1) Those respondents who take it absolutely for granted that knowing gemara is a sine qua non for living a meaningful Jewish life have to answer why it is that (until until very recent times, and for most of Orthodoxy until this very day) this is not seen to be the case regarding women. It would seem therefore, that one can be a good and committed Jew while being ignorant of gemora (and I think that many pre-modern European Jews fit that definition).
The religious value of Talmud Torah, and talmud as the pinnacle of Talmud Torah has to be dealt with in another context. Perhaps we have to ask if "Jewish education" is identical to "Talmud Torah" in the religious sense.
2) A fascinating critique of Gemara study in the Modern Orthodox world has been expresssed by the late Rav Shagar. In a nutshell, he claims that the Modern Orthodoxy has not created a mode of study appropriate to its religious orientation and instead bases its method of study on Haredi assumptions about the relationship between Torah and life.
