Rambam System

Korach #5: Answers to The family Rosenthal

2008-07-17T19:49:00.000-07:00

Dear Pinny and family,

I can almost taste the sweet nectar of Eretz Yisrael on your post materially and Nafshayically- אשריכם !

Rabbi Rosenthal asks about the room full of Seforim. In essence I suggest that Korach satisfied the urge for security of paradigm, released from the preoccupation with reality testing of the Zocher. The result of this false security was an impatience with the process of gradually exploring the distortions the psyche imposes upon its place in Creation. This impatiencetranslated into contempt for tzizit and the tendency of mitzvos generally to immerse man in the realia of his interaction with the material environment. Rather than recognizing the mussar value of applying the fundamental principles again and again in one life scenario after another Korach attributed the mussar aspect of Mitzvos to the arrogance of Moshe Rabbenu. Rather than recognize the gift of liberation from distortion Mitzvos provide, Korach accused Moshe of fearing competition. Notice the similarity to the chayt of Adam ha-Rishon and Chava.

In line with this mezuza is also a symptom of the same problem. A room full of seforim is also a room dedicated to the objective of mind, a holy purpose detached from old style Egyptian problems. Why should a modern culture dedicated to thought -a room full of seforim- have to preoccupy itself with zechira tools like mezuza like ancient primitives who would ecstatically dance around a calf at the drop of a hat?

Rebbetzin Rosenthal asks what about women. The issue that drives paradigm security is success, specifically political recognition. Women, by virtue of attachment to their home and children, less attracted by the allure of political appointment. They tend to connect to this attainment more like Michelle Obama than like Hillary Clinton. The torah reinforces this tendency by culturally reinforcing this tendency through limiting women's involvement in the necessary evil of political office as well. We see this in the wise counsel of Devorah to Barack. As much as Devorah was superior to Brack, she insisted that he should lead, for the benefit of the social structure. As such, if the male culture is properly effected by the zechira tools, female culture will follow. It is only when male culture is beyond the pale that the voice of Devorah's is overwhelmed as we see in Breeshis. Zacha- ezer lo zacha kinegdo!

Pinny asks about the specific of tzizit as opposed to tefillin tefilla etc. The tzizit is the primary mazkir because its essence lies in reframing clothing. Tefillin etc are based upon the kedusha of the shem hashem embedded in them. They are in essence a shem and secondarily a reframed cultural object. This is one level more abstract than tzizit that is in essence a beged and only secondarily an indicator of the shem via the hint of tcheiles. As such tzizit has no kedusha, but is more powerful as a mazkir because it is more part of our material world.

Again enjoy your time together and Shabbat Shalom.

Korach Mutiny #5

2008-07-16T10:20:00.000-07:00

It is in the context of insecurity about principles that we can understand the allure of Korach's vision of “clothing made all of tcheiles” and a “world without tzizit”. Man desperately wants a power of principles (yishuv daat ) that will be instrumental to acquiring his needs (yishuv aretz). A stable lifestyle requires a stable set of principles that can continuously secure these needs. It is for this reason that thoughtful men are always vulnerable to a set “paradigm” of principles that will secure their activity. Thomas Kuhn in “structure of scientific revolution” documents this paradigmatic rigidity. The thinking community settles on its paradigm and then wants to proceed in securing accomplishments- Nobel prizes, PHD's, patents etc. Any deep questioning of the paradigm evokes terror that the community's very existence will be challanged. He who dares challenge consensus about Newtonian mechanics,relativity Quantum theory or Evolution faces the wrath of the entire thinking community.
Such was the fate of Moshe Rabbenu. Korach crystallized the thinking community around a paradigm of thought that secured their principles against challenge. They were a holy community of thinkers no longer in need of constant reconsideration of the basis of their principles. Constant preoccupation with first principles is characteristic of primitives not a mature community of mind. A community of mind has thought embedded in its modern way of life-wears clothing of techeiles- and has no need for old style religion -tzizit.

Korach is the perfect representative of אויל pointed to by Yiras Hashem Reihees Daas Chochma umussar evillim bazu. The אויל flourishes by offering a false “paradigm” that releases thinkers from the indignity and fear of constant re-evaluation of core assumptions. He substitutes group think security through derision of those who challenge theoretical consensus rather than a strategy of slow and arduous reality testing of principles. “Zechira” is precisely the opposite approach to knowledge. The humble “zocher” constantly seeks applications of his core theoretical assumptions that test his understanding. Far from seeing himself as a great “tcheiles person” and seeking a “world without tzizit” the “zocher” relishes each and every life scenario as a new opportunity to test his principles and make them more clear.

The Mitzvot are designed with this very feature of reality testing in mind- they are the very basis of creating a theoretical community shielded from the allure of group think. The true thinking community acknowledges the true weakness of the human mind and its slow manner of testing principles. It keeps the need to see tcheiles principles embedded in the white tzizit strings of everyday material life at the forefront of its methodology. As Chazal say in Menachot tzizit identifies this essential purpose of reality testing accomplished by the Mitzvot tools and therefore is equal to all Mitzvot. It reminds of the dependence of our principles (“Dvarim”) upon reality testing to overcome the security need of our psyche (Vihayu haDvarim.. al livavecha) that is a core lesson of Keriat shema- the “ole” in ole malchut shamayim. Only the one commited to this program of reality testing can hope to succeed and “recieve the shechina”.

Korach mutiny #4

2008-07-15T10:05:00.001-07:00

As we mentioned in the previous post, our problem with Korach's mutiny lies in our relationship to tzizit, which for us is more of a formality than a living experience. The sort of natural intuition that we use with politics is lacking when we think of tzizit. We must answer a series of fundamental questions if we are to understand the basis of Korach's challenge. What is “zechira”? Why is “zechira” so intimately connected to tzizit generally and tchailes in specific? Moreover we would like to get greater clarity about Korach's argument presented in Rashi. As was previously mentioned in Korach Mutiny #2, Chazal have a lot to say about the significance of tzizit in the quotes in menachot. But the Chazal's in Menachot are not that helpful in disclosing the human experience that “zechira” refers to. What we need is a fundamental insight into “zechira”.

Let us first summarize the Chazal from Menachot 43b to help us in gaining this insight.

According to Chazal tzizit:
1)Is equal to all the Mitzvot 2) Protects man from all Chayt
3) Merits those who wear it in seeing the Shechina

In addition, tzizit,because of techeiles:

1)has the unique ability to remind us of Keriat Shema. This is because Keriat Shema is said at the time we can discern techeiles from the white tzizit strings. Finally,
2)According to R Meir, tzizit is colored tchailes because it reminds of of the sky and the throne of God.

The key to insight into the human experience underlying tzizit, I think, lies in the last statement of R. Meir. After all, it was tcheiles that formed the core of Korach's argument according to Rashi.

It was taught‭: ‬R‭. ‬Meir used to say‭, ‬Why is blue specified from all the other colors‭ [‬for this precept‭]? ‬Because blue resembles the colour of the sea‭, ‬and the sea resembles the color of the sky‭, ‬and the sky resembles the color of‭ [‬a sapphire‭, ‬and a sapphire resembles the color of]‭ ‬the Throne of Glory‭, ‬as it is said‭, ‬”And there was under his feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone”,‭ ‬and it is also written‭, ‬”The likeness of a throne as the appearance of a sapphire stone”.

The pasuk referred to by R Meir emerges from a highly suggestive story in Chumash regarding the “princes of Israel” in their quest for knowledge of Hashem. Rambam identifies these princes as the example of people who rush into knowledge, without proper preparation. The principle of R Meir then, seems to relate to this same issue. The techeiles of tzizit refers to man's quest for knowledge of Hashem, that expresses itself in exploring the nature of the beautiful motion of Shamayim and secondarily in the great phenomenon of Earth as it is impacted by the forces of Shamayim (the sea).

As Rambam points out in Chelek, there is a danger in the approach to knowledge. As man begins to gain wisdom, he is empowered in a technological sense. The Thomas Edison's,and indeed professionals generally, are vulnerable to confusing the particular principles they use technologically, with ultimate principles. As the saying goes a carpenter sees everything as a hammer. Rambam refferred to this as the problem of “doctors”.

