schar syllogism encourages us to do exactly that.

Additionally, knowledge of God requires study of nature. As Maimonides wrote in the Mishneh Torah:

 

And what is the way that will lead to the love of Him and the fear of Him? When a person contemplates His great and wondrous works and creatures and from them obtains a glimpse of His wisdom, which is incomparable and infinite, he will straightway love Him, praise Him, glorify Him, and long with an exceeding longing to know His great name; even as David said, ‘My soul thirsts for God, for the living God’ (Psalm 42:3).

 

And when he ponders these matters, he will recoil frightened, and realize that he is a small creature, lowly and obscure, endowed with slight and slender intelligence, standing in the presence of Him who is perfect in knowledge. And so David said: ‘When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers–what is man that You are mindful of him?’ (Psalm 8:4-5).[8]

 

That’s not Brisker lomdus.

You also are not going to acquire knowledge of God by squashing your talents after entering a profession only based on how lucrative it may be, being miserable after marrying person only for the support she’ll provide for Torah study or the Torah that he will study, feeling uninspired by living in a place whose only merit is that it is near a yeshiva, wallowing in the cynical outlook that “nothing else matters” but the daf, or living in ignorance about the world because all knowledge outside of the daf is branded flippantly as “nonsense.” Your talents engage you in the experience of God. If you operate from where you are weak, you’ll develop a weak connection. Passion for living connects you to God. Moreover, a major part of knowledge of God comes from experiencing gratitude to Him. The word Jew comes from the name Yehuda, which is the noun form of the verb “to thank” or “to praise.” A Jew gives thanks to God. You won’t do that if you are miserable. And one shouldn’t make people miserable and then make them more miserable by demanding that they pretend to be happy or make them feel guilty for being unhappy. That’s not a realistic approach.

So, this idea of shutting out secular studies, choosing a profession only to grab the most money, marrying a person only so that she will help you to engage in more Brisker lomdus -- all of that is not Maimonidean. Yet, he is the sage that Briskers in particular look to as the ultimate authority for how to conduct oneself in this world. (I’m not saying that Briskers proffer the syllogism, but that it is often proffered in their name.)

There’s another problem with the schar syllogism. The idea that Torah studying produces the greatest schar is based on an interpretation of the Mishnah: “Talmud Torah k’neged kulam” as Torah study produces a reward greater than all the other mitzvos combined. (Actually, at most it would be equal to all those others combined, not greater than them as is commonly stated.) However, there are numerous other k’neged kulam statements of Chazal such those concerning tzitzis,[9] bris milah,[10] Shabbos,[11] tzedukah,[12] and yishuv ha’aretz.[13] All of these are described as being k’neged kulam. Even lashon hara is described as being k’neged kulam.[14] So obviously, you can’t take the phrase literally because each is included in the others. Not only that but the word used is k’neged which does not mean greater than and doesn’t even mean equal to. It means connected to, against, or adjacent to as in eizer k’negdo (helpmate).[15] It is possible that the phrase means that the mitzvah is adjacent to all the others, ie. it is connected to them. For example, tzitzis remind us of all the other mitzvos. Torah study brings us to do all the mitzvos. It is k’neged them. Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik was asked by a student, “What do we mean by תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם?” He answered, “It is not that this mitzvah is equal to all the mitzvos, but rather that it brings the person to do all the other mitzvos. The whole purpose of the limud is that it comes to asiah and asiah is the ikur.”[16] His words likely are based on the Mishnah, “Study is not the most important thing, but actions (are).”[17] Meanwhile, Rabbi Soloveitchik was a once-in-a-generation scholar. Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman said about him, “I was there in Boston and I never saw someone eat, sleep, and dream Torah as he did.”[18]

Additionally, Brisker lomdus is only one type of study of the Gemara, a recently invented type. It’s a wonderful discipline; although it faced criticism when it was originally introduced in the 19^th century. Traditional Talmud study was more concerned with halacha and understandings within the context of the page and less concerned with the abstract categories across Shas that are the hallmark of Brisker lomdus. I am not disparaging this form of Torah study but rather the use of it as a wrecking ball to smash other forms of Avodas Hashem.

Even study of Gemara is only one type of study. The Gemara itself tells the story of the sages Levi and Shimon, the son of Rebbi, who were learning the meaning of certain verses of Tanach from Rebbi. After they were done, Levi wanted to study Mishlei and Shimon wanted to study Psalms. Levi was overruled, and they studied Tehillim. When they reached the verse, “But his desire is in the Torah of G-d,” Rebbe said, “A person learns Torah only from a place that his heart desires.” Upon hearing this, Levi said, “Rebbi, with this teaching you have permitted me to stand up (from studying Psalms, and to learn Proverbs instead, as I desire).”[19]

 The Ramchal says you need kabbalah to teach about God:

 

The need for this wisdom is very great. First of all, we have an obligation to know it since it is a mitzva as it states (Devarim 4:39) “You should know this day and place it in your heart that the L-rd is G-d in Heaven above and the earth below – there is no other.” The verse says that it is not enough to have faith, but we are obligated also to have knowledge about G-d to the degree that is placed on the heart. We are obligated to know “the L-rd is G-d in the Heavens above and on the earth below – there is no other.” 

