Is There a Disconnect between Torah Learning and ... - Hakirah.org

Is there a Disconnect between Torah Learning and Torah Living? : 53
The connections we make must therefore be clear, and they must
relate to very specific instances that come up in our daily lives. A
child learning about אבידה ‏,השבת returning a lost object, should be
taught that the mitzvah applies to any instance of saving other
peoples’ money and property from loss or destruction. And specific
examples should be given. Thus children learning אלו מציאות should
be asked, “If you see someone walking down the street, and his coat
belt is dragging on the floor in the mud and snow, are you obligated
to point this out to him? What is the source of the obligation?”
Breadth and Broader Values
I must add that it is not sufficient to make connections between
Torah and life that are confined to, and limited by, the specific
halachos we learn and teach. For Torah to be fully connected to life,
we must connect it broadly. We must show our talmidim that each
halacha or thought in Torah has wide ramifications, and deals with
reality and in ways that they can relate to it. And we must connect
Torah to life in as many ways as possible. Allow me a few examples.
A child sitting in a התחלת גמרא class learning תפילת השחר listened
as his rebbe read the Mishna that states that שחרית may be davened until
noon according to the tanna kamma, but only till the fourth hour
according to Rebbe Yehuda and so on. The boy raised his hand and
asked, “How did they know what time it was? Did they have watches
in the time of the Gemara?” His rebbe could have answered, “They
knew, it doesn’t matter how, that’s not pertinent to the Mishna.”
That would have been a tragedy because his rebbe’s message could
have been taken as saying that the Mishna has nothing to do with
reality. Instead the rebbe praised the question, gave a lesson on the
sun’s progression in the sky through the day, explained about
sundials and other clocks, and showed a picture of a shul in
Yerushalayim that still has a sundial on which one can tell time. By
doing this he connected the Gemara to reality and the child to the
Gemara.
When, for example, we learn a Rashi with children, and Rashi
cites מנחם or ‏,דונש we should take the opportunity to take out the sefer
and show the children the sefer תשובות דונש בן לברט or the מחברת מנחם
from which Rashi learned. Doing this makes Rashi more real to
them; true, an extremely lofty personage beyond our comprehension,