Q&A: Studying tractates that relate to practical Jewish law
Studying tractates that relate to practical Jewish law
Question
Hello and blessings, Rabbi.
I’m a working layman, and I have a little over an hour a day that I can invest in Torah study. I wanted to know whether, in your opinion, there is a preference for studying tractates that relate to practical Jewish law—Sabbath, Berakhot, and the like. I should note that I am not fully proficient in the laws of Sabbath, for example, or whether there is no preference and no problem at all with studying more analytical tractates from the orders of Nashim and Nezikin.
Answer
There is no connection between the two things: you need to know Jewish law, and you also need to engage in Torah study. Study itself does not distinguish between topics that are practically relevant and other topics, but knowledge of Jewish law obviously does. If you have time to engage in both, do so. If not, then perhaps it is preferable to study topics that are practically relevant, because then you gain both things.
There is a famous story about a certain layman who came to Rabbi Israel Salanter and asked him: since he had half an hour for study during the day, should he study Talmud or ethics? Rabbi Israel Salanter answered him that he should study ethics—because then he would discover that he has more than half an hour a day for study.
In any case, fortunate are you that you have merited an hour of study. And in my humble opinion, you should try to combine both, and especially to study toward practical halakhic conclusion.