[Avodah] Rav Breuer's Derech Halimud: The Way of Old Ashkenaz

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, Sep 24, 2012 at 03:26:00AM -0400, Prof. Levine wrote to Areivim
[and I'm filling out the quote, here]:
> From http://tinyurl.com/9zxthee

"The article on Rav Dr. Joseph Breuer, [HaR' Levi Yosef Beuer zt"l],
that we have been writing about in recent postings, by Rabbi Yaakov Loch
[shlit"a], also discusses his derech haLimud. Here are some excerpts
from pages 41-42 to give you an idea of how Rav Breuer learned gemara
and other parts of [TSBP]."

> "Rav [Yosef] Breuer followed the derech halimud of his father, Rav
> Shlomo Breuer, who had been a close talmid of the Ksav Sofer.... Rav
> Shlomo Breuer belonged to the school of the Chasam Sofer in his derech
> halimud... striving primarily to understand thoroughly the text at
> hand.... learned with his talmidim only 'on the daf'. Never did the Gaon
> come with prepared solutions to the gemara. He never discussed only
> those parts of the daf where he had something to be mechadesh.... he
> strove for clarity in the pshat of the Gemara... He would never turn to
> the other Rishonim until Rashi and Tosafos were clear: in particular,
> he would get annoyed if one went right away to the Rambam... he eschewed
> any attempt at pilpul, and stressed the careful understanding of an
> inyan rather than hasty coverage of subject matter.

"In recent times some have replaced the above with different
approaches. But the old way still has much going for it, even without
invoking tradition, even if it seems simple and modest and lacking
the fireworks and pizzazz of some newer approaches. If more people
today would follow such a derech, we would be the better for it, as a
people. [KNLAD]."

I think that what R/D JB called "fireworks and pizzazz" R' Chaim
Brisker would have called raising the gemara to the level of rigor
and intellectual excitement that would otherwise attract bachurim
to the universities.


We discussed the curriculum submitted by Volozhin to the gov't
in 1851. My translation of R' Dr Shaul Shtampfer's Hebrew is at
<http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2012/05/the-curriculum-at-volozhin.shtml>.

I noted that they showed much more interest in beqi'us than we do today.
All of Tanakh in 2 years, 5/6 of the Mishnah, 10 mesechtos gemara, and 3/4
of the SA. And the gemara was learned with Rashi and Rosh, implying a
focus on peshat and deriving halakhah lemaaseh.


R' AE Kaplan outlined a derekh halimmud to be utilized at Hildesheimer's,
but the RBSO took him before he could implement it. He said it was deeply
influenced by R' Dovid Zvi Hoffman (the Melamid leHo'il), his predecessor
as RY at the seminary. RAEK himself was a product of Slabodka, who started
out in Telzh. RAEK Sr was niftar before RAEK was born, which is how they
share the same name. The man RAEK called "der tatte", his step-father,
was a Telzher, and his wife was raised by Telzhers as well. So it's an
interesting mix of influences that would shape his derekh halimud.

According to according to the ArtScroll book on R' Yaakov Kamenecki (pg
85), RYK said that had RAEK lived longer, the endire derekh halimud in
all the Lithuanian yeshivos would have been restructured to follow him.

Apparently HQBH wanted the rise of Brisk.

