Learning fast

Learning fast was suggested by the Musar book the אורחות צדיקים. And that was the first place I saw it. Later when I got to yeshiva in NY I saw this idea in a different book called בנין עולם.  It was a general method of learning recommended by Jewish sages from the time of the Talmud and onward. לעולם לגרוס אינש אף על גב ידע מאי קאמר. I am the first person (I think) to apply it to math and physics.
The first time I ever did that was when I was in Beverly Hills High School, and applied this idea to my chemistry book. I just read through the chapter saying the words in order and not doing any review. I recall doing well on the test on that chapter. I  got the idea from that Musar book, Paths of the Righteous
However for a long time after that I did not learn any math. I began looking at math again only very recently when it was too late to make much progress. Still based on "faith in the sages" that the Rambam knew what he was talking about when he considered physics and metaphysics as part of the Oral Law I began again. [With encouragement of the students and librarians at Hebrew University.] [The people there were very helpful in many ways.]
[So my basic advice to use this approach to get through the entire Oral Law, the Talmud at least once, even without any Rashi or Tosphot, the whole written Law (Tenach),  Physics up until String Theory and Math up to Abstract Algebra,  Algebraic Topology, and Calculus with the Lebesgue Integral which are important for Physics.]

Music for the glory of God

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(3) The excommunication of the Gra still applies.

I suggest learning fast.
Also from the Ari [Isaac Luria, the Ari].

From the Ari: to learn every day "מקרא, משנה, גמרא, קבלה". One session in the Old Testament, Mishna, Talmud and Midrash in order.



What this means for me is  have a certain amount of books on the table to my left. Pick up one, and go through a few pages in order. Just say the words and go on. The major thing is not to repeat. No repetition allowed.
Then put it down on your right, and then pick up the next book, and go through a few pages of that one.

But besides this you need and in depth session also. That is called עיון.  For that type of learning I don't have anything to say. I did find a learning partner. But in subjects where could not find a learning partner I just went through things in the old fashioned way. In Physics and Math I did lots of problems. And when I finished the problem exercises, then I went back and did them again. That is how I did Trig., Algebra and Calculus. Since then I have mainly concentrated on fast learning in the Natural Sciences.

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Appendix

(1)In Torah learning I am not suggesting that the only things to do are מקרא משנה גמרא מדרש. That is more like an introduction. I think Musar is important also. That is to go through the basic set of Musar. That is only about five books from the Middle Ages and the books from the direct disciples of Israel Salanter.

(2) If you do  Kabbalah, it is best just to plow through the writings of Isaac Luria and the Remak. The rest of it is pseudo Kabbalah and not worth the paper it is written on.


(3) The excommunication of the Gra still applies.  Also see the Mishna LaMelech about the general status of ban as akin to what we call איסור נדר. So you can't just ignore it. That is the Mishna LaMelech  in laws of oaths. When the Rambam begins laws of נדרים  that is where you find this discussion. What he says is that we know a person can forbid his object to himself and to others. All he needs to do is to say חפץ זה קרבן עלי or to others to say חפצי זה קרבן לך or any other language like that. And even if he does not mention anything else but just this object is forbidden to me or to you that object becomes forbidden. He does however have to own the object if he is forbidding it to others. The Rashbatz and the Mishna LaMelch says the same applies to a שמתא and excommunication even of the most minor type. All the more so the an actual חרם. So the חרם  of the Gra is nothing to fool around with. This means that one that transgress this חרם is transgressing a prohibition of the Torah.


אני מציע   שיטה של למידה במהירות, ועוד דבר של האריז''ל
: ללמוד כל יום "מקרא, משנה, גמרא, קבלה".. מה זה אומר עבורי היא יש כמות מסוימת של ספרים על השולחן לשמאלי. להרים את אחד, ולעבור כמה עמודים. רק לומר את המילים וללכת הלאה. הדבר העיקרי הוא לא לחזור.  חזרה אינה מותרת.. ואז לשים אותו בצד ימין, ואז להרים את הספר הבא, ולעבור כמה עמודים.

Music link for the glory of God

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עיוני בבא מציעא 

I am putting this link here because of some spelling corrections I made to this little booklet on the Talmud Tractate Bava Metzia.

Also here is a link to the little book on Shas

Trust in God according to Nachmanides. No effort needed. The sourse of the Ramban

I think the place that Israel סלנטר saw in the Ramban [Nachmanides] that showed to him that the opinion of the Ramban that one does not need השתדלות [effort] is the ויקרא Leviticus ch 26 verse 11.

It is a known fact that Rav Israel did see this in the Ramban. He is quoted in the מדרגת האדם  as saying such. But in the actual Musar magazine that he published in Vilnius the תבונה in the musar Drasha he wrote there this same statement appears. The question has been floating around for a long time where is the Rambanרמב''ן is this statement?
People noticed that Ramban but did not think deep enough into what he is saying.
So let me say over the exact statement so you will see.
"Permission is given to the doctor to heal but not to the patient to be healed. " That is  after the patient comes to the doctor, the doctor can assume that he has done this before so he is not among those who trust in God and then he can heal him. But the patient has no such permission. He is supposed to trust in God." There is no way to explain this Ramban except the way Israel Salanter did, that one does not need השתדלות effort.

It is known that the Obligations of the Heart disagrees with the Ramban. But it is hard to know exactly what he means.

King Asa he wrote trusted in God and the doctors. So it seems if he had trusted in God alone but still gone to doctors  that would have been OK.

I think the  Musar approach of Israel Salanter is very important. That is to learn the traditional books of Medieval Ethics. Yet I find it difficult to find any argument to make for it. But if I could I would. It is more like an intuitive thing.



This refers  to Christians also. There is nothing quite like the books of personal ethics from the Middle Ages.  Christians could take for example the books of the mystics from Spain and make their own version of the Musar movement. That is not the same as learning theology. It means having something like a בית מוסר "a House of Musar." Or a "House of Ethics." The idea would be to have  room in which there are only books of ethics and fear of God. I am not familiar with what books are available to Christians in this fashion. The only ones I know about are of Saint John of the Cross. And the idea is not to have a reading room. It is to learn these books out loud and with emotion so that the message gets absorbed into the subconscious.

There is no way for Judeo -Christian civilization to survive and flourish without this. Because it is the ethics and the fear of God which makes Judeo-Christian civilization what it is.

Now I admit that just learning books of ethics does not automatically make one ethical. But you know when you encounter a person whose learning consists of the Duties of the Heart  or some book of the disciples of Israel Salanter that you are going to be treated on a whole different level of decency than when you met someone who learning consists of other kinds of religious learning. There is in fact nothing like Musar to imprint morality into people. And unless you think of yourself or others as being automatically moral then clearly this is a desirable goal.