[Avodah] brisk

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Eli Turkel wrote:
> Difficult is not the same as challenging. I remember once
> learning with a friend one of the modern books on hilchot
> kashrut. He gave up after a short time as everything
> seemed to be a bunch of distinct laws and it was more
> memorization than thinking.

I am *very* surprised that this was his reaction to a *modern* book. It has always seemed to me that the biggest difference between modern books and older ones, is that the modern ones tend to start from basic principles, explain how they work and their details, and then progress to practical examples. And in contrast, the older ones tend to give examples in no particular order, and expect the student to derive the principles from them.

Example: Seforim on Kashrus will first explain how Rov works, and then explain the myriad versions of "if a drop of milk falls into a meat soup". It will first how Nosen Taam works, and so on, and then tell what to do if you cook something in the work pot.

Example: Seforim on Shabbos: Rav Eider starts with each Av Melacha, then shows the Toldos, then the Gezeiros, and finally practical examples. Shmiras Shabbos K'Hilchasa doesn't distinguish that so much, but first explains everything about a Kli Rishon, then everything about Irui Kli Rishon, then everything about Kli Sheni, and so on.

Example: But my favorite example is Muktza. Any modern sefer will have several distinct chapters, each on a specific category: Machmas Gufo, Chisaron Kis, Melachto L'Issur, etc. But Gemara has *none* of that. Gemara will mention an object that can't be handled on Shabbos, and then spends a whole discussion comparing it to other objects -- objects which to *us* are clearly in an entirely different category. I find it very difficult to temporarily "unlearn" the recent categorization, but I *have* to do that or I'll go crazy trying to figure out the gemara's question.

Each derech has its own virtues. If one wants to know the halacha l'maaseh, it wil go much more quickly and easily (and less error-prone) if one gets spoon-fed the categorization and development of recent centuries. But if one wants the intellectual fight, then go to the gemara and reinvent the wheel. (I mean that seriously, not sarcastically. The more effort one puts into Talmud Torah, the bigger a mitzva it is, and avoiding the "spoon-fed" analyses of recent centuries is a good way of putting more effort into it.)

Akiva Miller

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