Getting a handle on Torah study

The blessings that learning Torah brings to ones life is unlimited. Some say finding time is a problem. Rabbi Avigdor Miller suggested that all you need to find is 15 minutes.  If one learns for 15 minutes and truly enjoys it, he will automatically find that another half hour was added to his day...

When I was a bochur in yeshiva one of my teachers saw me sitting on one tosfos (it was small) for 3 days.  He said: "Betzalel, the gemara is not a pilpul sefer".  I didn't take his words to heart.   

Over the years I continued to write and published some of it.  

I really enjoyed the in-depth study.  Yet I always felt that I was so empty of Torah.  Yes, I have flipped a lot of pages but didn't really retain much.  It was often very depressing that I would learn 40 pages of gemara and barely remember any of it.

I was involved in chinuch for 4 years, teaching gemara to 9th and 10th graders.   This frustration was often voiced. "We learn so much, yet come out with so little. Even when I review it a few times I don't really remember it after a few weeks".

This point was actually made over 400 years ago by the Maharsha on his commentary to Temura 16. He said: "One of the main reasons people give up learning is due to frustration over forgetting what they have learned". 

I found some hope.  I would like to share it with you.

Everyone talks about review.  The key is doing a proper review. What is a proper review? A proper review is a lifetime of review. 

Check out this program that can change your life, as it has for many.  Taking "chazara" to a whole new level.  The success stories include 10 year old and 80 year olds.  It is based on scientific research.  

I believe those that are looking to turn their 15 minutes a day of learning into more - by pumping it with some "geshmak", should take a serious look at this program.  

[As a side note, those that follow the rulings of the Alter Rebbe - the Baal HaTanya, have even more reason for investing more time into chazara. For his ruling puts the prohibition of forgetting Torah on even one that doesn't do a proper review.  See more on that here.]