How to Learn Talmud, Understand, and Remember: A Tip Worth a Million Dollars

Every Talmud student grapples with the million-dollar question - how to study the Talmud, understand and remember? Rabbi Hadar Margolin, author of the book Hadran Alach explains the secret - you cannot remember everything- focus on the main points.

In a conversation with Rabbi Yaakov Lustigman from the 'Dirshu' website, Rabbi Margolin explains that a person with an average memory, or even above average, cannot remember so many details without getting confused or forgetting. Of course, those who toil and exert effort are granted Divine assistance, and there have been instances where people with an unimpressive memory have reached heights that no one thought they would achieve, but we are talking about human effort without relying on miracles.

"It is impossible to remember every detail and all the dialectical exchanges," explains Rabbi Margolin, "and therefore, when one wants to remember a tractate entirely or several tractates and more, he must isolate the main points from all the material and understand what is central in the topic, main approaches, main evidence and the conclusion of each dialectical exchange, etc."

This guidance is an immense tip worth a million dollars to every Talmud student. It is based on 'Sifrei' at the beginning of the Torah portion of Ha'azinu, where Rabbi Yehuda states that one must always gather the words of Torah into 'principles,' meaning to select main points and remember them.

Rabbi Yehuda continues to explain that if a person focuses on 'details,' he will not be able to remember, or in his words: "They tire him out... and he will not know what to do." This idea of relying on principles is also brought in the Meiri at the end of the tractate of Horayot.

"Of course, when we say you need to remember the principles, it is only after you already know the topic and learn what is important. At first, it is a bit challenging to isolate these principles, but over time it becomes automatic. Of course, all Torah is essential, and there is no main and secondary in Torah, heaven forbid, but regarding what needs to be remembered - this is the correct way to allow for broad Torah knowledge for people like us.

Benefits of the Summary Method:

1. There are fewer details to remember. As Rashi says in Pesachim 3: "A person should always teach their student concisely." In this method, we essentially "shorten the page" and turn it into short language.

2. When learning in this way, one can more easily remember the small details. The page becomes organized, and the details do not get mixed up in our memory.

3. This method allows for tremendous improvement in comprehending the page. When a person learns to distinguish between what is more and less important, they begin making these distinctions during the learning itself, making it much easier to understand the topic when knowing what is the conclusion, where there is a turning point in the dialectical exchange and when the approach changes etc.

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How to Highlight the Principles?

There are 3 main ways to highlight the topic. Each one is good, and everyone can try all three and decide what works best for them.

1. Method A: Notebook. When starting a new tractate or chapter, or even in the middle of a chapter, buy a notebook and mark its pages according to the pages of the Talmud. Each page in the notebook corresponds to a Talmud page. After finishing a topic, summarize it in the notebook but not a detailed summary, just the main points. Afterwards, you can go over the notebook and reinforce the memory of the entire tractate.

2. Method B: Bottom of the Page. Summarize at the bottom of the Talmud page itself the main points briefly. Many people do this, and find that it helps them.

3. Method C: Underlining Main Sentences. "The third option, which I personally practice, and in my opinion, is the best of the three," says Rabbi Margolin, "is to take a ruler and a pencil or pen and underline the main sentences in the topic. This method greatly aids in reviewing even if you return to the tractate after a long break. Personally, it greatly helps me remember, and I have also heard from others that this method helped them significantly."

Is it advisable to teach young boys this method?

Rabbi Margolin emphasizes that the method is suitable for all ages and is highly recommended to teach children from the beginning. However, he qualifies his words by saying that some do not manage to study with this method, in which case it is better not to try to force them.

"For those who find this method comfortable for them, they will be able to benefit from it greatly, but for those that it doesn't suit, it is better not to complicate the study with principles that will only make the learning more cumbersome and further distance them from remembering what was learned," he says.

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Rabbi Margolin offers another piece of advice: "I am sure many students have already learned this by themselves, but it's worth mentioning that you can review the Talmud without reviewing Rashi. After learning the topic thoroughly, you can review it quickly from time to time, study a Talmud page without Rashi, once you already know the page, it can be done in a few minutes. Of course, occasionally, it is important to study with Rashi as it is impossible to understand a Talmud page without it, but quick review sessions without Rashi can certainly be established," 

Rabbi Margolin also shares stories from several great Torah sages who reviewed dozens of Talmud pages a day without Rashi's commentary.

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