I say that a yeshiva bachur is automatically a Talmid Chacham as far as this inyan is concerned. My source is Midrash Rabah Koheles on the verse in Koheles 7:7 "Ki Ha'Oshek Yeholel Chacham".

The Midrash says "Who is a Talmid Chacham? Anyone who is mevatel his business because of his learning". I think that this is true of any Yeshiva Bochur because he could be working, or acquiring a profession by studying, and instead he decided to learn in Yeshiva.

Best regards from Ramot!

Dovid Bloom

Follow-up reply:-

In the same Midrash, there is another opinion about who is a Talmid Chacham? This is the opinion of the Braisa ("Tani") who says that anyone who one can ask a question in what he is learning, and receive an answer from him, is considered a Talmid Chacham.

I argue that this means that anyopne who you ask him a question about what they are learning at the moment and he will tell you what the Halacha is; qualifies as Talmid Chochom. A serious bachur yeshiva can do this..

Dovid Bloom

Further reply:-

Just to add that what I was trying to stress in my previous reply is that the definition of a Talmid Chacham in our Gemara may be a rather different definition than what we find in other places in Chazal. Here he is not required to have a very wide knowledge in different areas of Torah, but it is sufficient that he can give a coherent answer to a question that one asks him about what he has learnt (even though he has not necessarily learnt so much). I want to add on an additional suggestion; that it is sufficient if he can answer about what he is learning at the moment; he is not expected to remember absolutely everything about what he learnt a while ago.

I think that on the basis of what I have written so far, we may understand a little better, bs'd, what Rashi writes here. He writes that our Gemara is referring to "Yoshvei Yeshivas Torah". I think this is a somewhat unusual expression that Rashi uses. He is hinting that anyone who sits and learns Torah in Yeshiva [and it is not so easy for him to do so] is a Talmid Chacham.

Dovid Bloom

Additional proof from the Gemara, bs'd, for my original thoughts:-

1)If you look at this Gemara, there seems to be a fairly obvious question. Rabbi Yehuda the son of Rabbi Chiya said his Meimra about the Talmid Chacham learning under difficult conditions, and cited the verse about the People dwelling in Tzion. The word "dwelling" would seem, at first sight, to be a more suitable translation than "sitting". So where did R. Yehuda see anything in this verse about a Talmid Chacham learning Torah out of Dchak; it is not referring to that, it is referring to the People who live in Eretz Yisrael?! The answer seems to be that R. Yehuda saw this from the verse that follows the one about the People who dwell in Tzion. The next verse says "seeing your Morecha (teachers)". The word Morecha is connected to Hora'ah; the people who instruct Torah. This is where R. Yehuda saw that the verse is discussing the People who learn Torah.

2) Another question is on Rashi DH Kee who writes that the People who dwell in Tzion sit in Yeshivos of Torah. Where did Rashi see that the verse is referring to Yeshivos?! Again, the answer will be that since the next verse refers to "Morecha"; teachers of Torah, so the HaYoshev" of the first verse refers not to the People who dwell in Tzion, but rather to the People who sit in Yeshivos.

And we came make an additonal diyuk; that the pasuk uses the word "Am"; People. This is not necessarily referring to great Torah schloars; it is referring to anyone who sits in a Torah Yeshiva and learns seriously.

Dovid Bloom

Tzion means Torah Yeshivos and "the People" is everying learning there:-

1) In the previous reply we saw, bs'd, that "the people" refers to ordinary people who learn in Yeshivos; not necessarily to leading Torah scholars. However, there is an additional riddle still to be solved. The verse, cited in the Gemara. mentions "Tzion". Tzion is Mount Tzion, one of the mountains around Yerushayim, which is near the Beis Hamikdash and often associated with the Beis Hamikdash in Tanach and Chazal. How can Rashi explain what the verse calls "The People who will dwell in Tzion" to mean "people who sit and learn in Torah Yeshivos"?

2) I want to suggest an answer based on the Gemara Berachos 8a which cites the verse (Tehilim 87:2) "Hash-m loves the Gates of Tzion" and explains that this means that Hash-m loves the gates which are Metzuyan (excellent, or outstanding) in Halacha. Rashi there writes that this means Tzion and a gathering of the community. These are places where there a lot of people occupying themselves with Halacha. I suggest that this is the same as the Yeshivos of Torah mentioned by Rashi Sotah.

3) And if so, this applies anywhere in the world, as it is known that a Beis Hamidrash anywhere in the world is similar to Eretz Yisrael. It is told about the Vilna Gaon, that every day he walked 4 amos in his shul in Vilna because he wanted to fulfil the Mitzvah of walking 4 amos in Eretz Yisrael.

Dovid Bloom

The literal translation:-

Now that we have seen all those sources above, we can make the observation that the literal translation of the words Talmid Chacham is "an intelligent student". Whilst we do find sometimes in Chazal that a Talmid Chacham was required to possess a phenomenal knowledge (see, for instance, Shabbos 114a), neverheless we saw, in my first 2 replies, that a smaller status may also be sufficient sometimes to merit the title of Talmid Chacham.

Dovid Bloom

The Gemara Avoda Zara 17a (in the story of Rabbi Elazar ben Dordia) says that a Baal Teshuva is called a Rabbi, so we can say that our Gemara Sotah 49a will call him a Talmid Chacham.

Yasher Koach

Dovid Bloom

Some people are like those who go in the Torah of Hash-m:-

1) The story of R. Elazar ben Dordia is a very extreme one; where someone sunk down to the lowest possible spiritual level and still managed to do Teshuva; at the expense of his life, because it was not possible to survive the great spiritual effort involved in doing Teshuvah and changing so totally his existence. The Gemara says that if someone achieves such an incredible Teshuvah, he is called a Rabbi. This is not because of the learning he did; we do not find that R. Elazar learnt Torah; but rather because he performed the Mitzvah of Teshuvah in such a complete way that it is equivalent to knowing Torah.

We cannot learn practical Halacha from the account involving R. Elazar because it is so different from anything else that ever happened in this world. However we can learn from it the principles of Teshuva, and how somebody who changes his life under difficult circumstances can sometimes be on a similar spiritual level as another person who has learnt more Torah than he has.

2) I found, bs'd, in Talmud Yerushalmi 1:9 that Rabbi Mana explained the verse (Tehilim 119:1) "Happy are those whose way is perfect; who walk with the Torah of Hash-m". Rabbi Mana said that these people are "like those who walk with the Torah of Hash-m". The Yefei Mareh (which is printed in "Agadot Talmud Yerushalmi Kidushin" to Kidushin 23b page 443 DH veYitachein) writes that "they are like those who walk in the Torah of Hash-m" means that these people receive reward as great as those who occupy themselves with Torah, or alternatively they are called a Talmid Chacham. He cites the Gemara Avoda Zara 17a where R. Elazar was called a Rebbe. I suggest that we can learn from this that there is a Madreiga of people who are "like those who walk in the Torah of Hash-m". The people who are "walking in the Torah of Hash-m" are the people living in a yeshiva community but there are people who are "like those who walk in the Torah of Hash-m" who have not been born into the latter community but they are still trying their best to live in that way. These people also can merit the description of Talmid Chacbam because that is what they aspire to.

Kol Tuv

Dovid Bloom