As R Meir points out however, this mistake is a very severe one. The wisdom we see on Earth is but a reflection of that seen in Shamayim which itself points to the “throne of glory”. If we get stuck on a comfortable set of principles that appeals to us, or that we are good at, we will stop growing. We will also miss core opportunities practically, being unable to let go of the security of familiar principles in favor of new thinking. As Covey points out, this inflexibility in principle or “arrogance” is the core of most failures in practical affairs.
It is this insecurity in man that Korach saught to manipulate. The Jews had obviously gained some real progress in thought. They had heard mighty thoughts from Moshe and had begun chiddushim on their own. Unfortunately they confused the success they had with ultimate success. They became impatient with the slow painstaking approach to development advocated by Mitzvos. Rather than viewing their incomplete understanding of Mitzvos to their own immature principles, they blamed Moshe for holding them back. They were Tcheiles people not tzizit people- why did they have to be held back? Perhaps old Egyptian Jews caught up in Egyptian primitive culture needed tzizit. Not so the new Jew. Could it be that Jews whose entire culture was Chochma- whose clothing was all tcheiles- would need tzizit? Perhaps Moshe was enjoying his previous unique status as the only true thinker of Israel too much, unjustly holding back a holy nation released from primitive culture with obscure “mitzvos” of his own making!

korach mutiny #3

2008-07-14T09:25:00.000-07:00

As pointed out by R Maroof, the general principle of Korach follows well known patterns- leadership seeks power by manipulating peoples desire to enjoy the benefits of success without the effort necessary because of the causal framework- Shichecha. In the case of Westerners this Shichecha expresses itself in the material realm of success, for the Jews in the Midbar the Shichecha was in the success of mind.

There is a tremendous difference however in these two kinds of Shicheha. We are well experienced with leaders strategies in manipulation of the childish shichecha of Western politics. Leaders manipulate the peoples insecurities for the benefit of their own power fantasies.

Most adults have gone through several political cycles with the attendant slogans and “visions” that guarantee material success. Because of of our principles and deep experience, we can explain the underlying motives of campaigns. Clearly, in a time of economic and military uncertainty, a leader will give feel good visions of rescue. We therefore have a clear sense of why Obama presents himself as the rock star messiah of “change” and “hope” and why Mccain presents himself as the stodgy proponent of “Reform prosperity peace”. As a young upstart politician, Obama seeks to gain power by appealing to the heady adrenalin rush of miraculous messianic “change”. As an older politician Mccain seeks to attain office through old style "father knows best" security.

In stark contrast, we are much less familiar with shichecha in the area of mind. What principle underlies such a community? If Obama and Mccain are utilizing the insecurity of our time, what insecurity did Korach see in Bnei Yisrael? What exactly is so appealing about an upstart explanation of tzitzit? What is the electric attraction of Korach's vision of clothing “made all of tcheiles” or a “world without tzizit”? To understand this we are going to have to penetrate into the mentality of tzizit so extensively described by Chazal in Menachot.

korach mutiny #2

2008-07-09T09:06:00.000-07:00

It seems that the Jewish body politic,despite its cultural resistance to visions, has its own unique vulnerability. The westerner's immaturity reflects itself in a desire to be taken care of by a seemingly powerful and beneficent leader in material affairs. Like a child, the immature nefesh yearns for the strong leader to magically release him from the effort involved in attaining his material needs in the realities of the causal world. The immature nefesh of the westerner wants to play, free of the mental focus and prudence needed to materially succeed.

While the Jews share the immaturity of wanting their needs to be attained magically, their focus lies not in immediate material need, but rather in the area of mind. The Jews desire a mental achievement and moral development attained without toil. This is the meaning of the area of tzizit that Rashi pinpoints.

לט וְהָיָה לָכֶם, לְצִיצִת, וּרְאִיתֶם אֹתוֹ וּזְכַרְתֶּם אֶת-כָּל-מִצְו‍ֹת יְהוָה, וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם; וְלֹא-תָתוּרוּ אַחֲרֵי לְבַבְכֶם, וְאַחֲרֵי עֵינֵיכֶם, אֲשֶׁר-אַתֶּם זֹנִים, אַחֲרֵיהֶם. מ לְמַעַן תִּזְכְּרוּ, וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֶת-כָּל-מִצְו‍ֹתָי; וִהְיִיתֶם קְדֹשִׁים, לֵאלֹהֵיכֶם

The significance of tzizit lies in “zechira” constantly remembering the immense effort needed to truly succeed in mental attainment and moral maturity. This “zechira” feature of tzizit is amplified by Chazal in Menachot 43b.

‮‘‬That ye may look upon it‮’‬‭? ‬‮—‬‭ ‬They require it for the following teaching‭: ‬‮‘‬‭ ‬That ye may look upon it‭, ‬and remember‮’‬‭, ‬that is‭, ‬look upon this precept and remember another precept that is dependent upon it‭, ‬namely‭, ‬the reading of the Shema‮’‬‭. ‬As we have learnt‭: ‬From what time in the morning may the Shema‮’‬‭ ‬be read‭? ‬From the time that one can distinguish between blue and white‭.‬ And another‭ [‬Baraitha‭] ‬taught‭: ‬‮‘‬That ye may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the Lord‮’‬‭: ‬this precept is equal to all the precepts together.8‭ ‬And another‭ [‬Baraitha‭] ‬taught‭: ‬‮‘‬That ye may look upon it and remember‭ . . . ‬and do them‮’‬‭: ‬looking‭ [‬upon it‭] ‬leads to remembering‭ [‬the commandments‭], ‬and remembering leads to doing them‭. ‬R‭. ‬Simeon b‭. ‬Yohai says‭, ‬Whosoever is scrupulous in the observance of this precept is worthy to receive the Divine presence‭, ‬for it is written here‭, ‬‮‘‬That ye may look upon it‮’‬‭, ‬and there it is written‭, ‬Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God‭, ‬and Him shalt thou serve.

‭ ‬ Our Rabbis taught‭: ‬Beloved are Israel‭, ‬for the Holy One‭, ‬blessed be He‭, ‬surrounded them with precepts‭: ‬tefillin on their heads‭, ‬tefillin on their arms‭, ‬zizith on their garments‭, ‬and mezuzoth on their door-posts‭; ‬concerning these David said‭, ‬Seven times a day do I praise Thee‭, ‬because of Thy righteous ordinances.‭ ‬And as David entered the bath and saw himself standing naked‭, ‬he exclaimed‭, ‬‮‘‬Woe is me that I stand naked without any precepts about me‭!‬‮’‬‭ ‬But when he reminded himself of the circumcision in his flesh his mind was set at ease‭. ‬And when he came out he sang a hymn of praise concerning it‭, ‬as it is written‭, ‬For the Leader‭; [‬with stringmusic‭;] ‬on the Eighth‭. ‬A Psalm of David‭ ‬that is‭, ‬concerning circumcision which was given eighth.

‭ ‬ R‭. ‬Eliezer b‭. ‬Jacob said‭, ‬Whosoever has the tefillin on his head‭, ‬the tefillin on his arm‭, ‬the zizith on his garment‭, ‬and the mezuzah on his doorpost‭, ‬is in absolute security against sinning‭, ‬for it is written‭, ‬And a threefold cord is not quickly broken;‭ ‬and it is also written‭, ‬The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him‭, ‬and delivereth them.

‭ ‬ It was taught‭: ‬R‭. ‬Meir used to say‭, ‬Why is blue specified from all the other colours‭ [‬for this precept‭]? ‬Because blue resembles the colour of the sea‭, ‬and the sea resembles the colour of the sky‭, ‬and the sky resembles the colour of‭ [‬a sapphire‭, ‬and a sapphire resembles the colour of]‭ ‬the Throne of Glory‭, ‬as it is said‭, ‬And there was under his feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone,‭ ‬and it is also written‭, ‬The likeness of a throne as the appearance of a sapphire stone.

The Korach Mutiny

2008-07-08T10:26:00.000-07:00

I thank R. Maroof and more recently David Rinde for the inspiration to write on politics as election season nears.

For Americans, Korach's motive for mutiny against Moshe seems obvious. Every election season we witness the spectacle of seeing our leaders degenerate into bitter competition and mudslinging. Needless to say, the combatants will dress up their ambition in moral terms or “the issues”. They claim to diparage each other in the name of “principles”, “the little guy” or “the children”-not pure power interest. But at the end of the day, commentators and ordinary people alike are in consensus -men will do anything to attain power.

