Yeshivas of Modern Times

Question

I would say most, if not all yeshivas of today learn in general (and specifically the study of Gemara -- and unfortunately ONLY Gemara with little mussar, little halacha and probably no Tanach) in the way that R' Chaim of Volozhin prescribed. That most would call "iyun" or his type of "iyun". Many Yeshivas followed in this way: Slobodka, Mir, Ponevezh, Kelm, Telz, etc. Until today the similar style of limud continues in all Yeshivas (probably both litvish and chassidish.)

However to me this is quite troubling, what gave him the authority then to change the way people should learn? More importantly what gives the chachamim of our generation to continue learning in a way that goes against the gemara in Avodah Zara Daf 19 that a person should learn a lot first, then do more "iyun" later. Going against Rambam in Hilchos Talmud Torah, perhaps the Shulchan Aruch and nosei Kelim itself and for sure the Shulchan Aruch HaRav in Hilchos Talmud Torah (which is built upon what the Tur, Rambam, Chazal and others said.) Which is to learn in a way of "bekius", until one knows everything well, then later in life to learn "iyun". He even prescribes how each type of person should learn (i.e. one who can understand well, one who doesn't understand so well, etc.) Although perhaps the Litvish community wouldn't give so much thought to this I'll note as well that The Arizal, Sha-ar Ha-Mitzvot Va-etchanan, page 79 right column, writes that iyun should be only be learned an hour or two a day (and that this itself was only for the "keen minded", but those who have "dull" brains should not even devote that time to iyun.)

Perhaps my biggest question on how this started was the fact that R' Chaim of Volozhin was a talmid of the Gra who himself writes in Mishlei Chapter 6 Verse 8 (starts at the bottom of the page that I linked to) that a person should spend the first part of his life learning a lot (bekius) and then later in life spend time more with "iyun". How could he go against his own Rebbe?

How can the generations ignore what Chazal and the great Chachamim that came before us prescribed. Not to much that the iyun often or never brings someone to halacha l'maseh (practical Jewish Law) which is perhaps the most important thing.

My question is a big one, however if we'll say that this whole way of learning started with R' Chaim then I have a kasha on him, how could he go against his Rebbe, the Gra.

Answer 1

My Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Ahron Lopiansky, who is particularly well read in history, in a shiur titled Why So Much Iyun 5774 spoke out that (my memory of the shiur is not that sharp, so I may be misquoting him or leaving out a detail and suggest you see the shiur) the chachamim of that generation saw that although the method you described was the proper way to learn, it took a significant amount of time, and was very difficult to do, and they were losing boys to Yiddishkeit after they left yeshiva because they couldn't get through the "grind"/the hard part which was necessary in the beginning. (In my own words: it was like learning piano; to become really skilled you must practice arbitrary and unpleasant scales and finger exercises to no end, over and over again, and then you can start playing real songs with skill and gain musical intuition.) They couldn't handle learning the same masechta 70 times over again before moving on to the next one. So when they decided to instead focus on the most intellectually stimulating and difficult parts of shas, and delve deeply, the boys found it tremendously rewarding and "geshmak", and ultimately continued learning and living like a Jew after they left yeshiva. It is a complex thing to triage when you have such limited time, and literally a person's life is at stake. עת לעשות לה' הפרו תורתיך - "A time to act for God, they uprooted Your Torah", because that is actually what Hashem wants.

Answer 2

Sam's answer is probably the main point, but I would like to add that in Volozhin, the yeshiva pace was a daf a day, so they covered all of Shas over a seven year cycle. So their iyun pace would be today's bekius pace. If you look at Meromei Sadeh, which is the Netziv's shiurim on Gemara, you see he covered all of Shas. R' Chayim Soloveichik used to learn sixty blatt a day for himself.

In addition, many yeshivos encourage bochurim to learn bekius on their own and finish the masechta. So while the main limud is iyun, students are expected to cover ground and know more. In post-secondary yeshivos, there is an expectation that students can do this on their own or with a chavrusa without official help. (The same applies to learning Tanach.) So while the study of bekius has been downgraded (as Sam explained), it has not been lost completely.

Answer 3

My Rosh Yeshiva (R' Lopiansky) gave two more answers (in this shiur) (I have not heard the shiur in several years, so I recommend listening to the original, being that my memory may be somewhat off, and the words here are the way I interpreted/remembered them):

1. "The mind rebels" (direct quote) against illogical and unjustified facts and instructions. It doesn't sit well with us to just be told to mindlessly do things we don't understand. Having a strong background in Gemara teaches a person how the whole system of Torah and Halacha works, and whenever a person does a mitzvah it at least somewhat becomes a familiar territory, and the person now has a vocabulary for understanding new halachos/situations, etc. It goes from the realm of "this is just what G-d said" to a more sophisticated understanding. I remember there was more to this idea, but I don't remember what it was. See the recording for a richer explanation.
2. To paraphrase: to be an "educated consumer". The connection to mitzvos is much richer when there is an appreciation of how it works, where it comes from (e.g. which pesukim, is it a dirabanan, why was it instituted...), etc. This is in some ways a corollary to the previous idea, but whereas the previous idea was focused on the negative emotions of disconnection, this is focused on the positive emotions of connection.

As I said, see the recording for a richer explanation.