The good news is you don't have to learn emacs to benefit from org-mode, give it a try. Print yourself the reference cards for emacs[1] and org-mode[2], go through the tutorial that shows up when you first launch emacs and you'll know enough to start using org-mode and make your own opinion.

[1]: https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/refcards/pdf/refcard.pdf [2]: http://orgmode.org/orgcard.pdf

PS: if you have vi/vim experience/preference you can put some evil in your emacs: http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/Evil