Given this reality, the ordinary people tend to look past the details of political accusations and counter accusations, to an underlying theme of “leadership ability”. There is a common sense approach taken to politics, one chooses a leader based upon a “gestalt intuition” of his vision to deliver material good- security, economic success etc rather than careful analysis of policy arguments. There is no need to examine the arguments of Korach to know what his mutiny was about- he was a leader competing for power.

In the Jewish system, the ordinary man is raised with a keen awareness of the danger of following intuitions about the visions of leaders. Every seder we reiterate that unexamined visions of Pharoahs are enslaving. It is beneath us as mature adults to guide our social action based upon feel good slogans and unexplained visions which have no basis in reality. Such immaturity can only lead to one result- policies that benefit the power fantasy of elites and enslave the populace. Chazal therefore view the formulation of “the issues” of Korach's mutiny as anything but window dressing. Far from being limited to ordinary citizens, the mutiny involved the most mature among the people as well- 250 leaders from the Sanhedrin according to Rashi.

א וַיִּקַּח קֹרַח בֶּן-יִצְהָר בֶּן-קְהָת בֶּן-לֵוִי וְדָתָן וַאֲבִירָם בְּנֵי אֱלִיאָב וְאוֹן בֶּן-פֶּלֶת בְּנֵי רְאוּבֵן. ב וַיָּקֻמוּ לִפְנֵי מֹשֶׁה וַאֲנָשִׁים מִבְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל חֲמִשִּׁים וּמָאתָיִם נְשִׂיאֵי עֵדָה קְרִאֵי מוֹעֵד אַנְשֵׁי-שֵׁם. ג וַיִּקָּהֲלוּ עַל-מֹשֶׁה וְעַל-אַהֲרֹן וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֲלֵהֶם רַב-לָכֶם כִּי כָל-הָעֵדָה כֻּלָּם קְדֹשִׁים וּבְתוֹכָם יְהוָה וּמַדּוּעַ תִּתְנַשְּׂאוּ עַל-קְהַל יְהוָה. ד וַיִּשְׁמַע מֹשֶׁה וַיִּפֹּל עַל-פָּנָיו.

רשי
עמד וכנס מאתים חמישים ראשי סנהדראות, רובן משבט ראובן שכיניו, והם אליצור בן שדיאור וחביריו וכיוצא בו, שנאמר נשיאי עדה קריאי מועד, ולהלן הוא אומר (במדבר א, טז) אלה קרואי העדה, והלבישן טליתות שכולן תכלת.באו ועמדו לפני משה, אמרו לו
?טלית שכולה של תכלת חייבת בציצית או פטור
.אמר להם: חייבת
התחילו לשחק עליו, אפשר טלית של מין אחר חוט אחד של תכלת פוטרה, זו שכולה תכלת לא תפטור את עצמה

How could Korach have hoodwinked a populace raised on skepticism to political visions? What was so appealing in his argument?

Ohr the cause of Mada in the Soul

2008-06-27T13:20:00.000-07:00

1) Brayshees identifies ohr - world of ideas ie Chochmas hashem- underlying the order of creation. Creation as a whole, and its constituent parts, embodies an underlying law of chochmas hashem
2) Ruach Chen explains why Chochmas hashem is analogous to ohr . Just as physical light exists outside the mind and enters the mind by way of the eye of the body, so too, the light of Chochmas hashem exists outside the mind and enters the mind by way of the eye of the soul. Man’s nefesh sichli, develops through apprehension of this order. Emes, the mind’s true apprehension of the ohr is an end product of a process done by kochos ha-nefesh.

3) As we know from Rambam Yesode ha-torah, as well as in Shemone perakim and Ruach Chen, the soul of Man is a potential form that arises via an animal matter.

4) As a potential form that arises via an animal matter, the eye of the soul of Man is dependent upon kochos ha-nefesh that are animal in character. The soul must discern the light of Chochmas hashem in data collected and processed by the kochos ha-nefesh of animal senses and psyche. This dependence poses a challenge to the mind, which must discern if a given processing of data is expressive of Chochmas Hashem or is merely satisfying to power and pleasure drives. It is this dependence upon the animal psyche for data that makes us prone to error and cheyt.(Ralbag on Brayshees).

5) By virtue of the fact that chochmas hashem is external to us, we are able to reflect upon it as an external object or as something illuminating us. This is similar once again to ohr, that can be thought of as an external illuminator or our own experience of seeing or being illuminated.

6) Needless to say, we never see light per se, only our personal experience of a small limited example.
Nontheless, we know that our experience of light points to an absolute light, external to ourselves that our own experience is a puny reflection of.

Nature and Malchus Shamayim

2008-06-26T06:04:00.000-07:00

Here is the response to RW regarding Malchus Shamayim
המצווה השניה
היא הציווי שנצטווינו להאמין בייחוד, והוא שנאמין שפועל הנמצא בסיבתו הראשונה הוא אחד.
והוא אמרו יתעלה: "שמע ישראל ה' אלקינו ה' אחד" (דברים ו, ד).
וברוב המדרשות תמצא שהם אומרים:

"על מנת לייחד את שמי, על מנת לייחדני".

והרבה כגון זה. כוונתם בדבר זה: שלא הוציאנו מבית עבדים ולא עשה עמנו מה שעשה בעשיית חסד והטבה, אלא בתנאי שנאמין בייחוד, לפי שאנו מחויבים בכך.
ובהרבה מקומות אומרים 'מצוות ייחוד', וקוראים למצווה זו גם 'מלכות שמים' כי אומרים:

כדי לקבל עליו על מלכות שמים, כלומר ההודאה בייחוד והאמונה בו.

Man's rational mind perceives the world through the principle of a universal law manifest in all parts of the universe-Malchus Shamayim. This principle is implicit in our expectation that every part of the universe, from the most small in physics and chemistry to the most large in astronomy and cosmology, be subject to laws. Yet the same rational man who expects law in every aspect of the universe, balks when it comes to his own sovereignty. Intellectually, the mind recognizes that man's excellence must be a special case of this very same universal law. The Christian's bizarre exemption of himself from the principle of universal law manifest in all parts of the universe cannot be understood in terms of intellect. The difficulty for the unreflective craftsman lies in overcoming an instinctive aversion to loss of sovereignty. The human animal refuses to extend the universal laws of the universe to his sovereignty over the material world, instinctively resisting this "kabbalas ole" as a wild mustang resists the עולof a harness and as the mule resists the עול of a yoke. K'riat Shema's challenge to the craftsman is a call to summon the courage to recognize the resistance to tikkun for what it is - an animal aversion to yielding any sovereignty. Recognizing the human mind as a b'ria, a creation subject to higher cause, is the essence of kabbalas ole malchus shamayim. When we reflect, we observe that the creations of Aretz follow a mechanistic minhag of which they are not consciously aware. Man, by virtue of his Tzelem elokim, is able to understand this minhag as a series of mechanisms that produce a given “end”. This perspective enables man to recognize the possibility of Tikkun, a superior ordering of aretz’s powers producing “fruit” that its own mechanistic nature could never have brought about. Indeed, it is readily apparent, that natural things, left uncultivated, function incompletely. Only when man intervenes, developing the mechanisms of these natural things along a proper path, do they function completely.

This "intervention" requires a notion of "good" attained through humble application of acceptance of the Sovereign natural principles as Covey said. This acceptance of sovereignty is the first line of Shema and "Baruch shem K'vod Malchuso Liolam Voed. The next parsha of ahava is recognition of the new Good we must follow if we are to be consistent with Kabbalas Ole rather than escaping into the fantasy of human values. This acceptance is demsonstrated by making our top priority-our Ahava- the pursuit of Chochma for its own sake-Vi-ahavata.

We the realize the means to ahava for a mind that emerges via a psyche-zechira through the zechira tools of Tefillin and tzitzit.

Then we bolster our zechira through a consideration of the material benefits and consequences-of being mature consistency to the sovereignty of principle or rebelling immaturely- Sechar vaonesh.

