Rav Freifeld (informally known as Reb Shelomo)[the founder of Shar Yashuv] in NY was always telling me and anyone else that would listen to do review ten times. This put me in a real dilemma which has continued until this very day. I want and need to make progress. But understanding often only comes after ten times of review.
So what I tried to do was in some areas to do the ten times review idea. This was both in Far Rockaway [where Rav Freifeld's yeshiva was. I recall doing chapter 5 of Ketubot a lot of times. I do not recall if it was ten altogether. When later I got to the Mir in NY, I remember doing every Mahrasha and Pnei Yehoshua either ten or more times. I put a dot next to the paragraph to show every time I finished it. But the afternoon sessions were anyway for going fast and that it when I tried to plow through Shas with just Gemara, Rashi, and some Tosphot.
There is a lot to go into about this. But in short I have always felt this tension pulling me in opposite directions. On one hand to stay on the page until everything is clear and understood or to go on and depend that on the second and third time around it will become clear.
What I wanted to say was basically that every rosh yeshiva I ever knew and the good learning partners I had were always into the "Stay on it until it is clear." Maybe that is why they are rosh yeshivas and I am a bum.
The learning partner I had recently was even more into staying on it until every word is clear more than anyone I every knew.
So my conclusion is this: What I think I smart people are more into the stay on it until you get it. That is the reason they can stay on it until they get it. But for me this sometimes does not work. Often it happens that no matter how long I stay on something I just do not get it. So what I think is what you find in Lithuanian types of yeshivas is the right thing. The morning's should be for "stay on it until you get it." The afternoon should be for "Girsa," say the words and go on.
I have never heard of any Litvak yeshiva that did not learn in that way and I think the reason is the Roshei yeshiva in Europe discovered that this was the most effective way.
On a side note: Shar Yeshuv is a very good yeshiva. I have said this before but let me repeat. Even though it starts at the beginning level it goes up to a very high level very quickly. The present day Rosh yeshiva Naphtali Yeager is probably one of the greatest Torah scholars I have ever known and certainly is no less than the roshei Yeshiva of the Mir in NY.
So what I tried to do was in some areas to do the ten times review idea. This was both in Far Rockaway [where Rav Freifeld's yeshiva was. I recall doing chapter 5 of Ketubot a lot of times. I do not recall if it was ten altogether. When later I got to the Mir in NY, I remember doing every Mahrasha and Pnei Yehoshua either ten or more times. I put a dot next to the paragraph to show every time I finished it. But the afternoon sessions were anyway for going fast and that it when I tried to plow through Shas with just Gemara, Rashi, and some Tosphot.
There is a lot to go into about this. But in short I have always felt this tension pulling me in opposite directions. On one hand to stay on the page until everything is clear and understood or to go on and depend that on the second and third time around it will become clear.
What I wanted to say was basically that every rosh yeshiva I ever knew and the good learning partners I had were always into the "Stay on it until it is clear." Maybe that is why they are rosh yeshivas and I am a bum.
The learning partner I had recently was even more into staying on it until every word is clear more than anyone I every knew.
So my conclusion is this: What I think I smart people are more into the stay on it until you get it. That is the reason they can stay on it until they get it. But for me this sometimes does not work. Often it happens that no matter how long I stay on something I just do not get it. So what I think is what you find in Lithuanian types of yeshivas is the right thing. The morning's should be for "stay on it until you get it." The afternoon should be for "Girsa," say the words and go on.
I have never heard of any Litvak yeshiva that did not learn in that way and I think the reason is the Roshei yeshiva in Europe discovered that this was the most effective way.
On a side note: Shar Yeshuv is a very good yeshiva. I have said this before but let me repeat. Even though it starts at the beginning level it goes up to a very high level very quickly. The present day Rosh yeshiva Naphtali Yeager is probably one of the greatest Torah scholars I have ever known and certainly is no less than the roshei Yeshiva of the Mir in NY.
