Editing Yeshiva (section)

===Talmud study===
[[File:Gemara-rosh-hashana-2a.jpg|thumb|right|The first page of [[Rosh Hashanah (tractate)|tractate Rosh Hashanah]] in the [[Babylonian Talmud]]. The center column contains the Talmud text, starting with a section of [[Mishnah]]. The [[Gemara]] begins on the eighth line, indicated by '''{{lang|he|גמ׳}}'''. The large blocks of text on either side are the [[Tosafot]] and [[Rashi]] commentaries. Other notes and cross references are in the margins.
The "standard" commentaries<ref name="Steinsaltz"/> - Rosh, Rif, Mordechai, Maharam, Maharsha, Maharshal - are appended to the tractate, while other major commentators are published separately.]]
[[File:Talmud set.JPG|thumb|right|upright=1.35|A full set of the [[Babylonian Talmud]]]]
[[File:משנה סדורה - סיכום הגמרא - חברותא.jpg|thumb|right|''Chavrusas'' learning ''beki'ut,'' recording their summary of each ''sugya'' alongside its ''Mishnah'']]
{{Further|Talmud #Commentaries}}
{{see also|Gemara|Mishnah}}

In a typical Orthodox yeshiva, the main emphasis is on Talmud study, and particularly on its analytic component, ''[[Gemara]]'':- an often intensive "dialectic give and take" (Aramaic: ''[[shakla v'tarya]]'') where [[Mishnah#Content and purpose|the cases]] brought in the underlying ''[[Mishnah]]'' are analyzed,<ref name="Rashab_2"/> thereby explicating all <ref name="Wolfson">[[Harry Austryn Wolfson]] (1929). [https://ohr.edu/judaism/articles/talmud.htm Talmudic Method]</ref> [[Mishnah#Content and purpose|inherent teachings]] and insights. 
For discussion of the nature, structure and characteristics of this activity, see {{slink|Gemara#Argumentation and debate}} and {{slink|Gemara#Gemara and Mishnah|nopage=y}}.

Generally, two parallel Talmud streams are covered during a {{transliteration|he|zman}} (trimester). 
The first is {{transliteration|he|iyyun}}, or in-depth study (variants described below), often confined to selected legally focused tractates with an emphasis on analytical skills and close reference to the classical commentators.<ref name="MaareiMekomot_2" />
The second stream, ''beki'ut'' ("expertise"), seeks to build general knowledge of the Talmud. In some Hasidic yeshivas, {{transliteration|he|girsa}} ("text"), is the term used for {{transliteration|he|beki'ut}}, but may also incorporate an element of memorization.

In the yeshiva system of Talmudic study, the undergraduate yeshivot focus on the ''[[Masekhet|mesechtohs]]'' (tractates) that cover civil jurisprudence and monetary law (''[[Nezikin]]'') and those dealing with contract and marital law (''[[Nashim]]''); through them, the student can best master the [[Gemara#Argumentation and debate|proper technique of Talmudic analysis]], and in parallel,<ref name="Bobov">[https://rabbinicalcollegeboboveryeshiva.edu/Catalog/catalog.pdf ''Catalog''], Rabbinical College [[Bobov (Hasidic dynasty)|Bobover]]</ref> the halakhic application of [[:Category:Talmud concepts and terminology|Talmudic principles]]. With these mastered, the student goes on to other areas of the Talmud.<ref name="Actually" /> Tractates [[Berakhot (tractate)|''Berachot'']], [[Sukkah (Talmud)|''Sukkah'']], [[Pesachim (Talmud)|''Pesachim'']] and [[Shabbat (Talmud)|''Shabbat'']] are often included.<ref name="talmudic.edu">[https://talmudicu.edu/educational-programs/ Programs], [[Talmudic University of Florida]].</ref><ref name="cyttl">[https://cyttl.edu/wp-content/uploads/CYTTL%20catalog%2021-22.pdf Catalog] Central Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitz</ref> See for example under {{slink|Yeshivas Ner Yisroel|Cycle of Masechtos (Tractates of the Talmud)}}. Sometimes tractates dealing with an upcoming [[Jewish holidays|religious holiday]] are studied before and during the holiday (e.g. ''Shabbat'' 21a–23b for [[Chanukah]], [[Megillah (Talmud)|Tractate ''Megilla'']] for [[Purim]], etc.).