It is important to note that Shema as we know it is only instrumental to the immature Nefesh who knows through the lens of Dvarim Ketanim and is by nature subject to Shichecha. Such a one needs to explicitly connect the universal principle of Malchus shamayim to himself as the good that applies to him. He further needs the motivation of rewards and punishment for being consistent with principle. The mature mind is not Chayyev in this or in Tefilla. For him to say that there is a Sovereign Chochma is necessarily to see the application to the self. Such a one is patur and only says the first Pasuk-this is the shema of Rabbi Yehuda ha-Nasi. As Rambam points out in Hilchos Talmud Torah this is the person who has moved past "techilat Limudo". He sees everything through the same d'varim naturally.

When a person gains insight into these d’varim, recognizing (the entire hierarchy) of the creations, from angel and galaxy all the way to man (and his environment), and therefore sees the chochma of hashem in all the creations, he adds to his love of the makom, and his soul thirsts and his flesh yearns to love the makom baruch hu. Simultaneously, this person feels a great awe and fear resulting from his smallness and inconsequenciality.

Nature and Mussar #2

2008-06-25T06:19:00.000-07:00

I can't say it better than Covey. Covey is the premier time management expert of the world of accomplishment. He is the Am Ha-aretz par excellence. We would do well to carefully listen to his Mussar and imitate his Yirat Chet.

Center on Principles

Stephen R. Covey

February 1994

Real character development begins with the humble recognition that we are not in charge, that principles ultimately govern. I don't talk much about ethics and values because to me those words imply situational behaviors, subjective beliefs, social mores, cultural norms, or relative truths. I prefer to talk about universal principles and natural laws that are more absolute. You may think that it's just a matter of semantics and that when most people talk about values they really mean these universal principles. But I see a clear difference between principles and values. Hitler was value-driven; Saddam Hussein is value-driven. Every person and organization is driven by what they value, but they aren't necessarily ethical or principle-centered.

The Humility of Principles

The key to quality of life is to be centered on principles. We're not in control; principles are in control. We're arrogant when we think we are in control. Yes, we may control our actions, but not the consequences of our actions. Those are controlled by principles, by natural laws. Building character and creating quality of life is a function of aligning our beliefs and behaviors with universal principles. These principles are impersonal, external, factual, objective, and self-evident. They operate regardless of our awareness of them, or our obedience to them.

If your current lifestyle is not in alignment with these principles, then you might trade a value-based map for a principle-centered compass. When you recognize that external verities and realities ultimately govern, you might willingly subordinate your values to them and align your roles and goals, plans, and activities with them. But doing so often takes a crisis: your company's downsizing; your job's on the line; your relationship with the boss goes sour; you lose a major account; your marriage is threatened; your financial problems peak; or you're told you have just a few months to live. In the absence of such a catalytic crisis, we tend to live in numbed complacency so busy doing good, easy, or routine things that we don't even stop to ask ourselves if we're doing what really matters. The good, then, becomes the enemy of the best. (Note the deep חטא here.אין ישראל נגאלין אלא בתשובה .Geula is from evil to good-not good to best)

Humility is the mother of all virtues: the humble in spirit progress and are blessed because they willingly submit to higher powers (Can anyone name what he has done here to Shem Hashem?)and try to live in harmony with natural laws and universal principles. Courage is the father of all virtues; we need great courage to lead our lives by correct principles and to have integrity in the moment of choice. When we set up our own self-generated or socially-validated value systems and then develop our missions and goals based on what we value, we tend to become laws unto ourselves, proud and independent. Pride hopes to impress; humility seeks to bless. Just because we value a thing doesn't mean that having it will enhance our quality of life. No "quality movement" in government, business, or education will succeed unless based on "true north" principles. And yet we see leaders who cling to their current style based on self-selected values and bad habits even as their "ship" is sinking when they could be floating safely on the life raft of principles.

Nothing sinks people faster in their careers than arrogance. Arrogance shouts "I know best." In the uniform of arrogance, we fumble and falter — pride comes and goes before the fall. But dressed in humility, we make progress. As the character Indiana Jones learned in The Last Crusade, "The penitent man will pass." In pride, we often sow one thing and expect to reap another. Many of our paradigms and the processes and habits that grow out of them never produce the results we expect because they are based on illusions, advertising slogans, program-of-the-month training, and personality-based success strategies. Quality of life can't grow out of illusion. So how do we align our lives with "true north" realities that govern quality of life?

Nature and Mussar

2008-06-24T03:25:00.000-07:00

Here is my response to RW and Matt. RW is exactly right-I am referring to the systems of Creation. But Matt you are right too, the psyche operates in terms of pleasure and pain. The key is to coax the psyche into realizing that success in pleasure and pain is a result of the Chochma of the universe. This is pointed out by R Rosenthal in his comment on the previous post. Here is the link between the systems of Tehillim and the consequences of Mishlei as seen in Sholomo Ben David's intro to Mishlei. We see the baal Mishlei is indeed the son of the Baal Tehillim. Please share your reaction with all of us.

Principle of Mussar:
1:7 The fear of Hashem is the beginning of knowledge; but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.

Definitions:

Fear of Hashem- realizing that as a natural entity oneself, the same Chochma guiding all natural systems is also the only basis of the quest for human success

The foolish despise wisdom and instruction- those addicted to the fantasy of human sovereignty despise the wake up call of reality. We are but a small case of entities in a creation governed by Chochma.

Wisdom and Instruction: Wisdom is seeing Causality in the Solar system / ecosystem of Earth
Instruction: seeing applications of causality to the special circumstances of human interactions (home city work waking up in the morning) so that Bechira can occur.

Mussar #1: folly of trusting human systems founded for the dreams of “stars”
1:8 My son, listen to your father’s instruction, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching:
1:9 for they will be a garland to grace your head,and chains around your neck.
1:10 My son, if sinners entice you, don’t consent.
1:11 If they say, “Come with us, Let’s lay in wait for blood; let’s lurk secretly for the innocent without cause;
1:12 let’s swallow them up alive like Sheol, and whole, like those who go down into the pit.
1:13 We’ll find all valuable wealth.We’ll fill our houses with spoil.
1:14 You shall cast your lot among us. We’ll all have one purse.”
1:15 My son, don’t walk in the way with them.Keep your foot from their path,
1:16 for their feet run to evil.They hurry to shed blood.
1:17 For in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird:
1:18 but these lay wait for their own blood. They lurk secretly for their own lives.
1:19 So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain.It takes away the life of its owners.

Notice that the narrator of Mussar #1 is a parental voice. The parent is the immediate representative of Chochmat hashem as a natural force. He is the proximate instrument of Natural “form” doing the bidding of Chochmas Hashem. It is for this reason we have Kibude Av Vaem. We must ever remember that we are part of the the reproductive system. Let us zoom out and look again at the parental phenomenon. If we look at Earth we can see once again the outlines of our terrestrial home. As we zoom in we can discern a hospital. In one ward we see the maternity ward. How wonderful to see the human generations all expressing the same “form” of tzelem going back to Adam harishon and Chava. The parents and babies are locked in the beginnings of home. They see only each other, we see much more. All round the maternity ward are the other parts of the hospital. The cancer ward the psychiatric ward full of addicts and otherwise disturbed people. Overeating and lack of excersize have filled the cardiac ward. Sad families sit there,huddled around their beloved family members. "...When calamity overtakes you like a storm,when your disaster comes on like a whirlwind; when distress and anguish come on you. Why were they stricken down? Why do they have diabetes or a heart condition? Did they eat the diet of Mcdonalds? Did they feast upon the banquet of “outback”? Where were the parents of this patient when they could have guided him away from the lifestyle of doom? Zooming back to the maternity ward we see these parents are ill equipped to help their children. They will be the one to feast with their children at Mcdonalds. What else is there after a long week of depressing work days implementing the greedy vision of the “stars”? What is one to do after a long day of building pyramids and towers of Bavel? The material vision has left them with no option-eat and drink for tomorrow we die!

