‘When Buying and Selling Are Controlled by Legislation…’
“… the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.”
P.J. O’Rourke
העורך Editor
The Old Way of Torah Study VERSUS the New Way
Disclaimer: The following is impressionistic, and relies on memory instead of exact references.
A student wants to improve his understanding or recall of the Torah. What should he do?
Modernity’s Advice:
Learn even harder, slow down, push yourself!, push off the distractions of marriage as long as possible, stay up all night, get enough sleep, humility (although the Brisker Rav said we don’t even know what that is), open XYZ on the sugya, avoid too many commentaries and aim for volume, learn Lishma (well, convince yourself your kavana already equals Lishma), get rid of those De’os Meshubashos (i.e., stop reading Kedushas Tzion and Tanach), do a Taanis Dibbur, talk in learning, review until you want to scream (don’t worry, eventually it becomes sweet), forget immediate chazara and learn “begirsa”, pray for a “shtella”, get a better chavrusa, get a weaker chavrusa, learn Mussar, learn more Mussar, learn even more…, switch yeshivas, write and propose chiddushim to motivate yourself, learn on Friday and Shabbos and early-morning…
History’s Advice:
Learn Lishma, Eat Chulin Betahara, cry for the churban (see this, by the way), give [more] tzedaka, first get married to evade untoward thoughts, pray, say vidduy and do Teshuva in tears before learning so one has Divine assistance (etc.), go to the mikveh first if needed, be careful about Netillas yadayim, study from books printed by God-fearing Jews, move to the land of Israel to study, study with a tune, accept Nezirus, do sigufim [pre-Ba’al Shem Tov, anyway], watch your speech, exile yourself to a place of Torah, first go to the bathroom or cut your hair and nails to rid yourself of negative “Dinim” etc., fast (for part of the day or Ra’avad etc.), uncover chiddushim to make the Torah “yours”, wear Tefillin, pray to The One who grants wisdom, say Tehillim, do a big mitzva, do chessed, pray for a better memory (אוקמי גירסא), learn with the intention to observe what one has learned, be stringent about XYZ, do some melacha, eat breakfast (B.M. 107b), avoid luxuries, avoid delicacies…
There is some overlap, clearly, but only some.
Reactionary that I am, I suspect our wise forebears were right about the teleology of holistic Torah study, sweet to body and soul alike, while we feverish moderns, aspiring Brain-in-a-vat Types are, um… never mind.
Some Jew ought to make this rigorous and write a book on this. Maybe call it:
“My Friends, We Were Robbed!”
First, Do No Harm: Keep Children Off the Internet
Some American rabbinic statements (short):
New English-Language Forum on Techeiles!
Check it out…
I understand they also have a FB group (Rachmana Litzlan!).
The Tax Predators and the Tax Prey
We already noted the gross bookkeeping fiction in speaking of federal “employees” paying taxes.
But, guess what? Some of them don’t pay taxes even nominally!
Assorted excerpts from Washington Times:
More than 42,000 federal employees repeatedly failed to file their taxes with the IRS, according to a new audit that said the government is limited in its ability to punish the cheats.
But the IRS devotes little effort to targeting federal nonfilers, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. And the law restricts how much information the IRS can share with other federal agencies, so they’re limited in their ability to prod or punish the employees, the audit found.
As of 2021, delinquent federal employees owed $1.5 billion in unpaid taxes.
… tax compliance among federal employees has been trending down in recent years. As recently as 2017, just 108,000 employees were delinquent in filing or paying. But in 2021, that rose to 149,000 cases, out of a federal workforce of 3 million.
The delinquents generally avoid punishment, the inspector general said, though the exact number of cases referred for criminal investigation was redacted in the new report.
And just 28 of the federal nonfilers were slapped with civil penalties.
Lia Colbert, the commissioner of the IRS’ small business and self-employed division, said nearly 80% of the delinquencies the audit found were “resolved” by last September.
“We identified over 17,000 repeat Federal civilian employee nonfilers who had not filed an income tax return for three or more years. Yet, these employees continued in their Federal jobs, with pay and benefits, without adequate IRS enforcement scrutiny,” the audit concluded.