Thank you Patur for this platform.
The way I see things from my corner over here, iyun is way overemphasized. I do not mean to chas veshalom say that iyun is unimportant, but I do believe more emphasis should be placed on mastery of large amounts of material.
In my opinion, this is where the debate of iyun versus bekius comes into play. Bekius stresses the knowledge of large amounts of material, while iyun emphasized the depth of learning. The problem with iyun is that it is much harder to retain the knowledge one acquires due to the difficulty of remembering every diyuk. This is not the case with bekius. Although some gemaras are difficult even at a basic level, most gemaras are able to be grasped in a relatively short time.
I believe that there are two types of iyun. (Rant Ahead)
1) Asking logical questions on a certain peirush and questions on a peirush based on another text. I have nothing against this, and believe it to be very laudable and it gets the brain moving.
2)Trying to understand why each rishon/acharon had to use every step that he did and say each word that he did. This is the type of iyun that I believe is WAY overdone. This style of learning is very recent, only about 200 years old, and I don’t really believe it is emes. I have a very hard time believing the underlying assumption that the Rishonim are malachim* and every word they wrote contains a chidush. As far as I know, no rishonim thought that there predecessors wrote like this, and nor do rishonim think that the gemara writes like this. Rishonim tend to ask logical questions and questions based on other texts, NOT questions about why the gemara/other rishonim used word X.
Also, this approach completely takes away any validity of different writing styles. Do you people think that it is just a coincidence that the Tosfos Harosh often expresses the same idea as the regular tosfos, but more eloquently. I have heard way to many shiurim comparing the way tosfos and tosfos harosh present their shitas. The tosfos harosh is just a better writer than tosfos! There’s nothing wrong with saying that. Stop assuming things about the Rishonim which have no backing save for the past 200 years by Rabbonim who have never met the rishonim. Why in the world is it reasonable to assume that each Rishon has the same personality?
This is what I feel is the problem with the type of iyun prevalent in yeshivas today.
Bekius on the other hand is much easier to remember. I believe this has tremendous value, as the primary purpose of learning should be to lead to maaseh. (i.e aliba d’hilchasa). Knowing where dinim come from is tremendously valuable as well as imperative. One can be a baki on all of hilchos shoelaces and all of the reb chaims in the first perek of baba kama, and still not know the first thing about anything! Bekius ensures that you know at least everything decently well.
Contrary to popular belief, bekius does not only have to consist of gemara and rashi. I also learn tosfos bekius as well as many other mefarshim and sefarim.
*I have heard this quoted multiple times “Rishonim are malachim”.
My Response: Chas V’Shalom! That’s kefira! Hashem did not put malachim on this world. He put people in this world. Nobody is perfect. You think that Rishonim didn’t have yetzer haras?!?!?!