Here's RYGB's description (from <http://www.aishdas.org/rygb/raek.htm>):
    Already in 1919 Reb Avraham Elya began pondering the derech halimud
    of Lithuanian yeshivos. He felt it was necessary to put more stress
    and expand upon the particular approach developed by the Vilna
    Gaon zt"l (B'Ikvos HaYir'ah, p. 21) and Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik of
    Brisk. The underlying principle of this approach - the systematic
    application of which was to be his life's great unfinished work -
    was simple: a return to the derech of the Rishonim, from pilpul back
    to understanding (ibid., p. 163). In Reb Avraham Elya's opinion, the
    return to the Rishonim's approach began with the Gaon's, and, to a
    greater extent, Reb Chaim's emphasis on substance and understanding
    over structure and creativity. The trend among Acharonim until Reb
    Chaim's time was to resolve questions by answering them. This could
    be done essentially in one of two ways. One way is the refutation
    of the question's premise and the presentation of an alternate
    premise. The other method entailed the creation of an elaborate series
    of additional premises ("hakdamos") - not necessarily alluded to in
    the actual sugya - which would limit the application of the question's
    premise. Reb Chaim, on the other hand, did not answer questions. He
    would, rather, define the elements of a sugya conceptually, with
    such clarity and accuracy that any questions were automatically
    resolved (Divrei Talmud, vol. 1, pp. 23-24, and p. 42). Reb Avraham
    Elya proposed the systematic application of this approach to all
    of Shas. In and of itself, such a work would have been a milestone
    in the history of Talmudic commentary. Reb Avraham Elya, however,
    envisioned a much farther reaching accomplishment. Reb Avraham Elya
    set out to combine the lomdus of Eastern Europe with the scholarship
    of Western Europe. [24] He identified eleven areas of interpretation,
    explanation, and conclusion that were to be incorporated in the
    new commentary. Indeed, it is in his essay: "On the Compilation of
    a Commentary to Talmud Bavli, its Necessity and Approach" and the
    addenda to this essay, [25] that Reb Avraham Elya's extraordinary genius
    and scope is most clearly manifest. In brief, the eleven areas are:

    1) Issues not completely clarified in earlier commentaries (Reb
    Avraham Elya brilliantly leads us through an example of such an issue:
    the definition of amud hashachar [26]).

    2) Corruptions in the texts of the Rishonim.

    3) Explanations that are found in one sugya, but not in a parallel
    one.

    4) Crystallization of underlying principles.

    5) Exposure of previously unknown or little known explanations found
    in the Rishonim.

    6) Comparison and contrast of Talmudic sugyos with parallel sugyos
    in the Midrashei Halacha, Tosefta, Talmud Yerushalmi and Agada.

    7) Full and deep understanding of each sugya (here Reb Avraham Elya
    notes that the capacity to engage in this pursuit was enhanced by the
    tools introduced by Reb Chaim. He notes, however, the importance of
    reaching equal depths in the understanding of Agada, and notes his
    intention to follow in the footsteps of the Maharal in this regard).

    8) Following each sugya through to its Halachic conclusions. [27]

    9) Introduction of possible textual emendations from alternate
    girsa'os.

    10) Translations of obscure words (not necessarily foreign ones, as he
    demonstrates with an eye opening analysis of the simple word "midda").

    11) Dikduk and keria (for example, he notes, how many Talmidei
    Chachamim are aware that it is possible that the correct pronunciation
    is "kol vachomer?").

    --

    [24] He stresses several times, however, that his spirit was far
    closer to the lomdus of the East than to the scholarship of the
    West. See B'Ikvos HaYir'ah, p. 67 and pp. 208-209.

    [25] Divrei Talmud, pp. 9-88. The addenda were compiled by Rabbi Tzvi
    Kaplan from the notes his father left, and they are attempts to apply
    the principles defined in the essay to specific sugyos. The Commentary
    on the beginning of Masseches Kiddushin is particularly impressive.

    [26] R. Pinchas Kehati zt"l quotes the Divrei Talmud in his Mishnayos
    Mevu'aros commentary on the first mishna in Masseches Berachos.

    [27] Such a project had already been proposed, as Reb Avraham Elya
    notes, by Rav Kook, and the Gemaros in the Halacha Berura series and
    Rabbi Yitzchak Arieli zt"l's Eynayim LaMishpat represent efforts in
    this areas.

And his own description is at <http://www.hebrewbooks.org/38099>. But
it was converted by a R' Eliyahu Soloveichik and R' Yoel "haQatan"
(Klein?) into text, word format, in 2003. See
<http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/kitveyet/beyt/16.doc>.


BTW, anyone want to collate an organized index to the VIDC posts of 2004?

GCT!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "The worst thing that can happen to a
micha at aishdas.org        person is to remain asleep and untamed."
http://www.aishdas.org          - Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv, Alter of Kelm
Fax: (270) 514-1507
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