Q&A: The Order and Method of Learning Talmud and Jewish Law
The Order and Method of Learning Talmud and Jewish Law
Question
Happy Passover, Rabbi Michi,
In your most recent lecture on Jewish law and reality (an excellent lecture! Thank you very much), you mentioned in passing that understanding the idea of bridge principles also has implications for someone studying Torah — in the way one studies and in the order of priorities regarding what one studies.
You couldn’t go into it there in depth, but it was clear that as a veteran student you have many insights on the subject.
For me personally, it isn’t clear what method of study I should adopt (for my own goals, of course).
If there is such a place, could you point me to somewhere you explain the different considerations involved in building what you see as the correct method of study?
If not, perhaps you’d agree to devote a post to it?
Thanks in advance,
Answer
I don’t remember at the moment anything I wrote about this. I meant something fairly simple. The goal of study is to extract the bridge principles. For example, in the Talmudic passage in Bava Batra about the presumption that a person does not repay before the due date, the point is not to clarify what the reality was back then, but rather what the bridge principle is. That is a completely different focus. So, for instance, there is no need to invest a lot of time in the bottom-line rulings (the Shulchan Arukh); instead, one should focus on the principles that lead to them (that is, the emphasis is on conceptual Talmudic analysis, not on what people mistakenly call “study of practical Jewish law”).