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22.8.15

Once you can learn even one 1/2 a page of Gemara with Tosphot and the Avi Ezri then you have graduated. You now can be called a person that "knows how to learn." At that point you can take any Gemara and any halacha anywhere and know how to analyze it.

If given a small amount of time for learning Torah, I usually try to learn Tosphot. And this is what I think would be a good idea for others also. There might be several reason for this but one clear benefit is that without Tosphot people don't understand the Gemara itself. That is they imagine they understand. It is not just the Gemara, but halacha also. There are people that think that they can know halacha without understanding  the actual Gemara from where the halachah is derived. This is more common than you would think.
Doing one page of Gemara for a week or two with every Tosphot is in fact a good way to understand what Torah is about.

And if you have done the Gemara well then next step is the learn the Rambam with Rav Shach's Avi Ezri If you have done this thoroughly on even one 1/2 a page of Gemara then you will know how to learn a lot better than those that just skim  and call it "learning."

Also this would help to have good idea of what the Torah is saying about the particular subject you are learning.

Once you can learn one sugia [subject] properly, then you have the ability to do every subject.

What I am saying is in in fact an amazing idea. It is this. Once you can learn even one 1/2 a page of Gemara with Tosphot and the Avi Ezri then you have graduated. You now can be called a person that "knows how to learn."  At that point you can take any Gemara and any halacha anywhere and know how to analyze it.


This works for anything. If you want to know what the Torah says about homosexuality this is simple. You find the Mishna and Gemara that deal with this in כריתות. And then you learn the Avi Ezri of Rav Shach on that Gemara and you will know how the Torah looks at this. Furthermore I would suggest that until you have learned the subject from the standpoint of the Torah then you should withhold an opinion. I have heard people say things in the name of the Torah when it si clear that they had not learned the subject properly.