Why are these tractates, “Yeshivish Mesechtos”?

Question

There is a cycle of tractates in the Talmud that are learned in Yeshiva each year. This is an exclusive list, where only a small number of volumes are covered in the curriculum.

There must be some reason for the choices on the list, and why other mesechtos were excluded. So: Why were those specific tractates chosen? What are the characteristics that make them fit for this list?

Answer 1

One of my rabbeim, who was a student of R' Elya Svei explained this to me as follows:

The yeshiva curriculum includes masechtos from nashim and nezikin, such as Yevamos, Kesuvos, Gittin, Kiddushin, Bava Kama, Bava Metzia, Bava Basra etc. for two main reasons:

• There are classic commentaries on Talmud Bavli, and these masechtos include more of the commentaries that are beneficial in developing a learning methodology than all the other masechtos.
• These masechtos include many sugyos that are central to the rest of shas and involve a lot of cross referencing and ideas that come up in many other masechtos.

Since the studies in yeshivos are intended to influence the way a person learns for the remainder of his life, these considerations are important in choosing the yeshiva curriculum.