Q&A: Methods of Study
Methods of Study
Question
Michi, greetings.
Attached. Intended for Tzohar.
I’m sure that quite a few things in the notes as well as in the body of the text will make you smile.
I didn’t have the privilege of studying Talmud with you, but I’m not at all sure that you teach in a “Brisker” way.
Do you have a defined method of study? Who are your teachers from whom you acquired, if at all, a method of learning? And of thought?
I don’t claim to be a Brisker, but there’s no doubt that an orderly and structured approach to learning—I was privileged, like a dog lapping from the sea, to learn from Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein.
Sabbath שלום,
Answer
Hello,
Thank you for the article. I too was raised on the Brisker approach, and I’m still there more or less (in my opinion, that is a vital first level, but it is equally vital to add a second, synthetic level on top of it). I don’t have one distinct rabbi, but I studied with and was influenced by many people, including Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, and even more by books (especially Rabbi Shimon Shkop, whom I’m very fond of).