The community focus, and media hype, over the study of daf yomi leaves me with two nagging concerns, on which I would invite comment by others.
First, study in the daf yomi style, involves a relentless push to complete what can be a very complicated matter in a limited (45-60 minutes) period of time. Is this then the triumph of superficial learning? Anyone who has studied Talmud knows that even with all sorts of aids and guides and a teacher, proper study of a few lines can take long hours. Is all that to be sacrificed out of the need to keep up? What message are we giving to students?
Second concern relates to the U.S., where the choices seem now to be ArtScroll or Steinsaltz (assuming it keep up with the pace), with Soncino a neglected third. Is this the beginning of the end for any serious need for Hebrew study and proficiency? Why exert ones efforts in attaining Hebrew language skills beyond the need to understand the basic prayers where everything is translated and set out before you by the available translations. History has shown that the works of Hebrew scholarship which truly survive are those preserved in Hebrew and not in the contemporary vernacular.
I know that this is not the mainstream in any part of the community, but both questions are bothersome from an educational point of view.
Larry Kobrin
