[Avodah] More on Mitzvos and Iyun

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, April 11, 2007 3:08 am, Rn Shoshana L. Boublil wrote:
: There are shitot of learning that invest in the training of the mind of the
: student, in his ability to use logic and learn the meaning of the G'marot --
: but completely ignore any kind of spiritual/emotional content.  It is these
: shitot that bring about the existence of people who can be brilliant when it
: comes to understand a G'mara -- and lousy as human beings.  For them, there
: is no connection whatsoever between what they are learning and what they
: must do, how they should act.

This is what I was speaking of. What I said was that lomdus, and in particular
Brisker lomdus, has no visible connection to improving one's middos.

I did not say learning gemara in general.

Nor did I say there was no invisible connection. My point was that since the
refining impact of learning be'iyun, which today is generally used to mean
lomdus, is akin to that of a choq, how can RYGB assess its value for those
with weaker intellects?

At least with Telzher derekh, one is constantly tying law back to first
principles. One gains the tools to performing the mitzvah with more
hislahavus.

I did overstate things. The Brisker ability to find overarching principles
that unify the law, ie that pe'ulah vs chalos explains such disparate
machloqesin (that I am convinced the disputers were unaware of) shows a
cohesiveness one only finds in emes.

However, experimentally, we know many manage to leave yeshiva no holier in
personality than they went in.

Tir'u baTov!
-mi

-- 
Micha Berger             Spirituality is like a bird: if you tighten
micha at aishdas.org        your grip on it, it chokes; slacken your grip,
http://www.aishdas.org   and it flies away.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                            - Rav Yisrael Salanter