I originally thought to suggest we take on something more “current” perhaps something for the 3-weeks.
But I reconsidered and decided to share with you a part of a letter I wrote to a friend in Chinuch, who asked for my thoughts on dealing with the current situation.
I note that this is only a small part of a much longer letter – which I am not sharing – as Bochurim need to follow the guidance and Seder of their current Hanhola, and, if at all in conflict, my thoughts will be out of place.
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[…]
After discussing the above, I hope you will not be upset if I take issue with one point you mentioned often in your letter.
That is; of your concern that “the Bochurim will fall behind”.
My question to you is: Fall behind what?
To fall behind, does there not have to be a goal?
From my own Shlichus, I know that to do what the Bochurim need from us for the next year, we still need to raise $100,000 by Rosh Chodesh Elul. To acheive that, I have a plan of how much I need to raise each week. And the implication of my falling behind (as seems to be the case at the moment) will mean we won’t be able to help as many Bochurim as need us.
That will justifiably be called “falling behind”.
But isn’t learning different?
Is the goal of learning not the learning itself?
If so, how can a Bochur fall behind, if the moment he is back in Yeshiva learning he is back to his actual goal? Learning and understanding to the best of their current ability.
[The Mitzva of Limud Hatorah is to understand to the best of one’s current ability… being six months behind where they may have been had there not been a worldwide epidemic, is very different to saying that they have actually fallen behind…]
As discussed above, I agree with you fully that we need to ensure that our boys do not become “rusty” as they say. A point you also need to be very careful to ensure is that the Bochurim with specific academic challenges don’t regress, but that is not the discussion we are having here.
This notion of “falling behind” is an academic term which only applies if the end goal is graduation, or if there is an absolute need to know a certain amount of knowledge within a certain time frame.
In our case, however,
What would happen if the Bochurim were to receive this knowledge six months later?
This notion of “falling behind”, besides giving Bochurim a distorted view of the real goal, adds unnecessary pressure to a boy learning something, which by definition, the moment he is learning, is not “behind”.
We don’t have a “system” and we don’t graduate! Subsequently, we don’t fall behind.
Our goal is to imbue our Talmidim with a love for Torah!
To do that, we help them find their niche; we ensure they have the skills/tools; we teach them how to translate, and think, and ask, etc. etc. and; we imbue them with such a love for learning, that that even once they leave the four walls of Yeshiva, get married, build a family, and spend so much of their time making ends meet, they still have a love for Torah and continue the fill their minds with g-dly wisdom.
[…]
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I hasten to add: it goes without saying that in order to succeed in anything one needs to set goals, and do all in their power to reach them. This letter was in regard to the current situation, where the shut down compelled to alter our usual goals, and focus on our priorities.
Some of us have Boruch Hashem managed to go back to Yeshiva for the next few weeks, for others the Zman (such as it was…) is about to end.
May I perhaps suggest that instead of taking on something new, perhaps we instead take in to learn the first five אותיות of ביאור לא תשבית in ליקוטי תורה reminding ourselves why we learn, and think about ה’ אחד, and love He whose Torah we learn.