[Avodah] VBM-LISHMAH -01: Why Our Generation Needs Torah Lishmah

[Rich, Joel]

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	YESHIVAT HAR ETZION
	ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH (VBM)

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	TORAH LISHMAH - A NEW HORIZON

	By Rav Elyakim Krumbein

	The htm version of this shiur is available at:
	http://vbm-torah.org/archive/lishmah/01lishmah.htm
<http://vbm-torah.org/archive/lishmah/01lishmah.htm> 

	

	Shiur #1: Why Our Generation Needs Torah Lishmah

	

	A. Contemporary Torah Study: Tradition and its Neglect

	            Our generation struggles a good deal in its attitude
toward Torah study.  Thank God, there are many who engage in Torah, but
many also question the significance of Torah in their lives.  Many feel
a sense of commitment, but there is also an overbearing sense of
alienation.  The perceived disconnect between Torah and the areas of
meaning and relevance in real life prevents students from experiencing
joy, fulfillment and satisfaction, and also diminishes from their
intellectual achievement in Torah.

	            Different strategies have been proposed to deal with
this problem.  Today, we seem to be witnessing the emergence of an
approach calling for new methods in learning Torah, specifically with
regard to Gemara.  Methods drawing inspiration from the world of the
sciences and literature have begun to spread.  Each halakhic topic is
expected, methodologically, to reveal its experiential, inner core and
philosophical depth through the use of these media.  

	What distinguishes our generation in this regard is that the new
approaches do not add a new dimension onto the accepted approaches to
learning, but rather seek to replace and supplant them.  Modern-day
teachers and students question the power of the traditional style of
learning, which has been transmitted from one generation to the next for
millennia, and prefer approaching the sources on an entirely new basis,
asking questions that have never before been asked.  Typical of this
approach is a comment attributed to a certain contemporary Rosh Yeshiva
claiming that when a generation does not study in the method that
specifically suits its needs, this constitutes bittul Torah (taking time
away from Torah study).  One would be hard pressed to find even an echo
of such a concept in earlier generations.

	            

	
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	There's a certain irony imho that this sounds like what was said
about R' Chaim ("the chemist") by his contemporaries in the orthodox
world.

	KT
	Joel Rich

	 

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