A Path of Learning for His Talmidim

The Gaon guided his talmidim to learn first all twenty-four seforim of Tanach, with the nekudos and taamim and the laws of dikduk. Then they were to study and memorize the six orders of Mishnah with the major commentaries, and afterward delve into the Gemara with great emphasis on Rashi and the Tosafos. Pilpul and chiddud should not be taught to young students, or to those who lacked the preliminary studies. He set up a beis medrash with constant study and review of Mikra, Mishnah and Gemara, and reviewed these with them at set times. His program let them finish the Gemara within a few years and know it well by heart, and know the sources of all the halachic rulings of the four Turim and the Shulchan Aruch. He warned against pilpul, believing that it often leads to vanity and pride and not to truth. Its only purpose, he held, was to help reach a halachic decision once all the fundamentals were clear. His talmidim used his method for eighteen years, and he rejoiced in their growth.