A Letter to My Son as he Begins to Learn Gemara

[This is not an actual letter I’m giving to my son. It’s the means through which I am sharing some personal thoughts. Not that I would not want him to see this. I expect that at some point, we will discuss many of the topics included in this “letter”.]

Dear Ashi,

For the fourth and final time, I attended a program celebrating your taking your next step as you develop as a Jew and a learner of Torah. Unlike the first three times; when you got your siddur, received your chumash, and began learning mishna, each of which filled me with joy, this past Sunday’s program, marking the beginning of your gemara learning, left me with mixed feelings. I’ve been thinking about the reasons why, and I’d like to try and explain.

As I listened to the various speakers, and watched you and your friends, I began to think about what lay ahead. Whereas when it came to davening, and learning chumash and mishna I had a pretty good idea that the experience would be a pleasant one, something I’ve since seen confirmed, with gemara, I’m a little afraid. Not, God forbid, because you are not intelligent enough. It’s davka your intelligence which makes me concerned. I find myself wondering how you will do with a curriculum which is overwhelmingly focused on gemara, to the exclusion or limitation of chumash, nach, halacha, and hashkafa/philosophy. I particularly wonder about this, knowing that you are likely to learn little, if any, aggadeta in any yeshiva. Will you be motivated to progress in these areas on your own? Might you start to think of these areas of Torah as being irrelevant to you as a Jew, or think they are meant “only” for girls?

Of perhaps greater concern is whether you will find this learning to be religiously satisfying. I’ll tell you the truth. Although I teach gemara, and love learning it, it is not in gemara where I find the most religious meaning. For me, a serious Ramban on the chumash, a beautiful and profound chassidic idea, and a slow tefilla are some of the places where I find sipuk hanefesh. Of course, that doesn’t mean that you will have the same experience. Still, I wonder what happens if you are spending many hours a day on gemara and you don’t find it sufficiently connects you to HaShem.

Finally, as you heard from some of those who spoke, gemara is very challenging. There’s no punctuation, or nekudos, and much of it is in Aramaic. On top of that, the topics and discussion can often be very technical and challenging. In fact, until fairly recently, it was fairly rare for anyone to learn gemara at all. With your sensitive neshama, I wonder what will happen when you see some classmates who can’t keep up. I’m sorry to say, too often, those boys often feel like failures, and express their pain in all sorts of ways. I hope you’ll remember that each person has tremendous value in the eyes of HaShem, and remember that inside every one of these boys, there is a pure and holy neshama. Although I don’t expect, you might struggle as well. Remember to apply these same ideas to yourself.

Of course, at the same time, I’m excited for you. In just the last few days, I’ve already seen how excited you are to be learning gemara. I know you are in a wonderful yeshiva, and it was quite clear on Sunday how much energy your rebbe has, and how much he cares about each of you. I look forward to many wonderful days of learning with you. I just want to make sure you know that gemara is just one part of the Torah, and that there are many ways to experience God’s closeness and love.

Abba

The Chinuch Our Boys Deserve- Creating a better Torah curriculum for boy's yeshivas

[The following is about boy’s chinuch in more yeshivish type schools. I have written elsewhere about chinuch issues for girls, as well as chinuch in Modern-Orthodox schools.]

I have a great idea. Let’s have all of our boys start studying ancient Chinese legal theory, in Chinese. They’ll start in 5th grade. No, better yet, 4th grade. Within a few years we will add study of some of the basic ideas of Chinese legal theorists from the middle ages. Once they master that, by, let’s say 8th grade, we can throw in some later more complicated theorist’s works. The goal is that all of our children will ultimately get PHDs in ACLT. With enough effort and help from Heaven, we can do it.

Okay, maybe not, but how is it any more reasonable to suggest that all of our boys start learning gemara as young as 4th grade, without having mastered Tanach, mishna, or basic Hebrew? How can we put them in classrooms where they try to understand Tosefos, when it was written and intended for those who had mastered shas? Was Rebbe Akiva Eiger writing for 9th graders? Please don’t respond by citing tradition, as the idea of universal gemara learning for boys is less than 50 years old. The midrash talks of only one percent of boys who started off with Tanach moved onto gemara (Elef nichnas l’mikra...eser nichnas l’talmud). A mishna in Avos suggests that hascholas gemara should happen at age 15, and the gemara, later echoed by the Maharal and Meharsha, among others, suggests that the way to master gemara is to first cover ground without going into depth, and only then move on to sevara (ligmor v’hadar lisbor). How can we who so often take the words of Chazal so seriously ignore them when it comes to the chinuch of our sons?

Having spent more than 15 years in chinuch, I have seen too many of the korbanos of this system. Boys who think they can’t learn Torah when they haven’t been exposed to most areas of Torah, including Tanach, machshava, Jewish history and more. Boys who might have succeeded at learning Gemara had they started at an age when they were cognitively ready, instead of being turned off by their “failure” to understand at an age when they should have been learning something else. 4th graders who have already shown that they have learning issues including ones connected to a second language, who are pushed to learn a complex topic in a third language, with no other educational options until they reach high school. Grown men, including rabbis, who lack familiarity with basic works of Jewish philosophy, or a sophisticated approach to learning midrash.

