daas yochid: “You made that up. You don’t like what Chaza”l say, so you decide that they didn’t mean it. But these things are nogeia l’halacha, regarding priority in aliyos, for example.”
Thats not very polite of you to say I dont like what chazal say- not very nice middos considering you insulted me and said something that is not true. Of course its not taken literally. Priority for aliyos? Besides the fact that no shule I have been to gives kedima for that, it wouldn’t matter. It still doesn’t change the fact that its not to be taken literally. When it comes to aggada you cant just quote something and say “well see it says it here”. Thats not how it works.
I asked, “Do you think there is absolutely no correlation between Torah learning and middos and/or ruchniyus (spirituality)?”
To which you responded, “There is no connection between middos and being an inherently better person.”, which did not answer my question (and was very wrong itself).”
There is a correlation between Torah learning and middos/ruchniyus but I dont know if there is a correlation between better middos and learning all day vs learning 4 hours a day and working. But there is NO correlation between Torah learning and being a better person. What happens if someone learns Torah everyday and gets hit by a car and cant learn anymore after the accident? Is he a worse person? Are women worse people because they dont learn Torah? Of course not.