The basic structure of an authentic Lithuanian yeshiva is two sessions. The morning for what is called in depth learning of the Talmud --"iyun." That means you sit with a learning partner from 10 until 1200 preparing the material. Then at 1200 noon you go to one of the four classes that goes into the material in depth. The afternoon is for fast learning.
In both yeshivas in NY, Chaim Berlin and the Mir, many of the students in the afternoon went to Brooklyn College. The reason is that the main thing in yeshiva is the morning seder (session.)
This is a very good system except it has been largely taken over by people that use it to develop personality cults around themselves and is no longer about learning Torah.
If you are not in the vicinity of an authentic Litvak yeshiva, do not go to a phony yeshiva. Rather at home get one volume of Talmud and one book of Musar [mediaeval Ethics], and have make you own space a "Makom Torah" place of Torah.
The best choice of Musar is to have one book from the actual middle ages, like the Obligations of the Heart, and one like the Level of Man of Navardok in which there is a discussion about trust in God without effort. בטחון בלי השתדלות
[One is however required to learn a vocation. Learning Torah does not count as learning a vocation.] [I did not want to hear this while in yeshiva. I was happy learning Torah. But I have to admit that my approach was probably a little too much based on lack of awareness of the Rambam's opinion that learning Physics and Metaphysics is a part of the Oral Law. If I had known that I would not have considered learning Physics as "Bitul Torah," wasting time that could be used for learning Torah
[If you have not gone through the entire Old Testament and two Talmuds at least once then you should have set aside each day about an hour for going through them page by page word for word. Do not worry if you do not understand. What you think you do not understand goes in subconsciously anyway.]
If you are not near a Litvak yeshiva then at least get Rav Shach's Avi Ezri which is the most easy to understand approach to learning in depth. You could try to do it on your own learning Reb Chaim Soloveitchik's Chidushei HaRambam. That book is an important classic.
In both yeshivas in NY, Chaim Berlin and the Mir, many of the students in the afternoon went to Brooklyn College. The reason is that the main thing in yeshiva is the morning seder (session.)
This is a very good system except it has been largely taken over by people that use it to develop personality cults around themselves and is no longer about learning Torah.
If you are not in the vicinity of an authentic Litvak yeshiva, do not go to a phony yeshiva. Rather at home get one volume of Talmud and one book of Musar [mediaeval Ethics], and have make you own space a "Makom Torah" place of Torah.
The best choice of Musar is to have one book from the actual middle ages, like the Obligations of the Heart, and one like the Level of Man of Navardok in which there is a discussion about trust in God without effort. בטחון בלי השתדלות
[One is however required to learn a vocation. Learning Torah does not count as learning a vocation.] [I did not want to hear this while in yeshiva. I was happy learning Torah. But I have to admit that my approach was probably a little too much based on lack of awareness of the Rambam's opinion that learning Physics and Metaphysics is a part of the Oral Law. If I had known that I would not have considered learning Physics as "Bitul Torah," wasting time that could be used for learning Torah
[If you have not gone through the entire Old Testament and two Talmuds at least once then you should have set aside each day about an hour for going through them page by page word for word. Do not worry if you do not understand. What you think you do not understand goes in subconsciously anyway.]
If you are not near a Litvak yeshiva then at least get Rav Shach's Avi Ezri which is the most easy to understand approach to learning in depth. You could try to do it on your own learning Reb Chaim Soloveitchik's Chidushei HaRambam. That book is an important classic.
