I found an article [on aishdas.org from R' Bechoffer] that much more correctly defines the differences in approach. Those who live and breathe gemara will enjoy this excerpt greatly, while those who don't will hopefully also find it enlightening and hopefully will encourage further study. May we all be zoche to master all of the "drachim" to achieve greatness in Hashem's Holy Torah.
The Telzer Derech
We mentioned that Telshe was renowned for a unique derech halimud of Havona and Higoyon. This derech is manifest in both the Talmudic lomdus and derech avoda in Machashava and Mussar practiced in the Lithuanian Telshe. An illustrious Telzer, Rabbi Elimelech Bar Shaul zt"l, in his foreword to the Shiurei Da'as, points out that a synopsis of the derech may be found in the shiur da'as: "Chomer viTzura."The Ba'alei Machashava state that all objects in Creation consist of chomer, the physical substance of the object; and tzura, its spiritual essence. Intellectual ideas also consist of chomer and tzura. The chomer of an idea is its expression in thought and words. The tzura of the idea is the manner in which the idea expands and expresses itself in one's heart. The chomer of an idea varies little from person to person. It is in the tzura of the idea that we may distinguish between individuals. If an individual maintains lifelong intellectual growth, the tzura of the ideas that he or she has assimilated will change and grow more profound over time. The greatness of Gedolei Yisroel is not manifest in the chomer of their knowledge. Many bright people might master vast tracts of Torah. It is in the tzura of their chochma that their greatness is manifest. That is why when Chazal describe the greatness of previous generations they talk in terms of "the Rishonim's heart" (Eruvin 53a). In Mo'ed Kattan 9a Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai tells his son that he should pursue berachos from "people of tzura." In Shabbos 63a we are told about the "tzura dishemata", the tzura of a sugya. When Chazal describe later generations, they define their insight as "a finger upon wax." The earlier generations excelled in their penetrating understanding - their heart. The later generations are superficial - like a finger that manipulates wax. They might have the same chomer, but they lack the tzura. (It is significant that Chazal, despite their lower level vis a vis the earlier generations, still felt qualified to define their greatness. We can transcend our normal capacities and perceive, at least from afar, what made the earlier generations greater; what tzura they possessed.) In Yuma 72b we are told that a fool attempts to acquire wisdom without heart - without its tzura.
One who strives for wisdom will attempt to uplift him or herself toward an idea and its most profound tzura. Most people, however, will attempt to bring a lofty intellectual idea down to their own level. In Torah, at the core of any idea is the yiras shomayim it should provide us. When a great person delivers a shiur, he not only gives over the chomer of the ideas being considered, but also the tzura of his wisdom. This is evident in his facial expression: "The wisdom of an individual illuminates his face" (Koheles 8). This manifest tzura comprised the radiance of Moshe Rabbeinu - "for his face shone" (Shemos 34).
The quest for tzura is the hallmark of the Telzer derech. It is in this quest that Telshe departed from Brisk. In Brisk, the primary method of analysis is categorization. The classic "tzvei dinim" is a brilliant tool for the definition of "what". For example: What is this idea? Is it one that pertains to the gavra (the person) or to the cheftza (the object)? In Telshe, however, the primary method of analysis is abstraction, e.g., what is the essence of this idea, how does it work and why does it work the way it does. (In his introduction to his definitive work on the Rogatchover zt"l's derech, "Mefa'anei'ach Tzefunos", Rabbi Menachem Mendel Kasher zt"l relates the following anecdote: The Greek philosopher Plato was once strolling with one of his disciples. They saw a horse in the street. Plato turned to his companion and asked him: "What do you see?" The student responded: "I see a horse." Plato then said to him: "I see the `horseness', the abstract of a horse. You lack perception, and you, therefore, do not possess the talent of profound intellectual insight. You only possess the vision of the physical senses, which cannot grasp essences." Rabbi Kasher notes a similar comment by the Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim 2:6.)
