Reply To: So much toirah that I want to learn

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Chortkov
Participant

Listening to a Shiur on Torah Anytime is just as valid as any other learning

A shiur on TorahAnytime is not as valid as any other learning. I say this for two reasons:

A) Many modern shiurim – in particularly the style on TorahAnytime – contain plenty of content which isn’t Torah and isn’t learning. I am not discrediting the speakers; for purpose of inspiration, you need to be interesting, you need to be original, and you often need to be funny. Cute anecdotes, powerful stories and emotional flavour is certainly conducive to getting across a message, to keeping the attention of non-attentive people, and to keeping a sometimes heavy shiur light. However, if an hour “Torah shiur” is spent with thirty minutes of Torah and thirty minutes of fluff, you haven’t learnt for an hour.
Furthermore – listening to something inspiring doesn’t necessarily constitute Limud Torah – even besides for the jokes and stories, even the toichen isn’t necessarily Torah. Of course it is essential to Avoidas Hashem, but Yirah does not equal Torah. See what the Nefesh HaChaim writes in Shaar Daled about people who spend all their time on Yirah and don’t actually learn the Torah.

B) There is something called ביטול תורה באיכות – qualitative bittul Torah. An hour spent investing all your intellectual capacity and energy into what you are doing is worth infinitely more than an hour spent lying on your bed, staring at your ceiling with earphones plugged in.