Works initially studied to clarify the Talmudic text are the commentary by [[Rashi]], and [[Rashi#Commentary on the Talmud 2|the related]] work  ''[[Tosafot]]'', a parallel analysis and [[Tosafot#Character|running critique]].<ref name="Rashab_2">See [https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/144840/jewish/Chapter-XXVIII.htm ''Kuntres Eitz HaChayim'' ch 28] for discussion of the interrelation between Rashi and Tosfot, and between Mishna and Gemara more generally.</ref>
The integration of Talmud, Rashi and Tosafot, is considered as foundational – and prerequisite – to further analysis<ref name="Rashab">See for example the guidelines for Talmud study authored by [[Sholom Dovber Schneersohn]] in 1897 on the founding of ''[[Tomchei Tmimim]]'':
[https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/144840/jewish/Chapter-XXVIII.htm ''Kuntres Eitz HaChayim'' ch 28],
[https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/144841/jewish/Chapter-XXIX.htm 29],
[https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/144842/jewish/Chapter-XXX.htm 30].</ref> (in fact, this combination is sometimes referred to by its own acronym, ''"gefet"''  גפ״ת – ''Gemara'',  ''perush Rashi'',  ''Tosafot'').<ref name="cyttl" /> 
The [[Super-commentary|super-commentaries]] by [[Solomon Luria|"Maharshal"]], [[Meir Lublin|"Maharam"]] and [[Samuel Edels|"Maharsha"]] address the three components together: being at a further remove from [[Gemara#The Sugya|the underlying Talmudic debate]], these - with their interplay - constitute a higher-order of analysis.<ref name="Steinsaltz"/>

At more advanced levels, additional ''[[Talmud#Commentaries|mefarshim]]'' (commentators) are similarly studied:<ref name="Steinsaltz">See chapter "Talmudic Exegesis" in: [[Adin Steinsaltz]] (2006). ''The Essential Talmud''. [[Basic Books]]. {{ISBN|978-0465082735}}</ref> other ''[[rishonim]]'', from the 11th to 14th centuries, as well as ''[[acharonim]]'', from later generations. There are two main schools of ''rishonim'', from France and from Spain, who will hold different interpretations and understandings of the Talmud; the ''acharonim'' collate and clarify these opinions, and constitute, then, a further layer of analysis. Widely referenced here are the [[Menachem HaMeiri|"Meiri"]], [[Nachmanides#Talmudic commentary|"Ramban"]], [[Solomon ben Adret|"Rashba"]], [[Yom Tov of Seville|"Ritva"]], [[Nissim of Gerona|"Ran"]] and [[Yitzchak Meir Alter#Works|"Rim"]], as well as the parallel [[Bezalel Ashkenazi#Shitah Mekubezet|''Shitah Mekubetzet'']] compilation.

At these levels, students link the Talmudic discussion to [[Halakha#Codes of Jewish law|codified law]] – particularly ''[[Mishneh Torah]]'' (i.e. [[Maimonides]]), [[Arba'ah Turim]] and [[Shulchan Aruch]] – by studying, also, the halakha-focused commentaries of [[Asher ben Jehiel]], [[Isaac Alfasi]] and [[Mordechai ben Hillel]], respectively referred to as "Rosh", "Rif", and the "Mordechai". Here, too, any differences give rise to further analysis - especially where these have implications re ''practice'' - <ref name="Rashab"/> and the [[Houses of Hillel and Shammai|underlying Talmudic opinions]], and the other commentaries, are in turn revisited.
<ref>See for example [https://etzion.org.il/en/talmud/seder-nezikin/massekhet-bava-kamma/reshut-ha-rabim-ii this discussion] on '' [[Bava Kamma]]'' 19-22, by R. Moshe Taragin.</ref>

As the [[Shiur (Torah)#Class levels|level of the ''shiur'']] progresses, so the student must integrate more of these commentaries<ref name="Steinsaltz"/> into their analysis of the ''[[sugya]]'' (loosely, Talmudic "unit of analysis"), simultaneously understanding the specific [[Chidush#Current usage|''chidush'']], i.e. novel contribution, as well as any implication re practical-halakha. This ''iyyun'' will generally take one of the following forms, each the ''"derech ha-limud"'' or "way of learning" of the Yeshiva (see the Hebrew article [[:He: דרכי לימוד התלמוד|"Approaches to Learning Talmud"]]):