 

....We need to find a way of achieving this knowledge. The sole answer is that it is only obtained by this true wisdom which reveals and teaches the true nature of Providence and everything which is connected to it. It teaches the true nature of G-d’s unity from all aspects that are possible to comprehend. This is the essence of kabbalah to teach the true meaning of G-d’s unity and to inform that everything that was and will be is supervised by Him to the smallest detail. It teaches the nature of G-d’s conduct and His deeds from the beginning of creation to the end of the world.[20]

 

The schar syllogism reduces life to a mathematical formula that works against the earning of Olam Haba because it pushes away mitzvos, talents, interests, happiness, and the many avenues of study -- all of which are necessary for gaining knowledge of God which is a prime purpose of this life.

It is no coincidence that the schar syllogism suits those who try to extract money from baalei batim who are told that they can get a share in lomdus by giving money to those who engage in it. Maimonides said that taking money for Torah study extinguishes the light of faith from the world. “Anyone who believes in his heart that one ought occupy oneself with Torah and not work, but support oneself with charity, behold, this one desecrates the Divine name, dishonors the Torah, extinguishes the light of faith, brings evil to oneself and forfeits life in the world to come, because it is forbidden to benefit from the words of Torah in this world.”[21] We can see how because an over-the-top emphasis on one type of Torah study at all costs at the expense of all other parts of  Jewish life pulls people away from mitzvos and other activities all of which generate knowledge of God and faith, which are the most essential mitzvos and which bring a person to Olam Haba.

 

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[1] Koheles 12:13

[2] Sefer Hamitvos 1.

[3] Rabbi Assaf Bednarsh, “Is Belief in God a Miztvah? Maimonides on the First Commandment,” Orthodox Union, Torah Initiatives, https://www.ou.org/chag/files/2020/05/R-Bednarsh-article.pdf.

[4] Rabbi Avigdor Miller, Tape, 047- Reliance on Hashem, 8:12

[5] Maimonides, Hilchos Teshuva 8:2. Translation from Asher Buchman,  “Israel’s Inheritance: Olam Haba,” Hakirah 10, 2010.

[6] Rambam, Morech Nevuchim 21. See Rav Chaim Navon, “Intro to the Guide of the Perplexed-Lesson 21: The Purpose of the Torah and the Reasons for the Mitzvot, Etzion.org, https://www.etzion.org.il/en/ philosophy /great- thinkers/rambam/purpose-torah-and-reasons-mitzvot. Nevertheless, Olam Haba is not just for philosophers. As Asher Buchman writes, “Based on this statement and other statements in the Moreh and Perush HaMishnah that equate Olam haba with attained knowledge, some claim that Rambam would deprive all but the greatest philosophers of the World to Come. Such a conclusion, however, would render meaningless the principle that all of Israel has a portion in the World to Come. Rambam’s meaning is more complex than some philosophers would have us believe.” Asher Buchman,  “Israel’s Inheritance: Olam Haba,” Hakirah 10, 2010.

[7] Rabbi Chaim Navon, “The Purpose of the Torah and the Reasons for the Mitzvot,”   https://etzion.org.il/en/philosophy/great-thinkers/rambam/purpose-torah-and-reasons-mitzvot

[8] Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Yesodei haTorah, 2:2.

[9]Nedarim 25a, Menachot 43b)

[10] Yerushalmi, Nedarim 12b.

[11] Yerushalmi, Berachot 9a.

[12] Yerushalmi, Pe’ah 3a.

[13] Tosefta, Avodah Zarah 5.

[14] Yerushalmi, Peah 4a; Tosefta, Pe’ah 1:2.

[15] Genesis 2:18.

[16] David Holtzer, The Rav Thinking Aloud, p. 69. The student paraphrased Rabbi Soloveitchik’s answer.

[17] Pirkei Avos 1:18.

[18] Henoch Cohen, “Learning with the Rav: The Early Years in Yeshiva,” Mentor of Generations (Jersey City: Ktav, 2008), p. 3. Edited by Zev Eleff.

[19] Avodah Zara 19a. See Rabbi Moshe Newman, “Whatever Your Heart Desires,” https://ohr.edu/this_week/talmud_tips/7741.

[20] Ramchal, Klali Mileches Moshe, in Eidensohn, Daas Torah, p. 217.

[21] Maimonides, Hilchos Talmud Torah 3:10,