Mussar #2: The shem hashem must be brought into society for success to be possible
1:20 Wisdom calls aloud in the street.She utters her voice in the public squares.
1:21 She calls at the head of noisy places. At the entrance of the city gates, she utters her words:
1:22 “How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? How long will mockers delight themselves in mockery, and fools hate knowledge?
1:23 Turn at my reproof.Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you. I will make known my words to you.
1:24 Because I have called, and you have refused;I have stretched out my hand, and no one has paid attention;
1:25 but you have ignored all my counsel,and wanted none of my reproof;
1:26 I also will laugh at your disaster.I will mock when calamity overtakes you;
1:27 when calamity overtakes you like a storm,when your disaster comes on like a whirlwind; when distress and anguish come on you.
1:28 Then will they call on me, but I will not answer.They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me;
1:29 because they hated knowledge,and didn’t choose the fear of Hashem.
1:30 They wanted none of my counsel.They despised all my reproof.
1:31 Therefore they will eat of the fruit of their own way,and be filled with their own schemes.
1:32 For the backsliding of the simple will kill them.The careless ease of fools will destroy them.
1:33 But whoever listens to me will dwell securely,and will be at ease, without fear of harm.”

Or no perhaps there is something else – a natural “form”. “The fear of Hashem is the beginning of knowledge; but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction”. Hashem is the source of a chochma that fashions all systems of heaven and Earth-man included. His wisdom could be the basis of a new yishuv-if we would bring his chochma into humanity via the home and, by extension, the city. The parent who views himself as a natural force is the bridge to Chochma of the Creator in all things. The Parental narrator jumps in once more with the mitzva instruments of Bechira at the ready.

2:1 My son, if you will receive my words, and store up my commandments within you;
2:2 So as to turn your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;
2:3 Yes, if you call out for discernment,and lift up your voice for understanding;
2:4 If you seek her as silver,and search for her as for hidden treasures:
2:5 then you will understand the fear of Hashem,and find the knowledge of God.

Application #1: Waking up with Brachos

2008-06-23T06:10:00.000-07:00

Method: I approach the bracha as a nefesh seeking human tov consistent with Brayshees. I intend to zoom into our little frameworks in Aretz from the astronauts higher cosmic perspective of universe. In so doing I will see the enslaving tendency to view Aretz as subject to our power in that specific area that the Brachot of the morning attempt to address. I will zoom in to Earth at various speeds until I find this specific framework of “getting up in the morning” I want to explore as the particular aspect of the processes in matter that are me. As I guide my nefesh screen upon this focus land masses and oceans, mountain ranges great forests –identifying features of continents come into view. As I reflect I use the d’varim of the first perek of brayshees as my narrator.
The "bechira" challenge of default life
I immediately realize that my actual experience of Tov is contrary to that indicated by Brayshees. As I zoom in toward My Yishuv a world of resources awaiting my design and soevereignty - my melacha- to attain reality. Indeed, in my yishuv, it is our divine right to impose our chosen name upon the resources of the world to attain eternity of fame. We wake up in the morning not to seek knowledge, but to “live life”. As I zoom in closer and closer on a typical 7 AM Monday, I see a social world whose potential needs much “tikkun”.
Sensory knowledge approach
For the people I see, waking up in the morning is an ordeal whose major focus is drinking coffee and taking a shower. I see people smacking their snooze buttons, grumbling, whining , protesting the invasion of blissful sleep. In every possible way the comfort of sleep is preserved, blankets are pulled over heads to block light, night and sleep rescued from the onslought of day and work. How easily I can identify, pop into their experience and feel it myself!
In essence "waking up" is a struggle to establish focus of nefesh on whatever ones "day" of production motion, the projecting of nefesh power to change environments that the “day” is going to be about. We resist the work part of day as long as we can, but in the end the survival urge prevails over the urge for pleasure. We rush out of bed "late" yet again. The person transitions into "schedule mode" they must rush to the mission of school or work.

But is work or school a human purpose? Is it a tov consonent with “Va-yar Elokim Ki Tov'? Obviously not. As I see the hordes of newly showered and caffeinated people march, in vast lines of traffic, to work and school, I clearly note that the “day” will be seeking nothing more than kavod- hevel ends meaningful only in a human centered world that contradicts the essential message of “Va-yar Elokim Ki Tov'. I see students exhorted to study to “get ahead” to “get into college” or “to make a name for themselves”. I see workers exhorted by their leaders to focus on the task, team project or corporate vision. The workers and students have been dreading this the entire commute. They plunge into their "work day" nonetheless, cursing out the hated talking heads, teachers managers leaders, even as they somewhat buy into their vision. Why else trudge along, doing the bidding of the task masters? After all is there anything else, any mission other than the life we already live? How easy it is to pop into their experience,feel their anger and despair. They don't realize the choice that is right in front of their noses. This vision they are stuck in make sense only if I limit myself to the zoom dreamed up by talking heads like Heryshef who believe the resources of aretz can be made into an eternal testament to their name. I can choose not to see things this way, to see them instead through the lens of Brayshees. But what is the manner to do this? How do I bring back the cosmic perspective into my morning routine, liberate myself from slavishly implementing the dream of the "stars"?

The Mitzva as a "bechira" instrument
It is from this vantage point that I approach the instruments of hashkama baboker.

סדר התפילה
1 לעולם יהא אדם ירא שמיים בסתר, ומודה על האמת, ודובר אמת בלבבו; ישכים ויאמר, ריבון כל העולמים--לא על צדקותינו אנחנו מפילים תחנונינו לפניך, כי על רחמיך הרבים. מה אנו, מה חיינו, מה חסדנו, מה צדקנו, מה מעשינו, מה נאמר לפניך, ה' אלוהינו. הלוא הגיבורים כאין לפניך, ואנשי השם כלא היו, וחכמים כבלי מדע, ונבונים כבלי השכל. כי כל מעשינו תוהו, וימי חיינו הבל לפניך; כמו שכתוב בדברי קודשך--ומותר האדם מן הבהמה אין, כי הכול הבל.
2 אבל אנחנו עמך, בני בריתך: בני אברהם--אוהבך, שנשבעת לו בהר המורייה; זרע יצחק--עקידך, שנעקד על גבי מזבחך; עדת יעקוב--בנך, בכורך, שמאהבתך שאהבת אותו ושמחתך ששמחת בו, קראת אותו ישראל וישורון.
3 לפיכך אנו חייבין להודות לך, ולשבחך ולפארך, ולרוממך וליתן הודיה ושבח לשמך. חייבין אנו לומר לפניך בכל יום, ערב ובוקר--שמע, ישראל: ה' אלוהינו, ה' אחד. אשרינו, מה טוב חלקנו, מה נעים גורלנו, מה יפה מאוד ירושתנו. אשרינו, שאנו משכימין ומעריבין ואומרין--שמע, ישראל: ה' אלוהינו, ה' אחד.
4 אתה הוא קודם שנברא העולם, ואתה הוא אחר שנברא העולם; אתה הוא בעולם הזה, ואתה הוא לעולם הבא; אתה הוא ראשון, ואתה הוא אחרון. קדש את שמך הגדול והקדוש, בעולמך; ובישועתך, תרים ותגביה קרננו. ברוך מקדש את שמו, ברבים.

