The public can't know what I mean by "yeshiva" [a Lithuanian Yeshiva] and my questions about it because they have no frame of reference.
So at least for background information let me try to explain what it is so you can at least understand when I bring up the subject what I am talking about.
You have a university in town. You know what that is. But imagine your university was not just for people between ages 18 to 24 or so. Imagine that there were signs all over your town come to university. And you would walk in and there would be a gigantic study hall of people of all ages learning Torah with a learning partner.
You know what a meme is. It is a unit of social information. It is what unites a group. A common set of closely held beliefs. You know what that is because the USA used to be united by this common set of beliefs--the Constitution.
But what if you had a different community that held from neither. But rather its social meme was the Torah--the written and Oral Law.
And this community has no recognized authority except the Torah itself. Full stop. And anyone can challenge the leaders any day of the week by simply opening up a Talmud and showing that the leader made a mistake, and then there is no question that the Talmud would be followed, and the leader himself would admit his mistake.
And this study hall is the center of gravity of the community, but the community does not just learn Torah. It keeps Torah;-- and everyone gets married. This fellow marries the daughter of some other fellow etc.
No one is left out.
Now you know what a yeshiva is.
It sounds neat. And it is neat
So you might wonder how in the world could have I have questions about such a wondrous thing?
It sounds like the best thing to come to planet Earth. My questions are mainly about what are called out of town yeshivas. [Out of town is a phrase to refer to anything outside NY State lines.]
So now if I have complaints you will know what I am referring to. I would not dare complain about the Great NY yeshivas or Bnei Brak's Ponovitch.
So at least for background information let me try to explain what it is so you can at least understand when I bring up the subject what I am talking about.
You have a university in town. You know what that is. But imagine your university was not just for people between ages 18 to 24 or so. Imagine that there were signs all over your town come to university. And you would walk in and there would be a gigantic study hall of people of all ages learning Torah with a learning partner.
You know what a meme is. It is a unit of social information. It is what unites a group. A common set of closely held beliefs. You know what that is because the USA used to be united by this common set of beliefs--the Constitution.
But what if you had a different community that held from neither. But rather its social meme was the Torah--the written and Oral Law.
And this community has no recognized authority except the Torah itself. Full stop. And anyone can challenge the leaders any day of the week by simply opening up a Talmud and showing that the leader made a mistake, and then there is no question that the Talmud would be followed, and the leader himself would admit his mistake.
And this study hall is the center of gravity of the community, but the community does not just learn Torah. It keeps Torah;-- and everyone gets married. This fellow marries the daughter of some other fellow etc.
No one is left out.
Now you know what a yeshiva is.
It sounds neat. And it is neat
So you might wonder how in the world could have I have questions about such a wondrous thing?
It sounds like the best thing to come to planet Earth. My questions are mainly about what are called out of town yeshivas. [Out of town is a phrase to refer to anything outside NY State lines.]
So now if I have complaints you will know what I am referring to. I would not dare complain about the Great NY yeshivas or Bnei Brak's Ponovitch.