* At the higher levels, in many Lithuanian influenced Yeshivot, the highly analytic "[[Brisker method]]" is employed, [[#Lithuanian yeshivas|as mentioned]]. The method - often referred to simply as ''lomdus'' - seeks to identify the principles underlying each commentator's approach, abstracting beyond the context of the specific ''sugya'', [[Talmud#Brisker method|by placing each]] within a categorical structure <ref>Rabbi Josh Yuter. [https://joshyuter.com/archives/2003/12/structuralism_and_brisk.php Structuralism and Brisk]</ref> (the best known of [[Brisker_method#Examples|these "binaries"]] being ''cheftza / gavra'', "object" / "person").
* Elsewhere, and generally, the approach is more traditional:<ref name="Rashab"/> Students work through each ''sugya''  in light of the various rishonim, [[Chaim Rabinowitz#Telshe|successively specifying and understanding]] - and if possible, [[Gemara#Legal|reconciling]] - differences (legal and conceptual) between these, [[Shimon_Shkop#Telz_and_Grodno|such that]] "every particular contributes to the clarification of the others."<ref name="Rashab_3">[https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/144841/jewish/Chapter-XXIX.htm ''Kuntres Eitz HaChayim'' ch 29]</ref>  Through this, the study [[Brisker method#Controversy|builds and deepens the concepts and principles]]<ref name="Wolfson"/> arising from the tractate.  Throughout, an important simultaneous requirement is that the [[peshat|"simple interpretation"]] of the underlying ''sugyas'' [[Yeshiva Ohel Torah-Baranovich#Style of learning|must maintain]].<ref>See for example [https://marbitz.com/getting-pshat/ this discussion]  ([https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=46852&st=&pgnum=32 ''Kovetz Igros Chazon Ish'' II 16]) by the [[Chazon Ish]], cautioning against "loading" the Talmud's words.</ref>
* Many Yeshivot proceed ''aliba dehilchasa''<ref name ="aliba">See the Hebrew article [[:he: אסוקי שמעתתא אליבא דהלכתא]] for detail and discussion.</ref> (אליבא דהלכתא, Seph. pronunciation, ''dehilchata''; lit. "according to the Law"), where the learning focuses more on the Halachik-rules that develop from the ''sugya'', delineating how the opinions of the rishonim and acharonim relate to practice. There are two sub-approaches:<ref name ="aliba"/> The first, often [[Talmud#Sephardic approaches|the approach taken at Sephardic Yeshivot]], analyzes the ''sugya'' as the [[Oral Torah#The Gemara|source of the ''halacha'']], understanding how it inheres in each ''rishon'', and is undertaken even for topics with limited application (prototypical are  ''[[ir nidachat]]'' and ''[[ben sorer umoreh]]''). The second, often <ref>[https://collive.com/drawbacks-of-smicha-programs/ Interview with Rabbi Yosef Barber], Head of the semikha program at Yeshivas [[Tomchei Temimim]] Chovevei Torah</ref> applied when the ''sugya'' is studied by ''semikha'' students - see below - focuses on the implication re practical-halacha, the  "''[[nafka mina]]''",  of each commentary, somewhat limiting consequent theoretical and abstract discussion.
* Some Yeshivot – such as [[Yeshivat Birkat Moshe|Birkat Moshe]] – particularly emphasize the Rambam, analyzing the ''sugya'' [[Mishneh Torah#Study|in light of the ''Mishneh Torah'']] and [[List of commentaries on Mishneh Torah|its numerous commentaries]]. (''Brisker'' yeshivot invariably reference Rambam also:  the ''Mishneh Torah'' covers all of halacha, and thus provides a consistent reference for the treatment of other ''rishonim''; see ''[[Chiddushei Rabbeinu Chaim]]''.)

The ''Rosh Yeshiva'' gives the most senior ''shiur''. It is here that the student consolidates the yeshiva's approach to ''iyyun'', i.e. its ''derech ha-limud''; see {{slink|Rosh yeshiva|Role}}. 
At many yeshivot, students are thus expected to learn in this ''shiur'' for at least two years before proceeding to ''Kollel'' or ''semikha'' study (and with the ''Rosh Yeshiva's'' sanction).
The ''Rosh Yeshiva'' also delivers the weekly ''[[shiur klali]]'' ("comprehensive lecture"), which sums up the week's learning, and revisits a selected topic or concept in further detail; this is attended by all levels, and will often have its own ''marei mekomot''.

Typically, boys begin their study of Talmud in late elementary school, initially studying [[Mishnah]], the component of Talmud where, as outlined above, the [[Mishnah#Content and purpose|underlying "cases"]] are presented. (At this stage, they have completed their survey of ''[[Chumash (Judaism)|Chumash]]'', with these cases expanding on the [[mitzvah|legal precepts]] there; see [[#Torah_and_Bible_study|below]].) In early middle school, ''[[gemara]]'', the analytic component, is introduced; by [[High school in the United States|high school]] some are able to work with ''Tosafot''. Some systems more closely follow ''[[Pirkei Avot]]'' [https://he.wikisource.org/wiki/משנה_אבות_ה_כא ch 5:21] as a guideline; where Mishna-study begins at age 10, and ''Gemara'' at 15. See [[Zilberman Method]] for further discussion.