Controversy
When it first appeared, some scholars denounced the Brisk approach as "chemistry", as it sought to analyze each Talmudic law by breaking it down into components, whereas a traditionalist approach focused more on the entirety of the laws.
While the Brisker method has won acceptance in almost all yeshivas today, it has its opponents. These include Rabbi Avraham Yishayahu Karelitz (1878–1953) (known as the Chazon Ish), who felt that often the existing approach to a Talmudic portion was sufficient. Additionally, the Brisker method is not widely used in modern yeshivas which stem from the Mirrer Yeshiva (originally from Russia), which instead tend to stress single, unifying themes throughout Talmudic concepts, often focusing on only one Rishon if it is seen as the most "truthful" approach to a Talmudic passage.
In Brisker yeshivas, the tractates studied deviate from the tractates popular in most yeshivas. Most yeshivas learn the Talmudic laws of money, property, marriage, and divorce. In Brisk, there is a greater tendency toward Kodashim tractates, as well as Nazir and Sotah (more ritually oriented) tractates in Nashim. Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik is noted for a tendency to study tractates in Seder Moed, a tendency formalized by Yeshiva University's decision to learn a tractate from Seder Moed every four years.
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