It is hard to know how to go about learning Torah.
There is a general principle that to know any subject even half way decently you need at least 10,000 hours.
And if you are able that is the best thing to do with Torah. Find a yeshiva that does Torah ten hours a day and do that program for four years. Then you get 12000 hours. That is not enough however to become expert. It is just to get your feet wet.But if you have that basic four years under your belt then when later you go to college and work the foundation is laid for good work.
But even with that you start your own program at home. In theory it should not be hard. You get a regular Talmud Bavli with Tosphot and the Maharsha. You have one hour of in depth learning and then the rest of the time you just plow through it. Most tractates also have some major achron (authority after the Middle Ages) on them, Like the Yadot Nedarim on Nedarim.When I was doing Ketubot there were few achronim that I used. The major one was the Pnei Yehoshua. But I was alone in this. In both yeshivas that I was at [Shar Yashuv and the Mirrer in NY] most people did not even look at achronim. They just prepared for the Rosh yeshiva's class and that was that. and in the afternoon they reviewed the class. And the classes were always along the lines of Chaim Soloveitchik.--which was kind of Rambam oriented.
But this Rambam approach seems to me to be more relevant to Halacha. I don't mean to downgrade it, but it seems to me to be different that straight Gemara learning. As for Halacha I think it is a good thing to learn. What I think is the best to get the book of Chaim Soloveitchik on the Rambam along with the Avi Ezri of Rav Elazar Menachem Shach and just go through the Rambam along with both of these two books. Then to do the Tur and Shulchan Aruch and the Aruch Hashulchan.
This is all great stuff but it is not the same as learning Gemara.
[With Rav Shach's book it is best just to plow through it straight. Not along side the Rambam.]
There is a general principle that to know any subject even half way decently you need at least 10,000 hours.
And if you are able that is the best thing to do with Torah. Find a yeshiva that does Torah ten hours a day and do that program for four years. Then you get 12000 hours. That is not enough however to become expert. It is just to get your feet wet.But if you have that basic four years under your belt then when later you go to college and work the foundation is laid for good work.
But even with that you start your own program at home. In theory it should not be hard. You get a regular Talmud Bavli with Tosphot and the Maharsha. You have one hour of in depth learning and then the rest of the time you just plow through it. Most tractates also have some major achron (authority after the Middle Ages) on them, Like the Yadot Nedarim on Nedarim.When I was doing Ketubot there were few achronim that I used. The major one was the Pnei Yehoshua. But I was alone in this. In both yeshivas that I was at [Shar Yashuv and the Mirrer in NY] most people did not even look at achronim. They just prepared for the Rosh yeshiva's class and that was that. and in the afternoon they reviewed the class. And the classes were always along the lines of Chaim Soloveitchik.--which was kind of Rambam oriented.
But this Rambam approach seems to me to be more relevant to Halacha. I don't mean to downgrade it, but it seems to me to be different that straight Gemara learning. As for Halacha I think it is a good thing to learn. What I think is the best to get the book of Chaim Soloveitchik on the Rambam along with the Avi Ezri of Rav Elazar Menachem Shach and just go through the Rambam along with both of these two books. Then to do the Tur and Shulchan Aruch and the Aruch Hashulchan.
This is all great stuff but it is not the same as learning Gemara.
[With Rav Shach's book it is best just to plow through it straight. Not along side the Rambam.]
