A small stick of wood can lite a large one. I may be a small stick of wood, but I am sure there is a large stick of wood out in the world somewhere that needs to hear what I have to say, and that is this: It is possible to go through the entire Oral Law. If possible, it is best to do this in a kind of Lithuanian yeshiva situation. But it is not necessary. You can do it at home. And after all what can you do if you walk into a or shul yeshiva and they try to convince you of some alternative doctrine that is not true and straight Torah? [In the insane religious world, shuls and synagogues tend to be clandestine cults. Or if not actual cults then at least the really evil cults spend a lot of time and effort in infiltrated legitimate places]
Not every city is blessed to have a Mirrer Yeshiva or Torah VeDaat in every neighborhood.
Last time I was in Israel I was blessed to have a nice straight Litvak Yeshiva in the neighborhood and that was a great help in my learning. That was of Rav Montag in Netivot--the city of Bava Sali.
There might be questions on yeshivas. You might have had difficult experiences in one or the other.
But I want to suggest Abusus Non Tollit Usum. [The "um" at the end of a Latin noun means it is the object.] (Abuse does not cancel use.) That is people can abuse any system even the most perfect system. So what I suggest to you is that if you have had a hard time in learning Torah you have to tweak the variables in a way that applies to your own particular situation. But not tweak variables in Torah itself. Only Torah is Torah. People commonly try to change some aspect of Torah to make it more compatible with the way they would like it to be. That advantage of the Litvak path is that there is a general understanding that only Torah is Torah and it is known that one is not allowed to change it to suit ones taste.
Appendix:
1) Oral Law means the two Talmuds, Sifra, Sifri, Mechilta, Tosephta and Midrash.
To go through it you need one fast session: read and words aloud and in order and go on. The slow one is like in any Lithuania yeshiva mainly to stay on one page for about a week and keep knocking away it it until it become clear.
2) I am not implying to minimize the time needed for STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] subjects. If you are doing this in university keep it up. The time needed for Torah in such a setting is only about two hours per day. An hour for fast learning and one hour for learning in depth with a learning partner.
As a general life plan how ever I think people should have about four years in a straight Lithuanian yeshiva anyway - at least half a day besides university.
Not every city is blessed to have a Mirrer Yeshiva or Torah VeDaat in every neighborhood.
Last time I was in Israel I was blessed to have a nice straight Litvak Yeshiva in the neighborhood and that was a great help in my learning. That was of Rav Montag in Netivot--the city of Bava Sali.
There might be questions on yeshivas. You might have had difficult experiences in one or the other.
But I want to suggest Abusus Non Tollit Usum. [The "um" at the end of a Latin noun means it is the object.] (Abuse does not cancel use.) That is people can abuse any system even the most perfect system. So what I suggest to you is that if you have had a hard time in learning Torah you have to tweak the variables in a way that applies to your own particular situation. But not tweak variables in Torah itself. Only Torah is Torah. People commonly try to change some aspect of Torah to make it more compatible with the way they would like it to be. That advantage of the Litvak path is that there is a general understanding that only Torah is Torah and it is known that one is not allowed to change it to suit ones taste.
Appendix:
1) Oral Law means the two Talmuds, Sifra, Sifri, Mechilta, Tosephta and Midrash.
To go through it you need one fast session: read and words aloud and in order and go on. The slow one is like in any Lithuania yeshiva mainly to stay on one page for about a week and keep knocking away it it until it become clear.
2) I am not implying to minimize the time needed for STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] subjects. If you are doing this in university keep it up. The time needed for Torah in such a setting is only about two hours per day. An hour for fast learning and one hour for learning in depth with a learning partner.
As a general life plan how ever I think people should have about four years in a straight Lithuanian yeshiva anyway - at least half a day besides university.