The pursuit of tzura underlies the Telzer approach to all areas of Jewish thought and endeavor. Tzura is related to the term "da'as" in the system of chochma, bina, da'as. As Reb Yosef Leib explains (in the shiur da'as: "Chochma, Bina, Da'as") chochma is knowledge: the warehouse of accumulated facts one amasses. Bina is understanding: a Navon categorizes facts in his or her heart, depicts them in his or her mind, experiences their full breadth and depth, and can extrapolate from them to new intellectual areas. Da'as is achieved when chochma, characterized and developed by bina, becomes one with a person's essence and being, so much so that a person can conclude that this da'as is absolute truth. The Jewish soul has been designed by Hashem specifically to allow an individual to achieve this da'as. We are connected to the highest spiritual realms [olamos elyonim] and we are "hard-wired" to allow us to grasp their essences. Hashem designed characteristic human traits to reflect the attributes that He employs in directing Creation. (In many shiurei da'as, such as "Ki Chol BaShomayim UboAretz" and "BiTzalmeinu KiDimuseinu", Reb Yosef expands on this idea of "shiur koma." This Kabbalistic principle explains that the entire array of olamos are contained in miniature in man's body and soul, and the related principle of "miniatures", that the physical world is a scale model that reflects the spiritual one.
These ideas are not so novel to us. Over the past fifty years many of the Yeshiva world's great thinkers have introduced their students to Kabbalistic and Chassidic ideas. At the time, however, this system must have been an exciting chiddush to the Telzer bochurim. The prime mover of the Lithuanian yeshiva movement, Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin zt"l, wrote a sefer that described Yahadus in clear Kabbalistic terms. It seems, however, that by the early twentieth century this form of study was not popular. Shiurei Da'as is written in a style that captures the flavor of Reb Yosef Leib's original delivery. Readers can sense the aura of novelty and revelation that surrounded even the most basic mystical discussions at the time.)
A focal theme in Telzer thought is the supremacy of intellect and intellectual endeavor. The more we expand our intellect, the greater positive spiritual impact we have on the universe - and on ourselves. We then feel uplifted and our souls are unified with and enlivened by the spiritual worlds (shiur da'as: "VaYikra Bishem Hashem"). Reb Avrohom Yitzchok wrote: "This derech unifies logic and poetry. The logic is a logic of poetry and the poetry is a poetry of logic." He explained: "The firmest emuna is Emuna Peshuta, with the utmost simplicity. Hashem, however, has granted man a unique intellect, with the capacity to think with profundity. Man is therefore obliged to channel these divine gifts in the service of Hashem, i.e., to deepen and strengthen his emuna and Avodas Hashem by analyzing them deeply." There are limits to our understanding. At some point we must halt our inquiries with the conclusion: "This is the will of Hashem, whether I understand it or not" - but the road is very long until we reach that point, and, often, upon subsequent further analysis we can understand more than we previously thought (shiur da'as: "Al Yechsar HaMozeg").
Rabbi Bar Shaul writes that in Telshe there were no mussar shmuessen, rather shiurei da'as. A shmuess is emotional, inspirational, and often informal. It is an experience of the heart. A shiur da'as is intellectual, educational, and covers a topic in a formal and systematic manner. It, too, reaches the heart, but via the mind. In a shiur da'as on Mussar ("Limud HaMussar VeOfen HaLimud"), Reb Yosef Leib applies this approach to the study of mussar texts. He departs from Reb Yisroel's mussar bihispa'alus - the study of mussar with fervor and emotion, and advocates a more intellectual approach. A true Telzer toils mightily to uncover and reveal the roots, essences and abstracts - the core truths - of all areas of Torah. The deeper one delves, the more the differences between Halacha and Agada blur. As one's understanding becomes more profound, as one achieves more tzura, one is penetrating more deeply into the very neshama of Torah. The more profound the principle one uncovers, the more it explains (shiur da'as: "Nishmas HaTorah". Reb Yosef Leib emphasizes that the true pleasure of Torah study only comes with ascendance into its neshama. See Rashi Shabbos 88b d.h. LaMiyamnin Ba. ) This is manifest in the remarkable similarity between Reb Yosef Leib's Shiurei Halacha and Shiurei Da'as. If a Torah idea truly possesses a certain tzura, then that tzura must be an essential truth. If it is an essential truth, it should be consistently true across the entire vast tract of our Toras Emes. (A brief, but comprehensive, discussion of the Telzer derech is to be found in Reb Elya Meir's introductory essay in Shiurei Da'as: "Darcha shel Torah".)
