Learning Torah by saying the words is brought in the Talmud as the only legit way of learning. Just reading is not thought to be in the category of learning Torah at all. אין התורה מתקיימת אלא למוצאיהם בפה
Once I got the idea from Maimonides [Rambam] about the importance of learning Physics and Metaphysics as these subjects were understood by the ancient Greeks, I began to apply the same idea to learning Physics.
Furthermore I saw in the אורחות צדיקים [a mediaeval book of Ethics/ Musar] the importance of just saying the words and going on and not to worry if I understand or not. [But combined with this one should also have a separate time to review --ten times every paragraph.]
Not that this takes the place of learning regular Torah. So what I think is that one ought to divide his time in such a way that he gets through the two Talmuds, the Midrashim, Rif, Rosh, Tur, the Avi Ezri of Rav Shach -- plus the basic set of Physics and Math up until and including String Theory.
[The importance of Rav Shach's Avi Ezri is that it is the best representation of a kind of learning that was implicit since the commentaries on the Rambam but began to be more explicit in Rav Haim Soloveitchik's Hidushei HaRambam.] That is to bring to light the reasoning of the Rambam and its place among the other Rishonim [mediaeval writers especially Tosphot.] This approach of Rav Haim of Brisk is now the golden standard in all Lithuanian type of yeshivas
[I think the idea of learning fast by just saying the words and going further was also brought down in בנין עולם a book printed in Bnei Brak a few years ago that brought this idea from a lot of great people in Torah thought.]
In the Obligations of the Hearts, [Hovot Halevavot], Rav Ibn Pakua brings the obligation to learn Aristotle's Metaphysics as necessary for Torah in his introduction [on the very first page]. But at that point he does not sound like he thinks the same about Aristotle's Physics or Biology. But later in שער הבחינה it is clear that he is thinking of the natural sciences as brought in Aristotle's also as obligations but for a different reason. The first--the Metaphysics he understands as being necessary in order to understand Torah properly. The second--the natural sciences-he understands as the way to fulfill
coming to love and fear of God.
[The fact that the Hovot Levavot and the Rambam have the same opinion here is I think because they are both depending on Saadia Gaon . ]
[If the Obligations of the Heart had been written in Christian Spain, we would not know what he was talking about. For Christian Europe only had limited books of Aristotle. But the fact that he was writing in Muslim Spain makes it clear. Also he does not mention specifically Aristotle because these subjects had been developed by later people like Al Kindi and Farabi--so Ibn Pakuda wanted to make clear he meant the whole subject matter, not just the actual writings of Aristotle.]
Once I got the idea from Maimonides [Rambam] about the importance of learning Physics and Metaphysics as these subjects were understood by the ancient Greeks, I began to apply the same idea to learning Physics.
Furthermore I saw in the אורחות צדיקים [a mediaeval book of Ethics/ Musar] the importance of just saying the words and going on and not to worry if I understand or not. [But combined with this one should also have a separate time to review --ten times every paragraph.]
Not that this takes the place of learning regular Torah. So what I think is that one ought to divide his time in such a way that he gets through the two Talmuds, the Midrashim, Rif, Rosh, Tur, the Avi Ezri of Rav Shach -- plus the basic set of Physics and Math up until and including String Theory.
[The importance of Rav Shach's Avi Ezri is that it is the best representation of a kind of learning that was implicit since the commentaries on the Rambam but began to be more explicit in Rav Haim Soloveitchik's Hidushei HaRambam.] That is to bring to light the reasoning of the Rambam and its place among the other Rishonim [mediaeval writers especially Tosphot.] This approach of Rav Haim of Brisk is now the golden standard in all Lithuanian type of yeshivas
[I think the idea of learning fast by just saying the words and going further was also brought down in בנין עולם a book printed in Bnei Brak a few years ago that brought this idea from a lot of great people in Torah thought.]
In the Obligations of the Hearts, [Hovot Halevavot], Rav Ibn Pakua brings the obligation to learn Aristotle's Metaphysics as necessary for Torah in his introduction [on the very first page]. But at that point he does not sound like he thinks the same about Aristotle's Physics or Biology. But later in שער הבחינה it is clear that he is thinking of the natural sciences as brought in Aristotle's also as obligations but for a different reason. The first--the Metaphysics he understands as being necessary in order to understand Torah properly. The second--the natural sciences-he understands as the way to fulfill
coming to love and fear of God.
[The fact that the Hovot Levavot and the Rambam have the same opinion here is I think because they are both depending on Saadia Gaon . ]
[If the Obligations of the Heart had been written in Christian Spain, we would not know what he was talking about. For Christian Europe only had limited books of Aristotle. But the fact that he was writing in Muslim Spain makes it clear. Also he does not mention specifically Aristotle because these subjects had been developed by later people like Al Kindi and Farabi--so Ibn Pakuda wanted to make clear he meant the whole subject matter, not just the actual writings of Aristotle.]