The imagination- a tool with an end

2008-06-22T07:45:00.000-07:00

Kochos Ha-nefesh
Up to now we examined zoom as a power to manipulate representations. Where are these representations inputted from?
1) The senses provide information about the particulars of our world as they occur in real time. These are projected onto the video or audio of the nefesh screen or as feeling. In the case of the speaker this is seeing the audience, hearing their voices, feeling their emotional reaction.
2) The dimayon ("imagination" or faculty of representation) retains sensory information for higher processing. This processing is done by various tools: A) a tool of imagining external sensory things in situations they have never been. An example of this is picturing things in an audience in a hall that one has never actually seen them in doing things we have never seen them do. (If so and so were at the hall and heard the speech what would he say?) B) A tool for changing my point of view as in being in my body speaking and seeing the audience or looking down at my body considering myself performing or C) a tool for considering how it would be in someone elses shoes seeing the world as the audience or a particular person other than I would.
The “good” or end guiding zoom control
I can zoom in to Earth at various speeds depending upon what systems and subsystems I want to explore. I may want to spend time examining earth as a planet composed of continents. This is done by orbitting at the height at which I naturally focus upon the features of continents. As I guide my nefesh screen upon this focus land masses and oceans, mountain ranges great forests –identifying features of continents come into view. If I consider the wisdom needed for this cradle of life to emerge - this level of focus calls to mind the grandeur of G’s creation. Based upon this metaphor of nefesh one can also begin to understand the notion of "ahava" based upon Rambam as an experience of the nefesh screen.
When a person gains insight into these d’varim, recognizing (the entire hierarchy) of the creations, from angel and galaxy all the way to man (and his environment), and therefore sees the chochma of hashem in all the creations, he adds to his love of the makom, and his soul thirsts and his flesh yearns to love the makom baruch hu. Simultaneously, this person feels a great awe and fear resuting from his smallness and inconsequenciality.
Now I say that it is inappropriate to tour the pardes except for he who has filled his belly with bread and meat. “Bread and meat” refers to knowing the assur and mutar (ie practical principles) in that which is not first principles. Even though these principles are called davar katan... they come first educationally, since they cultivate (meyashvin) the mind and additionally are the great good by which we develop this world (yishuv aretz) and attain the world to come.
In reality, it is not a speech that is the core example that we must always refer back to. Rather it is the first two perakim of brayshees. The default image on our nefesh screen should be the first or second perek of brayshees. All limud will begin with a zooming in or out from this makom. This is well illustrated in the intro to sefer ha-higgayon.
Higgayon techniques and the problem of “shichecha”
When we reflect upon the creations of aretz along with the processes that they undergo, we observe that G has assigned man an essential place in creation- civilizing the world and promoting its well-being as an ecosystem. By performing this role, man brings into actuality an excellence of aretz's creations that had previously existed only in potential.
Our sages, of blessed memory, make this very point when they say that every part of creation stands in need of tikkun. Wheat needs grinding, lupine must be sweetened etc.…
Indeed, it is readily apparent, that natural things, left uncultivated, function incompletely. Only when man intervenes, developing the mechanisms of these natural things along a proper path, do they function completely.
By way of example, the produce of a tree, left wild, is no match in taste or beauty to that of a cultivated tree. The basic principle here is that the creator has left open a space for human accomplishment, namely, when man improves upon nature to the extent he is able. For example, a tree if left alone without cultivation, though it will bear some fruit, it will not compare in taste or beauty, to the produce of a cultivated tree. So too earth itself, if left uncultivated, neither fertilized nor plowed-either will give no produce at all or at best a pitiful one. The general principle being that the creator has left open a place for man to complete the products of nature.
This principle can be applied to the human mind as well. Intellectual apprehension, so long as it is left uncultivated, will suffer from the same kind of lack as a wild tree or field. This lack will not block the mind’s ability to understand many ideas, just as the uncultivated tree is not prevented from producing some fruit. Nonetheless the uncultivated mind’s ability will not compare to its ability after cultivation, just as the fruit of the cultivated tree will not compare to one lacking in cultivation. Therefore alongside study in the various subjects, ie the principles of things, that are the mind’s proper object and without which it cannot develop, so does the mind need to study thought itself, so that its apprehension of these principles be complete and orderly rather than confused and incomplete.
Indeed, it is with this objective in mind, that the wise of previous generations occupied themselves with ordering the processes of thought taking care to order its procedures fully. This was done by reflecting upon the exact manner of the mind’s transformation from unknowing to knowing through the use of models that are truthful or false,to ascertain ways the mind can guard itself from error when theorizing (seeking to establish causes), as well as techniques that facilitate this activity. This overall study is called melechet ha-higgayon.
Ramchal speaks to a person aware of his nefesh screen. He bids this person to mashkif, to see himself from a higher point of view (see Radak on shakaf). This means to use zoom control. Similar to the speaker the reader zooms into the personal environment perspective. He notes how swiftly he forgets the sense of ohr once he zooms into the personal space perspective. However if we pop back and forth from the higher point of view back to personal environment some of the ohr sense can be remembered. Much like an astronaut, one who views man through zoom control can never see Aretz the same again. If we zoom into our little frameworks in Aretz from the higher perspective of universe our whole sense of craft changes. We see our tendency, so long as we fail to zoom in from a larger Shamayim perspective, to view aretz as our own domain subject to our power. Clearly as Ramchal points out, once we zoom into aretz from shamayim we observe that G has assigned man an essential place in creation- civilizing the world and promoting its well-being as an ecosystem. By performing this role, man brings into actuality an excellence of aretz's creations that had previously existed only in potential.

Experiencing Nefesh

2008-06-20T12:28:00.000-07:00

By Yehuda Rapoport
The following is the result of some collaborative work I did with Rabbi Sacks on the phone. Rabbi Sacks said to me, "This should be viewed as the first step toward collating this years postings into a book. The objective is to create a book that would be able to initiate a reader into our method. This would free this web site to focus on applications resulting from independent learning as opposed to initiation into learning."

Table of Contents

A. Establishing a “Path”
B. First steps in discovering Kochos ha-Nefesh
C. The “Nefesh Screen” and Zoom-Control
D. Zoom-Control and The Cosmic and Social Environments
E. Radak-Zoom

A. Establishing a “Path”

In discussion with R. Rapoport, it became clear that underlying his questions, as well as the questions of R. Maroof, there lies a deeper desire for a training system in thought. In keeping with the analogy of Alfarabi, a training system would be similar to the art of boxing in which one trains following a well worn path of practising techniques moving stage by stage from novice to expert. Obviously, one cannot demand of a new art the same stability of path one would expect from one that has had the benefit of being tested on generations of students. Nonetheless, a fundamental breakthrough can now be achieved.

B. First steps in Rediscovering Kochos ha-Nefesh

As in every art, the key to training lies not in the rote doing of technique, but rather, as Bruce Lee puts it, in understanding technique."Understanding technique” means reflecting on how techniques enhance the nefesh’s natural ability to engage the world in attaining its ends. Enhancing the nefesh’s ability obviously presupposes a clear sense of the natural abilities – ie the kochos- by which the nefesh engages the world. Therefore the heart and soul of understanding technique lies in a metaphor or mashal of the kochos ha-nefesh from which the techniques can organically emerge.

Alfarabi speaks of an organic process in which the nefesh uses its kochos to distill universal principles or well-defined “dvarim” from descriptions that first arise in sensory experience of the particulars of our world. The techniques of logic develop this natural ability of nefesh to transition from description to definition. If you recall, the central impetus for "doing words with Radak" was my realization that contrary to Alfarabi’s depiction of kochos hanefesh, my own thought was disconnected from sensory experience. In this overly formal strategy there was no natural ability to derive principles from sensory experience. Obviously, in the absence of a first intuitive mashal of the kochos ha-nefesh, no training in technique can occur. It was here that the need to rediscover kochos ha-nefesh became apparent.
After all these years, it is now time for the next generation mashal of kochos hanefesh that can accomodate the full gamut of thought operations.

C. The “Nefesh Screen” and Zoom-Control

What I propose is a mashal of a “nefesh screen” to make the experience of kochos ha-nefesh conscious and communicable. Like a computer, the nefesh screen represents information coming from a variety of sources. What makes the computer and nefesh screen so useful is their power to manipulate representations. To experience this power of manipulating representations let us start with a tool - the zoom-control. By “zoom” I mean the control of magnification (as in a camera’s zoom lense). As many of you know this is one of the most potent Sechel tools on the nefesh screen. It is best thought of as an extension of google Earth.

D. Zoom-Control and The Cosmic and Social Environments

Picture a map of the universe, rather than just Earth, that can zoom in or out.

Zoom in galaxy by galaxy as in a planetarium show.

Zoom in noticing the wonderful, precise motion reflecting gravity in all bodies of the universe.
This "noticing" is a feeling, a sense that a universal law- Malchus shamayim - is the governing principle underlying the steady orbits of all parts of the universe. It will probably require some careful slowing down of the orbits to sense their regularity and orderliness. Yet we have seen this orderliness modeled many times in museums and planatarium shows. We react to this governing principle with an ahava feeling at the “good” in the sense of lawful order and harmony underlying the Creator’s Craft in all parts of the universe. At the intergalactic, galactic and planetary “zooms” the governing principle of Malchus shamayim is natural and easy to keep in focus.

