Recently, three high school bachurim were referred to me from the same Yeshiva. They were aged 14, 15, and 17.

Although they were different grades they all shared in common that they were not succeeding in the Hebrew subjects and felt like they were pretty much wasting their time in Yeshiva. The 15-year-old boy wanted to leave to go to an out-of-town yeshiva. His rebbe had recently told his mother at parents’ evening “your son is not a genius”.

The first thing I did when each of the boys entered for his private session, carrying his Gemara, was to tell him “no Gemara today”. They were confused. That’s all they learned the whole day. I explained how first we need to check foundation skills. If a person cannot accurately read a pasuk, or translate a verse in the Chumash then there’s no point working on Gemara skills. Most students do not realize how the Gemara actually explains the Chumash.

All three boys had problems with reading and translation. I told them “no wonder you are not getting anything out of Torah study. If you build a skyscraper in Manhattan without proper foundations it will just tumble away and that’s what’s happened to you, your foundation skills were either overlooked or not taught to you and that’s why you feel inadequate, even possibly telling yourself that you are stupid”.

I believe this phenomenon is a crisis in our Torah system today. Foundational skills are inadequately taught to begin with and not regularly tested. Boys fall behind. Most of the time the institution blames the student for not applying himself sufficiently or the parents for not supporting the yeshiva. They are told, “if you do not like our approach go somewhere else”. Unfortunately without getting to the root of the problem, it will most likely follow the boys to their new yeshiva and success will remain elusive. This is a real tragedy. In my forthcoming book, I describe this crisis in much more detail. I sincerely hope the situation will finally be given the attention it deserves. The suffering of so many students could be alleviated.

In a neighborhood park on a Shabbos afternoon, I got chatting to a frum fellow, who asked me what I do for a living. I told him I am an international educator, upgrading students in their Torah studies. He was curious and requested an example. I asked him to translate the first verse in Lech Lecha. I recited the Hebrew and we went through the translation word by word. When it came to the last word of the verse אראך he translated it as: “I will tell you to go”.

“Are you sure?” I asked

“Yes,” he replied.

“Are you absolutely positive?” I asked again

“Yes”

I asked him a few more times very slowly if he was absolutely sure he had the right translation. He started to doubt himself, then he realized he didn’t actually know the translation. He couldn’t even see the shoresh (the root) of the word. He was shocked. This is a result of a very inexact method of learning where getting the general gist of the meaning of a pasuk suffices, without understanding the precise meanings based on actual grammar and shorashim. The man at the park had remained in learning until he was 28 years old. Perhaps if he had learned with true clarity he would have remained in learning for longer, I suggested. He reluctantly agreed with this assessment.

I shared the park story with the yeshiva boys in order to illustrate that their difficulties were not unique but inherent in the current system of learning we are all in. Why are children learning Talmud so young? The institutions call it “Mesorah. For the past 30 years, I’ve been trying to find the source for this way of teaching. It’s nowhere. What I did find was the following passage in Derech Hashem (part four on Torah learning):

ונמצא שהרוצה לעבוד לפני בוראו עבודה שלימה צריך

שיעסוק בכל חלקיה כפי יכלתו כדי שיגיע ממנו התיקון אל חלקי הבריאה כלה. ועל הדרך הזה אז״ל (קדושין ל.) לעולם ישלש אדם ימיו שליש במקרא שליש במשנה שליש בגמרא ובכלל זה כל חלקי התורה שיחלק בהם זמנו עד שיאחוז בכלם ולא יניח ידו ׳‎ מהם. אך שיעור העסק שיעסוק בכל א׳‎ מהם ראוי שימדד לפי מה שהוא האדם ו

“So it comes out that someone who wants to serve in front of his Creator with complete service must occupy himself with all of its parts according to his ability so that refinement comes from him to all parts of the creation. And in this light, they, may their memory be blessed, said (Kiddushin 30a), “A man should always divide his days into three: A third for Scripture; a third for Mishna; and a third for Gemara.” And included in this are all parts of the Torah – such that one divides his time until he has reached all of them. Nor should he relinquish any of them.”

The true Mesorah, as the Ramchal brings down from the gemara, is balancing study time equally between Tanach, Mishna, and Gemara. This is certainly not the way school curricula are structured today.

Several years ago I was in Lakewood and a Kollel Avreich in Beis Medrash Gehova brought his 20-year-old brother to see me. He hoped I would be able to help upgrade his skills and learning. This Kollel Yungerman was extremely impressed by my Chumash program. He took me to the mashgiach, Rabbi Salomon shlit”a, suggesting we open a night Kollel just for Chumash. Rabbi Salomon said it was a great idea. The Yungerman also admitted to me that he himself has very poor Chumash skills and could never be a teacher. He relies on his Israeli wife to help him with the translations.

This man is learning in a world-renowned Kollel and lacks basic Chumash skills.

I find that by going back to basics and building up the foundational skills, learning always becomes easier and more pleasurable for my students. I continued working with the three yeshiva boys in this fashion, building up their kriah and translation skills and their self-confidence. The 17-year-old, who had come into sessions believing he was dyslexic was already reading much better after just two half-hour sessions and no longer believed he was dyslexic. The parents of the 15-year-old sent me the following heartwarming feedback. “This is the first time my son asked me to learn with him on Shabbos. Never all these years has he asked to learn with me, it was always a fight. Not only that, his confidence seems greater. He wants to go to Sleepaway Camp. He no longer wants to go to an out-of-town yeshiva. Now he wants to stay just to learn with you. I don’t know how to thank you.”

I truly believe that if yeshivas would embrace our true Mesora, not beginning Gemara until kriah, Chumash, and Mishnayos skills are well-developed, Gemara would be less of a struggle and the learning could be the sweet pleasurable experience it is meant to be. As we say each morning “V’haarev na”. It certainly needs siyatta d’shamaya, but it also needs skills.

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Rabbi Dovid Abenson can be contacted at: Tel. 15147393629 Cell/Whatsapp 15149935300

Email: [email protected]

Rabbi Abenson is the founder and director of ShaarHatalmud, a unique yeshivah-based online program, which incorporates learning all Kodesh subjects, from Kriah up to learning Gemara, Rishonim, and Shulchan Aruch. He also conducts evaluations, remediation, and training, and consults with school principals to improve students’ underdeveloped skills