Assessing the Modern "Yeshivishe" Approach to Torah Learning

Tractate Eruvin from the famous Vilna Shas

This Guest Post by Rabbi Boruch Clinton originally appeared on his B'chol D'rachecha site.

Despite what you might think, I’m not going to talk about the way yeshivas largely ignore Tanach or - in many cases - ignore 90 percent of whatever mesechte they’re learning. There may or may not be justifications for such deviations from tradition, but no one’s going to argue that, two thousand - or even two hundred - years ago, abandoning whole curriculum categories was the way things were supposed to work.

Instead, I’m going to discuss the dominance of the Brisker “chakira” style of analysis. I should be clear that I have nothing against the style, and I don’t deny that many people get enormous pleasure from it. My only question is whether making that our primary focus is the best use of the limited time we have available for our learning.

What’s “wrong” with the chakira method and its abstractions? I would say that it largely misses what’s arguably the highest level of Torah study: learning with the goal of positively identifying the practical halacha (שמעתתא אליבא להלכתא).

Why do I feel that שמעתתא אליבא להלכתא is the optimal learning style? Because Rashi (Bava Kama 92a) says so. And because that’s the simple meaning of this Gemara (Kiddushin 40b):

וכבר היה רבי טרפון וזקנים מסובין בעלית בית נתזה בלוד נשאלה שאילה זו בפניהם תלמוד גדול או מעשה גדול נענה רבי טרפון ואמר מעשה גדול נענה ר"ע ואמר תלמוד גדול נענו כולם ואמרו תלמוד גדול שהתלמוד מביא לידי מעשה

And Rabbi Tarfon and the elders were reclining in the attic of the house of Nitza in Lod. A question was posed: “Is study greater, or is action greater?” Rabbi Tarfon responded saying: “Action is greater”. Rabbi Akiva responded saying: “Study is greater”. Everyone responded saying “Study is greater because study leads to action”.

In other words, the true greatness of learning Torah is in how it leads to action. Or: שמעתתא אליבא להלכתא.

Why do I feel that the Brisker approach doesn’t significantly incorporate שמעתתא אליבא להלכתא into its methodology? Because the actual chakiros seldom raise questions that are relevant to practical halachic discussions and, often, aren't conceptually applicable to practical halachic rulings.

This doesn’t mean that Brisker seforim ignore halachic texts or ideas. That’s obviously not true. But it does mean that they focus on creating a new theoretical structure for the texts rather than on practical conclusions.

For whatever it’s worth, as part of a conversation I just had on the subject with Grok, the AI model estimated that between 70 and 80 percent of the chakiros in חידושי רבינו חיים הלוי have “little or no direct application to practical halachic rulings.” You can read the complete fascinating conversation here.

Why would so much of the yeshiva world adopt such a sub-optimal approach to learning? The best answer I’ve encountered came from a conversation between two older talmidei chochomim I got to observe 25 years ago. Their theory was that R’ Chaim Soloveitchik felt that the only way to prevent the brightest young students from being lost to math and science programs at top universities was to offer a similarly intellectual experience. He knew full well that the correct path to Torah greatness always starts with a solid familiarity with Shas, but he also knew that the smart youth of his day didn’t have the patience to put in the necessary years of preparation. They needed a curriculum that promised instant intellectual stimulation.

Would R’ Chaim have approved of the way his “kiruv tool” is being used today? We’ll never know. But some of the modern rationalizations for the popular approach are less than convincing.

“Our approach teaches talmidim how to learn” is something you’ll hear often. If you’d ask me, the best way to learn how to learn the right way is to learn the right way. There are no short cuts. And anyway, introducing the chakira approach (which is, to be honest, a truly magnificent accomplishment of the yeshiva movement), pretty much guarantees that successful graduates will stick with it for the rest of their lives and never move on to “actual learning”.

Why is שמעתתא אליבא להלכתא the ideal? Well for one thing, halachic observance is important. But we should also be open to the idea that the Torah is God’s curriculum for building godly personalities. And relegating practical halacha to a background role risks skewing the kinds of personalities we’re building.