The argument for learning Musar is that it is hard to know what is "Daat Torah" without it. [That is to say that the idea of learning Musar depends a lot on the idea that the Rishonim [Mediaeval Authorities] understood Torah better than we do. And this principle to me seems clear even though it sees to be in danger of being forgotten.

And even if you have learned much of Shas {the whole Gemara} and Poskim [the mediaeval authorities that dealt with the Halacha] still to understand the world view of Torah can be difficult.

To me this all seems simple, but I have a hard time of conveying this message to people. I often go to the Na Nach place nearby and I can see the importance of Rav Nachman,  but why is it that some people do not see or at least emphasize the fact that Rav Nachman himself is building on the Rishonim? He is not coming up with a new Torah but rather deepening our understanding of Torah. (But to learn the books of Rav Nachman without Musar seems to me to bring about misunderstandings.)

 

 

 

 Rav Nahman of Breslov warned about doctors in the Conversations of Rav Nahman  and this theme comes up in the LeM (his major work) also. So it did not occur to me to listen to doctors about the vax. I start out with the assumption that what ever in on the market should not be trusted until 5 years have passed and all the quirks have been ironed out.

 I have thought about the Mirrer Yeshiva in NY and Shar Yashuv in Far Rockaway and realized that it is highly  unlikely I would have come to any understanding of Torah without hearing classes from the great roshei yeshiva in these two places.[Rav Shmuel Berenbaum and Naphtali Yeager] since I can see the same thing when I learn Physics. There is only so much I can get by reading. Without hearing from an expert is like trying to learn how to play the violin from a textbook.

And in the Middle Ages this was also understood--that for any discipline, whether shoe making, or painting or boat making, one needed to learn from an expert.

So what was the question of the Gra about the creation of a "yeshiva" as a seperate institution from the rav of a city? I can imagine the issue was that he saw the future abuse that this would cause. Still, one way or the other it is clear that Rav Chaim of Voloshin decided that it is important --even if we do not know if the Gra agreed or not. [There are two versions of the story.]