I think the Litvak approach can be contrasted with the approach of the "pursuit of happiness."
I think the Gra's approach that forms the foundation of Litvak yeshivas is the "pursuit of morality."
The fact that limiting the amount of time spent on Musar in from the European Musar Yeshiva which spent enormous amounts of time on Musar to the American version which spends much less time is more based on the fact that the amount of time does not seem to increase the effect. It is the law of limited returns. That is there is a limit of how much you can learn it per day that increases any good effect. In fact there might be a maximum point. After that perhaps learning more Musar begins to detract and start to create immorality? I think there is plenty of evidence to that fact. We all know Mashgichim [teachers of Musar in Litvak Yeshivas] are pretty poor examples of human beings. Therefore the best idea is the 20 minutes and the 15 minutes of Musar in the afternoon and evening and the ret of the day Talmud [Gemara] Tosphot Maharsha and after that the basic achronim Pnei Yehoshua, Reb Chaim of Brisk, Rav Shach's Avi Ezri.
I think the Gra's approach that forms the foundation of Litvak yeshivas is the "pursuit of morality."
The fact that limiting the amount of time spent on Musar in from the European Musar Yeshiva which spent enormous amounts of time on Musar to the American version which spends much less time is more based on the fact that the amount of time does not seem to increase the effect. It is the law of limited returns. That is there is a limit of how much you can learn it per day that increases any good effect. In fact there might be a maximum point. After that perhaps learning more Musar begins to detract and start to create immorality? I think there is plenty of evidence to that fact. We all know Mashgichim [teachers of Musar in Litvak Yeshivas] are pretty poor examples of human beings. Therefore the best idea is the 20 minutes and the 15 minutes of Musar in the afternoon and evening and the ret of the day Talmud [Gemara] Tosphot Maharsha and after that the basic achronim Pnei Yehoshua, Reb Chaim of Brisk, Rav Shach's Avi Ezri.
