Allow me to expand on my comment(#3) about beginning with Talmud study with Seder Nezikin.

To be more specific, many schools start study with the 2nd Chapter of Baba Metzia, which is part of Seder Nezikin. This chapter is called Elu Metziot, and concerns one’s responsibility in safeguarding and returning a found object.

This is a mitzvah that every Jew should hold dear to his or her heart. It presents tremendous opportunity to sanctify Hashem’s name (bein adam l’makom) and to bring relief and happiness to the distraught person who lost the object (bein adom l’chavero).

To take it a bit further, I think that safeguarding one’s speech (Shmirat haLashon), returning lost objects (Hashavat Aveidah) and showing appreciation for others’ goodness (Hakarat haTov) are the very foundation of leading a “good Jewish life.” Through these mitzvot, we show concern for other people’s feelings, their property, and their time and effort on behalf of others.

To take it further still, the return of lost objects in particular favorably distinguishes the Jewish people among the nations (Mi k’amcha Yisrael, goy echad ba’aretz — who is like Your people, Israel, a unique nation on the earth.) While many good individuals of all backgrounds return lost objects, it seems to be a NATIONAL obsession with us: websites, newspaper advertising sections, and other media are devoted to the return to their owners of objects ranging from a key to a diamond.

The talmudic analysis found in Elu Metziot gives us guidance on when and to what degree we are to pursue the goal of reuniting an owner with his lost object.

There are items you are allowed to keep because the owner has no reasonable expectation of either knowing it was lost or of being concerned about the loss. There are other items that can be disposed of by the finder because they would be spoiled in the time it takes to conduct a search for the owner. And finally, there are the objects that you must make all possible efforts to return to the owner.

With this guidance, we know when to keep plugging away at this particular mitzvah, and when to turn our attention to a mitzvah that has greater importance under the circumstances.

I know that in one place in the Aggadita (non-halachic) portion of the Talmud Bavli, there is a discussion among a number of rabbonim about the importance of teaching one’s son a trade. One rav is of the opinion that not teaching a son a trade is teaching him to steal. A second rav says that one’s son should not pursue a trade but should only learn Torah. A third rav says that many tried to do so but only a few were successful. The second rav retorts to this that since a few were successful, why shouldn’t one’s son keep on learning, maybe he will be successful too. I’m sure many of the other commenters will recognize exactly where this discussion takes place.

At another place in the Aggadita, there is a statement that one who takes on the Yoke of [Learning] Torah is freed of the yoke of earning a living and of the yoke of government.

At yet another place in the Aggadita, there is a saying that math and astronomy are merely the handmaidens of Torah, and that the laws of kosher birds and the purification of women are the foundations of wisdom. (Sorry, this is my loose paraphrase of an inexact translation. But you get the gist).

Regarding the mindset that a man should keep on learning Gemara, this was the prime focus of the Bais Yisroel Torah Center on Kings Highway in Brooklyn, better known as the shul of Harav Avigdor Miller, zatzal. Rav Avigdor Miller gave shiurim on different Masechtas of the Gemara throughout the week, aside from his famous Thursday night hashkafa lecture series. I remember particularly that the shul once purchased and used a large quantity of those official United States postage stamps that declared, “Learning never ends.” Maybe the U.S. Postal Service didn’t intend it to mean the continuous learning of Gemara, but that’s the way Rabbi Avigdor Miller and his shul and his followers interpreted it.

2. Ramchal wrote two works on logic/analysis as related to Gemara study that are available with translation:

http://www.feldheim.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?item=0-87306-495-X&type=store&category=search

http://www.feldheim.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?item=0-87306-707-X&type=store&category=search

Ramchal was a master of orderly thought, and serious Gemara students should explore these works at an early stage of their Gemara study to acquire good thinking habits.

3. Those of us who lack the background, time, or inclination should study other material that is “best” for us. To make the best choice, we could use some good advice from one or more rabbonim who know us well.

That’s good as far as it goes. Then what? Well, the Written Torah is, in theory, the more direct route to that connection to the Divine sensibility, especially Chumash and Nevi’im [the Prophets]. But it is basically incomprehensible without at least the gloss of the Oral Torah.

So how do we learn the Oral Torah? We could all do worse than thoroughly to learn Chumash with Rashi, who has made such wise choices about what aspects of the Oral Torah to “bring” in his commentary that he is regarded as having done so via Divine inspiration. This would at least open up that door.

But the Talmud has been described as a unique example in world history of an entire people’s culture being memorialized in a written, portable and essentially standardized work. It is not only the distillation of the meaning of its scriptures, which in any event tell us very little about the Jewish way of life, including in halacha, that has predominated since the time of Ezra. (Shabbos as we know it could never be found in Tanach.) Rather the gemara is a reflection of the Torah’s entire sensibility, way of life and ethos.

In other words, the Sages of the Talmud are not merely transmitting or articulating the content of the written Torah. They are setting out for us the full breadth and depth of Jewish sensibility, and challenging us to “connect” with it anywhere and everywhere we are. The more of this we can assimilate, the better off for our lives as Jews.

