Studying for reference or familiarity

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asked 1 year ago

Hello Rabbi.
I am a Shiur A student in a Heder yeshiva that is considered relatively good, and I am also one of the strongest in the Iyun class. Although in terms of proficiency, I am like an average Shiur A student in my opinion – I haven’t even finished half of Shas, I haven’t finished Maimonides, Shulchan Aruch, and other basic books on this subject (not to mention how little I remember what I did learn). That’s why it feels a bit ridiculous to me to study Iyun – to spend hours on a very specific subject when there are very basic things that I don’t know. That’s why I’m considering switching to investing much more time in Iyun. I asked the rabbi – is there any point in studying Iyun when there is a lot of much more basic knowledge that I don’t know in Iyun? Wouldn’t it be a better use of time to study Iyun instead of Iyun?
(It should be noted that the plan is to remain in the yeshiva for many years)
thanks.

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מיכי Staff answered 2 months ago

I have written more than once that nowadays it is right to act in the opposite way to the Talmud’s recommendation: to the interpreter, and to the Hadar, to the Magers. Studying the knowledge does not give you much because you do not remember, nor is it very important to remember what a certain or unknown person says, and what difficulties and excuses are made. It is better to remember the principles underlying the discussion, and to arrive at them carefully. After you have theoretical proficiency, there will be a greater value in studying the knowledge, because you will be able to understand what is at the basis of the move quite quickly, even without opening all the commentaries.

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אנונימי replied 1 year ago

Can the Rabbi refer to where he elaborated on this?

Now I saw that Rabbi Ovadia in his response to Yabia says that even today Sinai is better than a sterile mountain and cites many sources for this in the latter. For example, Havat Yair (Si’ 123):
“Let him not waste his time on the divisions and acrimony of vanity that have spread in these generations in the many seasons, for woe to the choice of time, who sometimes spend most of the day on these divisions, and instead could have studied a few pages of Shas and Poskim. “

מיכי Staff replied 1 year ago

This is the method of Rabbi Ovadia and of course many others who shy away from deviating from the teaching of the Talmud. But in my opinion they are wrong. I do not look for sources because this is not a law but a guideline/recommendation, and recommendations are examined according to logic and not according to sources.