Answer

Hello.
I don't know that I can advise you, certainly not without knowing you. I can only tell you what I do.
 
First, typing speed is not the issue. I'm not a professional typist, though I've improved over time. The speed is in the thinking and in the relationship between the thinking and the typing.
 
By now I no longer learn without writing, in real time, everything I am learning (but that is true only at a more advanced stage, when you're no longer wasting time on the initial decoding of the text and the passage). Every lecture I prepare is written in real time, literally like an article (and is also sent to the listeners after being reorganized again after the lecture). In it I quote the relevant sources in full (usually from the Responsa Project). That organizes my thinking and sharpens the ideas.
Over the course of learning and over the years, thoughts on various topics have accumulated for me. Since these things occupy me, and since I am always thinking about what general aspect emerges from the reasoning or from the specific passage I am dealing with (and there is almost always such an aspect—this is a very important principle, to check this at every stage), the ideas connect to one another and structures are formed. So it is easier for me to put them into writing as articles. I never engage in collecting and sorting sources. All my articles are my own ideas and views, and the sources are only for support. Of course, during the writing there are always changes, and things become clearer.
In addition, it is important to define clearly the concepts you are dealing with (and if there are several possible definitions, to sharpen them against one another and write them out). It is also important to write down for yourself the various possibilities even before seeing the sources (and then to check whether they fit, whether they are incorrect possibilities, or correct possibilities you missed). If you work in an orderly way at every stage, I assume and expect that with time it will become smoother and faster. Don't despair, because there are no free lunches.
 
Ah, and as for the conservatism—you just have to work on it, and it passes. 🙂
 
Much success,
Michi
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Questioner:
Good evening, honored Rabbi.
Thank you very much for the quick reply!
I would be glad, if possible, to receive a few clarifications on the matter:
 
A. “The initial decoding of the passage” — does that mean the plain meaning itself, or understanding what the discussion is about, or the underlying principle being discussed?
[In other words: has a yeshiva student (seventh-year class at Mercaz, in my case) who reads Aramaic fluently already passed that stage?].
B. Does this way of learning with the computer also work when learning with a study partner?
How can this be done efficiently (and sensitively, etc.)?
C. In the study of Jewish law, where your room for developing your own contribution is in notes on the margins of the page,
(assuming that even if one starts from an in-depth study of the Talmudic passage, one is still bound by the Shulchan Arukh and Rema, along with their commentaries),
does the above approach still apply there as well?
 
Thank you very much!
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Rabbi:
A. Hello. I did not know where you were holding. But I meant also the conceptual decoding of the passage: what are the principles around which the discussion revolves.
B. I don't know. I haven't studied with a study partner for many years already. Maybe it would be worthwhile to set aside time after learning with your study partner for independent learning with the computer.
C. Even when one is bound by the Shulchan Arukh and its commentaries, there is still quite a bit of room to develop one's own contribution. But it is true that this is much less than in my approach.