Q&A: Knowing the Entire Torah
Knowing the Entire Torah
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I am at my very first steps in the world of Torah study [I am 18 years old, and my entire day is devoted to learning],
and there burns within me the desire to drink in the entire Torah, in all its roots and branches—a thing which, in my view, the Rabbi has achieved.
My question and request is whether the Rabbi could write for me something like a set of references, targets, and milestones that I should pass through in my course of study.
How should one build the foundations? Which insights and understandings are critical for building a complete structure of Torah understanding and knowledge?
For example, where would you recommend lingering and learning deeply first, and where is it better first to learn fluently and only afterward return and analyze? Which books are indispensable, and which books can and perhaps should be skipped? [I assume you will not name specific titles, but I mean perhaps a guiding principle.]
I know that my question is broad and general, and different from the usual type of questions you answer—but I long to choose for myself a straight and systematic path in Torah study, without the hangers-on of clever little homilies and distorted, unnecessary customs.
Answer
First of all, your compliments are greatly exaggerated, and that is not because I possess exceptional humility.
I have no way to map out a path in advance, especially since I do not know you. I can only say: study seriously, prepare well, and review the lectures you hear carefully (write your own notes on them, and perhaps try to work them through with the lecturer or with attentive friends), and relate to them critically (though in a moderate way, since you are at a very early stage). Try in parallel to go through foundational works in analytical Talmudic learning, Shev Shma’tata, Sha’arei Yosher, and so on, and do not occupy yourself with things other than analytical study. In general, I suggest studying according to the yeshiva’s framework and not reinventing the wheel for yourself. If you persevere over time, you will grow, regardless of the path. I think the way one studies does not have much influence. What matters is seriousness and persistence.
Discussion on Answer
1. I would recommend getting the vitamins out of the bread and the meat. 2. There is no special holiness דווקא in those three orders. 3. I have written more than once in the past that the value of broad survey study is, in my opinion, small. 4. I did not write to study mainly Shev Shma’tata and Sha’arei Yosher. 5. Your message nicely demonstrates the problem with studying some text or other superficially instead of analytically.
I am very surprised by the guidance to study mainly Shev Shma’tata and Sha’arei Yosher. Is there no need to study at least Moed, Nashim, and Nezikin in the Talmud? Would you suggest to a hungry person that he eat only chocolate before filling his stomach with bread, meat, and fish?