Zoom in to the solar system and see it as an ecosystem sustaining life. Note that this ecosystem itself depends upon gravity.
If gravity did not move the Meoros hagedolim, there would not be night and day on aretz. There would be no evaporation of water and no rain. There would be no heat or growth of vegetation. No seasons. There would be no atmosphere or air without gravity. All of this causal focus is natural at all levels up to the planetary level of zoom. This causal focus corresponds to the basic account of G’s craft in creating planet Earth as the cradle of life in the “big picture” framework of the first perek of brayshees. Zoom control allows us to seek ohr as in “gravity” or “ecosystem”. This “seeking”, as mentioned, is done through feeling or internal dialogue as shown by my narration (notice the steady orbits, notice the ecosystem, notice the ecosystem’s need for gravity).

The theoretical sechel considers the images as exemplars that are useful to attaining more universal truth or Emes. Einstein and Newton, as we know, purposefully used the zoom control to create scenarios useful to the theoretical sechel’s quest to discover these universal truths of emes.

Zoom in to the level of man’s yishuv.
Once we go past the planetary level to the political-yishuv-level of zoom our causal focus of malchus shamayim begins to fade. At a certain stage of zoom we are no longer able to maintain our causal focus upon Earth as a planet, a part of the universe governed by malchus shamayim. At a certain point a new governing principle of social environment will kick in that dispels the causal focus.

Zoom in to see countries, cities and neighborhoods.
Notice skylines, city centers and institutions. These social sytstems are governed not by gravity but by visions of great men and historical cultural forces. As you pass Yankee stadium, think of Babe Ruth and the power of his bat.

Zoom past the ruins of the twin towers.
Think of the struggle beween the Christian and Islamic civilization.

Zoom past aiports and think of international travel, tourism and commerce.
As you approach your home an even more personal governing principle emerges. You see things in terms of your own personal desires. This framework is decidedly proprietary- my house, my street, my friends. As we zoom in closer we come to ourselves. We can see ourselves as if from a satellite doing things. We can also enter the most personal space of all- our own bodies and see the world through our eyes and feelings as we pursue our ends. We can also enter another person’s character and imagine their feelings and the world they see. At this point our focus shifts from seeing theoretical order as in gravity, to seeing ends or a good we personally wish to attain.

Zoom in and out until you feel the point of view where the organizing principle of animal possesion or malchus Adam ends and the organizing principle of malchus shamayim begins. Is it at the city level? The continent? The planet perhaps?

E. Radak-Zoom

If you recall, the stickman was a metaphor designed to facilitate thinking about scenarios man could be put in. The stickman could be pictured sitting, walking, loving or whatever word Radak gave. In essence, stickman was a tool limited to the zoom of personal space.
I will now show how zoom-control can be used to understand these same practical goods by rooting them in the everyday experience of giving a “speech”.

We all have experience getting ready for an important speech. We rehearse the speech beforehand. In our mind’s eye we zoom from our current actual place and transport to the hall where the speech will be. At times we take the point of view of the audience at other times we see ourselves speaking from the dais and listen carefully to ourselves. A really experienced speaker would have a whole repertoire of personalities to test his speech upon. He would “enter” their various mentalities, noting to himself how they would react. So and so would think this was illogical, so and so would feel that part is too harsh etc etc. We zoom in on people’s expressions and listen to or feel their reactions. We also zoom on ourselves. We watch ourselves listen to ourselves. We enter our own character and feel our feelings. We modify our speech to more effectively express our idea or impact the audience. This zoom ability does not end once the speech begins. We shift in and out of our bodies watching ourselves modifying our speech based on crowd reaction. In reality, this experience of zoom control is an exemplar of the kochos ha-nefesh that is experienced all the time more or less consciously.

Dibros,Education and Economy-Haimson#2

2008-06-19T10:16:00.000-07:00

I am copying a comment I made on Haimson.com. Our discussion there dovetails so well with dibros,I thought it would be a pity to not show the interconnect.

Michael, it is interesting how our postings have intertwined. On rambamsystem I mentioned that your economic perspective needed to be modified in light of your educational perspective.

In education the wise and experienced must guide the immature and inexperienced.The key to success in education is instilling the unity of all fields of the real world under one concept of "law". The real world is governed in all instances by an overarching "law". This foundation is the basis of rationality itself. Its application must be found in every subject.

Implicit to the idea of universal law is equality of application. Each and every atom is equally subject to chemical law, all matter is subject to physics and all property owners are subject to economics.

What is unique in man is that he is potentially under the domain of two different principles of law. Which of these will be dominant is our choice. We can choose to be governed by our minds or our animal psyches. It is precisely this choice which makes "self interest"
needful of clarification. Which is the real self, the appetitive animal or the rational mind.

Education should guide the immature to realizing that the superior life is that of the mind. The psyche must be guided to functioning as a tool in the mind framework.

Part of this guidance is exemplified in coveting. The rest is covered in the other dibrot. This guidance must not be coercive,but rather motivation based.The psyche must be led to realize the new sense of self as a mind consciously subject to law. This guidance to consciousness of the sovereignty of law is the fundamental principle of education.

Response to the comment by Michael Haimson

2008-06-19T05:00:00.000-07:00

I will respond in blue.Michael's comment is in black

Very interesting post,
A few things...

The basis of a market economy is the fact that we covet each others assets. That is what makes the system work. That is why private property is a success while state/bureaucratically controlled lands and businesses are failures.

Merrian- Webster offers the following definitions of "covet":

transitive verb 1 : to wish for earnestly <covet an award> 2 : to desire (what belongs to another) inordinately or culpably intransitive verb : to feel inordinate desire for what belongs to another

The Mitzva offers a metric for the second sense "to desire (what belongs to another) inordinately or culpably". "Inordinately or culpably" is legally prohibited at two points:

a) If one makes an actionable plan to transfer property ownership against the owners will

b) If one executes such a plan.

Torah law demands that we respect our fellow citizens right to private property as an expression of law equal in significance to ourselves. To deny property rights of another is therefore to affirm that I am myself the source of causality- not natural law. This affirmation is the basis of irrationality because it encourages purely tactical magical thinking and discourages deep thought and strategic planning.

The fact that most businesses fail is not due to the inadequacy of man's planning, but due to the tumult of the marketplace. In order to succeed in the market one must invest capital and labor into a concept that is based on one's own flawed sense of perception of the demands in the marketplace. The fact that we were able to advance this far with such an anarchic system speaks volumes of the benefits of the system.

Also, don't forget that many businesses fail after a long period of success, that is another aspect of the market (creative destruction). Ask the buggy makers how they felt after Henry Ford starting his work.

I can certainly agree that imperfect knowledge and changing conditions are also important
factors in business failure. These would of course be intimately connected to magical thinking as well. The question needs to be asked: did the business diversify in anticipation of changes in the market due to strategic factors? Did the business embrace change or vainly attempt to maintain itself in the face of change. Kuhn in the "structure of scientific revolution" points out that the irrational inflexibility is a product of thought itself not just business thought. We naturally cling to theories that appeal to us personally, magical thinking, rather than flexibly adapt to the sovereignty of natural ideas.

Now when it comes to bubbles you have to realize that bubbles form around all booming industries. The life cycle that most new industries follow are quite standard: An individual or group of individuals revolutionize the marketplace with a new innovation, they go through a period of isolation or doubt from the market until they are shown to be profitable, slowly the elite of the market jump on the train as it's leaving the station and you have a runaway success. The problem begins when it becomes so mainstream that the mainstream market believes that they too can prosper from it, what happens then is that you have huge malinvestment due to the hubris of many credit institutions that release more credit into the market than can be handled. This over investment causes huge problems which develop into a bubble and can only be fixed by a correction (most economists cannot predict when or if a bubble has formed). Then you usually see a mass wipeout of mainstream investors, and then the industry that has grown up around the new innovation settles down and becomes more stable (Tech Sector is pretty hot today).

But the interesting thing that happens is that the over investment during the bubble years may have long term benefits, such as the Trillions of dollars spent on fiber optics that have never been used (And that caused Global Crossing and the like to go bankrupt) are being used by developing nations at marginal cost, helping develop huge nations and bring jobs and new businesses to the world market.

Self interest and a dynamic free market have been the hallmark of human achievement in my view. What you (and the Ralbag) are suggesting is quite vague and similar in sound to other plans that call for economic planning in the mold of an elite or some philosophy. While I agree that this cycle is quite destructive to some parts of humanity, there really is no other system out there.

