Reply To: WWRAS-What would R’ Aharon zt”l say?

@gota good point: I don’t think you have such a good point. Yes, I understand the concept of learning b’iyun. However when it is taken to an extreme it may not be the most productive way to spend the precious years in kollel. Are most of the people who are learning so slowly indeed experts in their field? After trying to see every bit of “reid” on a sugya do they really have clarity about that sugya? If they were to be tested by a posek after they have seen all that you describe could they spell out with clarity” The issues are wxyz and we pasken like x? Or is it mostly mental gymnastics where many are really fooling themselves.

Another point to consider is that when there is no set goal of how much to cover it leads to accomplishing less. Most people who learn daf yomi say the best thing about it is that it pushes them to accomplish. Some masmidim in yeshiva have that inner drive but many do not.

One last thing. Who sanctions such a pace?Is there a bona fide gadol who says it is OK to go THAT slow? Why do we listen to gedolim when it comes to irrelevant issues but not when it comes to THEIR area of expertise. Shouldn’t someone who has mastered Torah be the one to tell you how to do it?

BTW I am not writing these from mere conjecture. After shavuos I was speaking to a BMG kollel fellow in his third year in kollel. He showed me what his chaburah did from pesach until the week after shavuos. It was a total of ONE amud i.e. half a blatt. No joke. I asked if that is normal and he said that there are plenty of chaburah that go slower than that. When I said 8-12 blatt a year I was being generous.

@common saychel: the point is not to compare 2022 to 1963. I know that we are better off today. But if everyone says “how dare you to criticize the kollel system!” then indeed things will never improve.