Having said all that, I feel a need to address this “analytical thinking” idea. I have had occasion to express my frustration on a regular basis over the fact that I regularly encounter people with many years, even decades, of talmudic study behind them, and yet who are utterly unable to “think analytically” the way a well-trained lawyer does — that is, dialectically, comprehending alternative aspects of a problem, abstracting from a particular fact issue or being able to discuss an analytical challenge or posture objectively. In other words, many people can “give over” sugyos [analytical treatments of particular talmudic topics] and appear to do this, and to manipulate the sugyos (i.e., demonstrating that they are not merely memorizing) on a sophisticated level. Yet very few products of the yeshiva world seem to be able to utilize what appear to be the dialectical (or what are sometimes called “critico-analytical”) problem-solving skills necessary for such mastery to problems outside of the pages of the gemara. (Those who can do so, however, often do make really great lawyers!)

My point? I am very skeptical of the claim that gemara learning turns every Jewish male into an incisive, analytical Sherlock Holmes. For that matter, the chance of many BT’s being exposed to enough gemara as adults that it could seriously enhance their analytical ability seems low to me.

But seeing a lot of gemara from an early age, and making the effort to really engage in what you’re learning to the extent possible (hence I share the skepticism about Daf Yomi for most of us, including me), can still have very valuable effects:

(1) Gemara educates us not only in halacha, but, critically, about how halacha is made. A lot of amateur sniping about divisive or controversial issues in Jewish law demonstrates a lack of genuine insight (forget mastery, which I certainly don’t claim) into where halacha comes from and what the parameters of halachic decision-making are; and

(2) As I said at length above, learning allows us to make small but continual progress at “thinking like a Jew” — thinking like the Torah — so that the Torah’s “contents,” not only in terms of history and halacha but of sensibility, kedusha [holiness] and Awe of Hashem have some chance of affecting us and fueling our continued growth.

While studying Gemarah in depth is a lot more appealing to me than Daf Yomi, I still find it isn’t where I personally get the biggest bang for my educational buck. I like studying a particular topic (e.g. Hilchot Bishul B’Shabbat) starting from the Shulchan Aruch and then branching out both to read its predecessors (Rishonim and yes, the Gemara) and its successors (achronim including Mishneh Berurah, Igrot Moshe, and Yad Yosef).

At my age and educational experience I’m never going to be in a position to make original piskei halacha on new topics, so I don’t see why I should follow a course of education designed to produce a single gadol at the cost of losing 1000 ordinary Jews.

Now this works for me. The point is that we should be open to other forms of torah exercise than swimming in the sea of Talmud. Some people may benefit from high impact tanach study or other approaches.

Lastly I want to particularly commend Mr. Scher for pointing out that Talmud study should be the apex of our educational learning, not the start. Pirke Avos recommends studying Torah and Mishna before moving on to Gemara. Its starting age is 15 – long after most Orthodox schools for boys have made Talmud study the major part of their curriculum.

If our schools are turning out people with g’mara skills and some g’mara knowledge, but they are woefully uninformed and unskilled in learning Tanach, Mishnah, Hebrew language – then we have put the cart before the horse. Note that Hazal clearly expected someone to be well versed in Tanach and Mishna, and have strong language skills by obvious association, before learning g’mara. Over the generations, people like the Maharal decried the neglect of fundamentals in learning in favor of pilpul (associated with limud g’mara). When the gaon Rav Meshullam Roth published his ideal curriculum in Torah study, he emphasized knowledge of the fundamentals (including topics like history and poetry/piyut) before and continuing with learning g’mara and poskim. The pamphlet is called, if I recall correctly, L’amailim BaTorah.

On a practical note, if we are talking about adults, g’mara is interesting and challenging; but I’d rather see a kehilla full of people who know Tanach, Shas Mishnayot, and have a good grasp of practical halacha from the Hayei Adam, Mekor Haim, etc. Those will be more well-rounded Jewishly, and they can learn g’mara as well. But I think the initial emphasis is misplaced. I certainly think it is ridiculous, and wrong, to see 10th graders who’ve been learning g’mara for four or even five years, but have never (and may well never in the future) completed a seder (even a masechet!) of Mishna nor been through all of Tanach with even a shallow reading.

As a simple Jew, and an educator, this is a big pet peeve of mine.

Then,

1. The decisions we come across can no longer look arbitrary, but follow a pattern we can understand, within our limitations.

2. Those of us in a position to make new decisions in new situations have a means to do so properly, to the degree that we have internalized the Gemara’s thought process and information.

In learning an important subject from a text, we would not get very far if we only scanned the answers at the back and did not work through the lessons and exercises.

My question is in response to message 12.

Exactly where does the Nefesh HaChaim say:

“While one receives reward for studying Torah SheBiCtav regardless of one’s comprehension, the reward for learning TSBP is dependent on one’s comprehension of the arguments”?

I looked for it by searching on the word SheBiCtav, but because of my small comprehension, I could not find it.

If you can not find it in Nefesh HaChaim, then other Jewish sacred texts are good also.

I thank you in advance for your help in this matter.

Sincerely,
Mr. Cohen

I would love for someone to show me a Chazal that says this.

I don’t necessarily think that gemara learning is for everyone, and I certainly don’t think that the yeshiva system as it is is productive at all for the majority of people in it, but the reason for learning so much learning of gemara is poshut: it is the main body of Torah She’be’al Peh, as least the non-aggadic portion.