Reply To: Toras Avigdor

Q:
How can I learn to concentrate when I’m learning Gemara? I find myself not remembering what I learn.

A:
You can learn to concentrate by practice, and you practice as follows: When you learn something, have in mind that you have a responsibility to repeat it, to repeat it out loud when you finish that piece. If you’re just learning in order to get through the words, you’ll gallop right through, without any feeling of responsibility. That’s not going to work at all. But when you know that you have to say it over to yourself; as you’re learning, your mind is concentrating on, “What am I saying right now? What am I saying, because I’ll soon want to say it over to myself.”

Whether it’s a piece of Gemara or a piece of Rashi or a Tosfos, while you’re learning it, think, “I’m soon going to repeat this to myself without looking in the Gemara, and in order to do that, I must understand what I’m saying.”

And this applies to women as well. When you’re learning a Mussar sefer, a hashkafa sefer or anything, don’t just say the words superficially. You have to make it part of yourself. You have to assimilate the Torah ideas into your mind. When you read words of Torah, don’t read it like you read the newspaper. Read it to know it.

So, always study with this idea in your mind, that you’re going to have to repeat it as soon as you finish. And then do it – repeat it out loud. What I’m telling you now is a segulah, a very important piece of advice. And it’s not patented; everybody can use it.
TAPE # 490