So what do I suggest?

All boys should cover all of Chumash by the time they finish 8th grade. Initially, they will begin with Rashi, but by 6th or 7th grade other mephorshim should be introduced. This will introduce boys to the concept of machlokes and that there is more than one way to read a text. It will also introduce important concepts from Jewish thought. Nach should be taught as well, at least on the level of peshat, and, if we want to help boys become better at davening, Tehillim should be taught and analyzed.

Mishna should not be treated as gemara for dummies, but it can and should be used as an introduction to Torah She’B’al peh. In addition to introducing important concepts from the world of halacha, it is a good text for introducing gemara-type analysis in a language with which the boys are somewhat familiar. Additionally, it has nekudos, something that gemara does not, and does not have the challenge of being overly complex or analytical.

Yeshivas should start gemara later. Personally, I would suggest the beginning of high school as a good time to start, but I recognize that that will be too radical for most yeshivahs. At the very least, I would recommend holding off until 7th grade, and then, only for those who have shown mastery of the other parts of Torah. Even then, it should be recognized that truly understanding gemara and Rashi is no small thing, and might be the point where many boys will stop. An emphasis should be put on skills; both reading and analysis, and not just memorization. Additionally, aggadeta should not not be skipped, and should be taught with seriousness and rigor.

For those for whom gemara is too challenging for any of the possible reasons I mentioned above, there will be other options. In addition to continuing with, and mastering mishna, halacha can be taught as well. I do not mean by going through a text like the Kitzur (personally, I prefer the Chayei Adam), but by showing how halacha develops from passuk or gemara, to halacha l’maaseh. This would include the learning of some gemaras, but without the usual gemara-style learning.

Machshava should be introduced by high school. Age appropriate texts and concepts should be used with an emphasis on essential topics like tzaddik v’ra lo, schar v’onesh, teshuva, olam haba and so on. Jewish history should be taught as well. It is an interesting and important topic and can be used to emphasize the Yad HaShem that has allowed our people to live and thrive.

I do not suggest that the current system is not working for everyone. Boys who have the ability to sit for long periods of time, as well as interest and ability in complex and nuanced topics, but they are a minority. It is time to provide all of our boys with a Torah education that works for them.

Post by Pesach Sommer.

Gemara, God and Goals

“If you want to know the One who spoke and the world came into being, study aggada”.

Sifrei Devarim 49

“Where can God be found? Wherever we let Him in”.

Kotzker Rebbe

I remember the day well. I was teaching gemara to one of the strongest classes I had ever taught. It was going extremely well. One student, of whom I was very fond, who was not always involved, was really into it. Still, I was dissatisfied. Braking the page (to borrow a term from theater), I turned to him and asked “Does this feel at all like a religious experience?”. He said that it did not, and we went back to learning. It is one thing to be unhappy when a class is not going well, but here I was suddenly unhappy with one that was quite good.

For a long time, it has seemed to me that rabbeim mistake successful learning of gemara, as a sign that the student has been motivated religiously. If we think about it, learning gemara well and religious motivation are two totally separate things. The possibly apocryphal tales of the maskil who sat learning gemara on Shabbos, while smoking a cigarette, highlights this idea. For those with an analytical bent, learning gemara is very engaging. A judge once told my father OB”M that the best preparation he had for a career in law, was learning gemara. One can get lost in the brilliance of the page without thinking of God even once. She can be so engaged in the details of the mitzvah, that she never thinks of the Metzaveh.

So what is the solution?

Strangely, it's right there in the very text of the gemara. Sifrei, a halachic work, tells us that if one wants to encounter God (interestingly, described as “the One who spoke and the world came into being”), should study the non-halachic, philosophical teachings of the gemara called “aggada”. This is not to deny that for some God is in the halachic details. It is saying that there is a second side that must be learned to encounter the Divine.

Of course, as anyone who has ever been in a gemara shiur from beginners level to the highest beit midrash knows, aggada is either skipped, or read through perfunctorally, without any attempt at a deeper understanding. Even if one would seek to justify this approach, by an appeal to tradition, it is not a very satisfying answer. Historically, those who learned gemara were highly motivated religiously, and often lived in a world that challenged their beliefs much less than ours does today.

It seems to me that a big reason for the lack of systematic study of aggada is a lack of knowledge and thus, comfort. Most teachers of gemara have never learned aggada in a sophisticated manner. As such, it's hard to imagine them teaching it to their students. Fortunately, there are many great resources available. Rav Kook has a peirush on the aggadot of Masechtos Berachos and Shabbos called “Ain Ayah”. It is deep and beautiful, and unlike some of his other writings, it is not flowery and is thus, more easily understood. Rabbi Yitzchak Blau has written deeply, in English, about many aggadot, some of which can be found online.

