How do we learn? And how do we teach? These two related
questions are not just matters of pedagogical curiosity. They address the
fundamental issue of how any society—and particularly one that recognises the importance
of learning for its own sake—pass its customs, its rules and its values from
one generation to the next?
Many mishnayot in Avot touch on this issue and it would serve
little purpose to list them here without detailed discussion. But since there is
no mishnah in Avot that explicitly asks and answers these questions,
commentators—many of whom have strong opinions on the topic—hang their comments
on whatever Tannaic peg they can.
An example of this is Rav Yaakov Hillel’s treatment of Avot
2:2 in Eternal Ethics from Sinai, which opens with the following teaching of Rabban Gamliel ben Rebbi:
יָפֶה
תַּלְמוּד תּוֹרָה עִם דֶּֽרֶךְ אֶֽרֶץ, שֶׁיְּגִיעַת שְׁנֵיהֶם מַשְׁכַּֽחַת
עָוֹן, וְכָל תּוֹרָה שֶׁאֵין עִמָּהּ מְלָאכָה סוֹפָהּ בְּטֵלָה וְגוֹרֶֽרֶת
עָוֹן
Beautiful is the study of Torah together
with a worldly occupation, for the effort of them both causes sin to be
forgotten. Ultimately, all Torah study that is not accompanied with work is
destined to cease and to cause sin.
This is the platform from which Rav Hillel launches his
thoughts on the learning process. In the course of this review he emphasizes
the paramount importance of learning Torah. He also discusses the balance to be
struck between supporting oneself, accepting support from others and dedicating
oneself to Torah study, before taking a close look at the methodology of
learning itself.
Rav Hillel points out that learning is not a homogeneous
concept. Essentially it embraces four activities: gaining information, understanding
it, analysing it and ultimately creating it. The sequencing of these four
elements may vary in time and space. Thus, in a society such as that which
existed in Tannaic times, where the printed word had yet to exist and even
written materials were scarce, great emphasis had to be placed upon memorising
material before one could even begin to proceed to the next level. In later
times (and particularly in our own, where computer-retrievable texts are available
to anyone who uses a smartphone), relatively little emphasis is placed on
learning by heart, though learning by rote still plays a role with small children
who may learn verses and principles as songs before they are able to understand
them fully.
But for Rav Hillel, citing the Ba’al HaTanya, the most
important thing is to teach Torah students how to learn. Once they have
mastered the methodology of study, they will have acquired a skill that will
last them a lifetime. He adds that, now we have printed texts at our
fingertips, gaining the tools of analytical study should be our priority.
The language of methodology may change over the generations,
but the concept does not. At Avot 6:6 we have a baraita that lists no fewer
than 48 ways to acquire the Torah. This list is incomplete, since it omits
explicit reference to over thirty further ways that Chazal have identified (I’ve
tabulated these in vol. 3 of my book, Pirkei Avot: A Users’ Manual). But
it makes its point: teaching, classroom learning, practical learning, learning
alone and with others, and many other aspects of Torah study are embraced. It
is in effect a methodology checklist.
My own experiences in secular studies support Rav Hillel’s
emphasis on methodology over content. Almost
entirely throughout my studies at school and in university I was a successful student
and achieved excellent grades. The exception was my second year reading Law at
university. During that year I decided not to use textbooks but to try to work out
for myself how the principles relevant to my second-year courses evolved, using
the raw materials of published statutes and reported legal decisions. My exam
results were extremely poor, something that hurt me at the time, but I later discovered
that I had developed a level of methodological skill that later served me well in
my doctoral and post-doctoral research and in my career as an academic.
The problem with methodology is that it’s not really a suitable
subject for small children at the start of their learning career, and it’s
difficult to gauge when any individual is ripe from the transition from ‘what’ (“What
berachah do you say when eat an apple?”) and ‘why’ (Classically “Why is
this night different from all other nights?”) to the question that drives
method: ‘how’.
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