And just to make a final point, it is impossible to enlighten everyone to the point that they realize that by acting in accordance with a higher philosophy when it comes to their economic affairs is the best way to go, and we must realize that having people act in their own interest has worked thus far. Whenever we don't have self interest (brilliantly understood by the proponents of private property) we have inefficiencies in the economy that cause undue suffering to the entire population.

Aren't you describing the very process I am speaking of? The spoiled children rush into a market they dont understand with as Greenspan says "irrational exuberance". Then they burn their fingers and get experience with the failure of magical thinking. Then they learn to invest based on rational factors. All I am saying is that if Greenspans were more succesfull in their Pirkei Avot like teaching the cycles of nature could be made much less volatile. This would be done through the new educational system giving people a mature sense of their true "self interest" you were writing about in your blog- not a command economy.

The Divine method for success#2

2008-06-18T15:35:00.000-07:00

This is intended as a partial response to Michael Haimson. Let me know which objections you think still stand

Intro: Dibros' need for motivation

In his intro to the Torah, Ralbag presents Torah as a divine method for success. Key to this method are the Dibros -a ten step approach to implementing the divine method in real world conditions. As Ralbag explains it, these “steps” follow a specific order-one must first liberate oneself from an opposing method for failure and then incorporate a method for success. While this explanation seems to make some intuitive sense, it also fails in an important way. The reader naturally asks himself-what exactly is the experiential basis for this approach of the Ralbag and where do we see evidence for this basis in our own lives? Surely if we were enslaved to a method for failure, the consequences should be readily apparent in our own real world experience! Only the reader who has been persuaded of the failure of his current method would ever become motivated enough to do the hard work of seeking liberation via a new method for success.

In reality this evidence is embedded in the premises of Ralbag, these merely need to be revealed. Let us begin with the first Dibrah- Lo Tachmod.

Lo Tachmod- liberation from Ego centric methods for failure

In his treatment of “Do not Covet” Ralbag identifies the root cause of failure- egocentrism. One who covets, by definition, formulates a world ordered around himself. In order to appreciate the immeasurable destructive power of such an act, we must consider the way in which success must be pursued.

Successful people, be they craftsman, professionals or whatever, succeed by virtue of planning. This commitment to planning is hard won. It is not accidental that so many businesses fail. We want to believe that our dream, beloved to ourselves is realistic, will be beloved to all and will necessarily succeed. Rarely if ever is this the case. Underlying this fantasy is a deep egotistical vision typical of a spoiled child. The spoiled child is accustomed to a world seemingly revolving around themselves. Their parents thwarted the normal emergence of respect for the power of causality and a magical sense of “planning” emerged. Since the spoiled child is accutomed to resources magically coming their way, they are insufficiently critical in their "planning". They expect a world in which desires are easily fufilled, without careful attendance to strategic causal factors.They mistake immediate gains based upon fortuitous circumstances as necessary conditions. The successful person then,is for the most part, one who has learned to forgo immature dreams in favor of well articulated plans.

At the macro level we saw this in the internet bubble.The fundamental premise of the bubble was that the internet released man from the laws of economics. The result was that the fantasy bubble burst, leaving so many businesses in bankruptcy, thousands of dreams shattered. More recently we saw this in the credit industry. Here too the false assumptions that loans could be somehow spun to poor risk borrowers, in contradiction to economic realities. The result again was that the fantasy bubble burst, leaving so many businesses in bankruptcy, thousands of dreams shattered.

It is experience of and a healthy dread for such magical thinking, the notion that one may merely dream without taking account of underlying strategic causal factors, that is the bedrock of success. The chazal crystallize this lesson into a dictum in Pirkei avot- אין בור ירא חטא- a dreamer without experience has no dread of magical thinking.

As pleasant as the tactical “benefit” coming from "coveting" may be- it comes at the expense of strategic loss. Such an act disregards much more strategic principles than the two bubbles mentioned earlier. Both the internet and banking fiascos involved disregard for market principles in specific domains-the internet and banking. The one who covets disregards a more fundamental notion- the very existence of law universal in its application to man. If one denies the reality of law, a principle equally applicable to each and every instance, in what way is rational planning possible at all? How is a mind to maintain planning if it falls prey to magical thinking in the most fundamental premise- the universal applicability of the law?

The pyrrhic victory involved in coveting then is dreadful to the experienced man. How could one not dread disconnecting oneself from the core tool in the battle against magical thinking that has been the source of all failures? It is here that we see the fundamental principle of failure underlying Lo Tachmod. To give in to coveting is to strengthen the very basis of magical thinking-the law applies only where it is useful to me personally. This principle is deeply repugnant to any practical person who has considered the root cause of failure.

The wise person is on the contrary ever vigilant to never, ever give in to magical thinking. The internet is not and cannot be a magical source of wealth outside of known market principles. The mortgage industry is not and cannot be a source of wealth outside of known banking principles.Indeed Goldman Sacks,precisely because strictly adhered to its time honored principles largely avoided the crash of the mortgage market. Warren Buffet succeeds because of legendary adherence to carefully scrutinized principles,in all times good and bad. Universality of law lies at the very core of the mind ordered to success, coveting promotes its exact opposite.

The Divine method for success

2008-06-18T09:53:00.000-07:00

Intro: Dibros' need for motivation

In his intro to the Torah, Ralbag presents Torah as a divine method for success. Key to this method are the Dibros -a ten step approach to implementing the divine method. As Ralbag explains it these “steps” follow a specific order-one must first liberate oneself from an opposing method for failure and then incorporate a method for success. While this approach seems to make some intuitive sense, it also fails in an important way. The reader naturally asks himself-what exactly is the experiential basis for this approach of the Ralbag and where do we see evidence for this basis in our own lives? Surely if we are currently enslaved to a method for failure, the consequences should be readily apparent in our experience! Only the reader who has been persuaded of the failure of his current method would ever consider seeking liberation via a new course for success.

In reality this evidence is embedded in the premises of Ralbag, these merely need to be revealed. Let us begin with the first Dibrah- Lo Tachmod.

Lo Tachmod- liberation from Ego centric methods for failure

In his treatment of “Do not Covet” Ralbag identifies the root cause of failure- egocentrism. One who covets, by definition, formulates a world ordered around himself. In order to appreciate the true impact of such an act,the immeasurable destructive power it has to the success on man, we must consider the way in which success must be pursued.

Successful people, be they craftsman, professionals or whatever, succeed by virtue of planning. This commitment to planning is hard won. It is not accidental that so many businesses fail. We want to believe that our dream, beloved to ourselves is realistic, will be beloved to all and will necessarily succeed. Rarely if ever is this the case. The economy is littered with vast numbers of businesses more than 90%, of businesses that fail. At the macro level we saw this in the internet bubble.The fundamental premise of the bubble was that the internet released man from the laws of economics. The result was that the fantasy bubble burst, leaving so many businesses in bankruptcy, thousands of dreams shattered. More recently we saw this in the credit industry. Here too the false assumptions that loans could be somehow spun to poor risk borrowers, in contradiction to economic realities. The result again was that the fantasy bubble burst, leaving so many businesses in bankruptcy, thousands of dreams shattered.

It is experience of and a healthy dread for such magical thinking, the notion that one may merely dream without taking account of underlying causal factors that is the bedrock of success. The chazal crystallize this lesson into a dictum in Pirkei avot- אין בור ירא חטא- a dreamer without experience has no dread of magical thinking.

To covet anothers house, wife or any other beloved possession is to plan one's own benefit in total disregard for the concept of man as a social being who gets benefits through intelligentally managing shared economic resources. As pleasant as the tactical “benefit” may be- it comes at the expense of strategic loss. The pyrhic victory is dreadful to the experienced man. How could one not dread reconnecting oneself to the dreaded magical thinking that has been the source of all failures?

Poor writers and active readers

2008-06-13T09:04:00.000-07:00

Regarding Matt and Rabbi Maroofs point about clarity in writing. I will attempt to zocher the point they make in connecting ideas to examples. It is in the nature of the "Rambam System" to have many implicit premises embedded in every principle. Insofar as I fail to anticipate all premises that need to be exemplified, there is still recourse for the active reader. If you recall a while back I had a long back and forth with RW on Matt's blog. It was regarding Beruria and R Meir's relationship as exemplified in accepting a harsh material condition on Shabbos. RW was a very active reader, extremely helpful in asking questions and requesting examples where he wanted them . Feel free to do the same everyone.