We can not bemoan the lack of religious motivation among our students and children (or ourselves ), if we do not work to change the situation. There are those who bemoan the lack of God's presence in public school. We must be sure that the same can not be said about our yeshivahs. It is time to learn aggada.

Gemara II- Is Gemara ONLY right for anyone?

Let's pretend for a moment that we know how to teach gemara; both in terms of reading and analytical skills. Let's further pretend we have the right people in our classes and the right rabbeim teaching them. Even if that was the case, would it be proper to have a gemara only Torah curriculum?

“All Torah that does not have with it (include within itself?) derch eretz, in the end will come to nothing.”

Pirkei Avos

“If he merits it, the Torah he learns is an elixir of life, if he does not merit it, it is poison”.

Yoma 72b

At first the second half of this statement seems strange. Can the Torah one learns ever be poison? I can understand if the implication is that not following the laws of the Torah can be deadly, but Torah itself? Somehow, it seems that Torah learning can lead to a negative outcome. Let us try and discover how this might be so.

When I was looking for a yeshiva high school for my oldest son, I was troubled to discover that all of the yeshivahs I considered, more or less, had no other limmudei kodesh other than gemara. Sure there was a smattering of halacha in a few, while others had weekly parsha quizzes based on the boys going through parsha at home, but the strong majority of the time involved learning gemara. No real Tanach, no machshava, and, perhaps most disappointingly of all, no mussar (I do not, of course, refer to mussar schmoozen about why “goyish music” is bad, and the like. Sadly, there's plenty of that. I refer to the uplifting mussar of Slabodka). Could anyone but the most committed Brisker really believe that there is no need for mussar? Post-high school the situation is even more bleak as yeshivahs essentially become gemara factories.

I would be scared to make my next point if it it was not based on an idea of the Vilna Gaon. The GRA famously compares Torah not learned lishma (however one defines that loaded term) to rain. Just as rain makes everything grow, flower and weed alike, Torah, when not learned lishma, makes good people better, and bad people worse.

I have met many products of the best yeshivahs. Some, are among the most decent, mentschlich and kind people I know. Sadly, others are just the opposite. Can anyone who has seen the almost weekly barrage of negative headlines over the past year involving men who learned in yeshiva, claim that Gemara only is transformative? I have seen two many examples where a “gemara kup” not tempered by mussar, has led to justification of abhorrent behavior.

It pains me to write these words, but I feel that I have no choice. Even if Rav Chaim was correct in his assertion that mussar is like medicine and only the sick require it (said to explain his rejection of mussar for his yeshiva), are we as healthy as we think we are?

On the teaching of Gemara- Where we've gone wrong and should girls learn gemara

“The way of the world is that 1000 enter for mikra (Tanach). From these, only 100 go forth and study mishnah. Of these 100, only 10 go forth for gemara, and of those 10 who enter gemara, only one goes forth for hora'ah."

Vayikra Rabbah 2:1

The question is often asked whether girls should be learning Gemara. Let's be honest, as with other issues in Judaism, this question is essentially a Rorschach Test. The answers run the gamut from categorically forbidden, to permitted, to required. Modern rabbinical leaders including Rav Yaakov Weinberg, Rav Yoseph Dov Soloveitchik and the Lubavicher Rebbe ZT”L have, to one degree or another, ruled permissively. To me, this is not the proper question. I am more bothered by the question of whether boys should learn gemara.

Anecdotal evidence, as well as questionnaires, have shown that for students, both in the US and Israel, gemara is often the least popular “subject”. While there are many ways one can explain this fact, one thing is clear from Chazal, our history and common sense; gemara learning is not for everyone.

While the above mentioned quote has been (mis)used by Rabbi Dessler to justify the curent yeshiva system, it does anything but that. While it suggests that everyone has Torah which they can (and should) learn, only 1% of those who who start are cut out for gemara learning. While Tanach is for everyone, and mishna is still for a small but significant minority, gemara is not.

Historically, even in the so- called glory days in Europe, there were few men who went on to study gemara. It was recognized as being for an elite.

Finally, just as we recognize that higher level math is not for everyone, gemara which involves the need to think analytically about complicated topics, while making a sense of an unpunctuated text, which contains two non-native languages (one for those in Israel) is not for everyone.

So why do we keep pushing gemara for all boys in yeshiva?

• Fear- Since everybody does it, we don't want our yeshiva to be different.
• That's the the way it was always done- Except, it wasn't.
• The American public school system pushes the idea that all subjects are for all kids. - As much as we might pretend that we are not influenced by the “outside world”, we are.
• When the current yeshiva system emerged, it was thought that gemara learning would help hold onto kids who might be led astray from Judaism if they didn't see that Torah study is rigorous and demanding. - Even if we assume this was correct, the exact opposite is true. Gemara for everyone is pushing many boys away from observance.

So should girls learn gemara? The answer is the same as to the question “should boys learn gemara?” If they want to and are capable of doing so.