Sichos - not intended to enable more Jewish misery in this world

berl, crown heights commenting to the Likutei claptrap in Boston:

This entire blog will have been worth it if even a few of the bochrimlach that read it will take this post to heart and realize that sicheis are to be learnt in order to reach true hiskashrus - an ability to look at Teiroh and the world adaitei derabbei. They should not to be turned into a crutch for the lazy and the ignorant. They were not printed to help banish all vestiges of original thought under the pretense of hiskashrus hamedumoh. And they were most certainly not intended to enable the self-absorbed drooling morons create more Jewish misery in this world.

thanbo adds: Tzemach: you've hit on one of my hot-buttons about divrei Torah in general, not just sichos. Too many people, when given the opportunity to teach a bit of Torah, say at a Shabbos afternoon parsha group, just take some parsha sheet off the internet, or from a book of parsha nuggets, and reads it plain, clearly not having thought about it, not explaining it in context, etc.

When it comes my turn to give a talk, I may not say over the whole parsha nugget or sicha or whatever, I may pick a small part, and explain it, and the ideas behind it, etc., so the chevra can get some idea of what the author was saying, not just a buncha dead words.

And yes, this problem extends to Rabbeim who never had a Freshman Exposition class, to learn how to structure an argument or essay. You have an idea, you have evidence, you repeat things to reinforce them, repeat them in different contexts to reinforce them, bring in more evidence, reach a conclusion, perhaps then branch off on a speculation for people to think about, and say Good Shabbos. The dvar Torah isn't an opportunity to demonstrate your reading skills, nor is it an opportunity to display your erudition by quoting dozens of people who fly right over the heads of your chevra. It's an opportunity to impart a bit of Torah, to get closer to Hashem, or to the Rebbe or other author. Not for self-aggrandizement, or overestimation of the other's attention span for boring stuff.