Continuing my line of thought....
Quite often, Rabbonim from yeshivos in chutz la-aretz come to the yeshivos in Israel in order to recruit and as part of the effort, deliver a shiur. I cringe when I hear about these shiurim. The rabbonim in their delicious sweetness and purity, assume that the talmidim want to enjoy a complex pilpul filled with chiddushim from the rishonim and acharonim. So the Minchas Chinuch's and Sha'agas Aryeh's are flying in the air with great חדוותא דשמעתתא. Gorgeous. יופיה של תורה.
The problem is that the students don't understand a thing. I know this because I ask them afterwards what the distinguished rav said and not only can they not repeat any of the content - they can't even tell me what the topic of the shiur was.
Pilei pla-os!
Some will exclaim that the rabbi is a great talmid chochom because he quoted so many sources. Something tells me that this reaction is not what the rabbonim have in mind:-).
What do the boys need to hear instead?
Super One: That we believe in G-d and what that means.
Super One: That we believe in G-d and what that means.
1] That they are Jewish and how special that is.
2] How we are different from the goyim.
3] How to get excited and motivated about learning and Avodas Hashem.
4] That this world is only a very short preparation for eternity.
5] That they each have great potential and a unique task.
6] That הוצאת זרע לבטלה is a terrible sin that will destroy their bodies and souls and is almost impossible to rectify after being committed [unless one does super-duper teshuva]. Chances are that in the last 72 hours a large percentage of the boys were מוציא זרע לבטלה.
7] That hanging out on Ben Yehuda and similar venues will ruin their year and neutralize the positive influence the Torah has on them.
8] The importance of having a Rebbi and being mevatel oneself and respecting the Rebbi. In our generation, you see boys IN SHIUR playing with their iphones, surfing the net, texting etc. It is a terrible disgrace to the Torah and to the person teaching it. Kids also have this thing whereby they switch from shiur to shiur, never really consistently attending anyone's shiur. That is also a disgrace to the rabbeim and stunts spiritual growth. I am not referring to one yeshiva in particular. I am referring to many of those with which I am familiar.
The above mentioned ideas are some of what these kids need to hear. Not a complex analysis of a sugya where they don't even know the vocabulary, much less understand the concepts and give and take.
