Ethics of a Godly Teacher
ויאמר משׁה אל־יהושׁע בחר־לנו אנשׁים וצא הלחם בעמלק מחר אנכי נצב על־ראשׁ הגבעה ומטה האלהים בידי׃ Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us, and go out to fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with God’s rod in my hand.”
– Exodus 17:9
Medieval Jewish commentator Rashi says: “‘Choose...for us’—that is, for me and you; Moshe compared Yehoshua to himself. From here the Sages have said, ‘Let the honor of your student be held in esteem by you as your own honor.’” Moshe, who by all counts had been highly honored by HaShem, brought his student and disciple to his side and addressed him as an equal. This denotes the true humility of Moshe (Numbers 12:3). I heard it said one time that “the real great man is the man who makes every man feel great!”
Here is a true anecdote from a rabbi/teacher who understood this principle:
When Rabbi Akiva Eiger’s children were preparing his response for a publication, Rabbi Eiger wrote to them: “Among the responses, you will undoubtedly find many letters to those who have studied in my yeshiva. Please do not refer to them as my students, for I have never called anyone my student. How can I know who has learned more from whom?”
As the mark of a true teacher, the Rambam said, “If his students do not understand what they have been taught, a teacher should not be angry with them. Rather, he should repeat the lesson until they understand.” But on the other hand, he also said, “A student should not say, ‘I understand’ when he really does not understand. He should ask for the lesson to be repeated until he comprehends it, even if it entails several repetitions. If his teacher grows impatient with him, he should say, ‘Teacher, what you are teaching is Torah and I must learn it; but my mental capacity is limited.’”
In his book, Love Your Neighbor, Rabbi Zelig Pliskin comments on this saying, “I once heard it said, ‘If you ask a question, you might be considered a fool for five minutes. But if you don’t ask a question, you will remain a fool your entire life.’” I attended a writers’ conference and heard someone say, “We need to stop looking at people as ‘wrong’ and instead start looking at them as ‘lost.’”
I think that statement carries a lot of truth. As teachers, we must always remind ourselves that we were not born with the knowledge we profess. Like everyone else, we were born ignoramuses. We also should keep in mind that we did not teach ourselves. Someone took the time to teach us either personally, on paper, or with digital tools. Every one of us sits on the shoulders of someone else’s knowledge. At the end of the day, we are only the products of HaShem’s infinite patience, as we do not know how long HaShem had been trying to drive the point home up to the day when we said, “Eureka!”
We need to resist the temptation to look down on those who have not yet received the knowledge that we have. The key to resist that temptation is to remember where we come from. Who knows, it is possible that one day, those on whom we look down today will surpass us. The true mark of a teacher is in the number of students who have surpassed him. Remembering these things helps us all to look at the people we teach—whether they are our children, our friends, co-workers, employees, or congregants—with compassion, love, and respect, just like Moshe did with Yehoshua.
The greatest sign of thankfulness we can show for the knowledge that has been imparted to us is to invest our time in teaching someone else what we know with the patience and grace that others, and ultimately HaShem, have shown us. Here is another true anecdote of a rabbi/teacher:
Rabbi Praida had to repeat each lesson 400 times to a certain student until the student finally grasped the information. Once when they were studying together, someone interrupted Rabbi Praida and asked him to go with him to perform a mitzvah. Rabbi Praida waited until he was finished repeating the lesson the usual 400 times, but the student did not comprehend the lesson. “Why is today different than usual?” asked the Rabbi. “From the moment that you were asked to accompany those people, I was unable to concentrate on what you were teaching me,” replied the student. “I kept thinking that you were going to leave right away.” Rabbi Praida then repeated the lesson another 400 times, and for this reason HaShem granted him exceptionally long life and his entire generation merited Olam Haba.
Here are some more thoughts on teachers and teaching:
Besides possessing a thorough grasp of the subject matter that is to be taught, a teacher must sincerely be interested in the welfare of his students. He should try to help them with their personal needs and problems and should show them understanding and sympathy. A teacher should not use sarcastic remarks or ridicule.
Our Master was a great teacher. He was tireless and patient. He used familiar Talmudic parables so both the simple and uneducated people could understand him (Matthew 13:10–11). He spoke to people in a relatable language. Once, while going through Samaria, people refused him hospitality—a very grave sin. The disciples (reacting to the already acrimonious politics between Jews and Samaritans) wanted to punish the people and the area with fire and brimstone, but the Master refused. Several years later, those very disciples found themselves ministering to that very same city. This shows that Philip had learned his lesson about being a patient teacher from the grace, patience, and foresight of the Master (Luke 9:52–56; Acts 8:25). Very often we find opposition when we try to share the truth and blessings of Messianic Judaism with those who have been raised in traditional churches. This can lead to derogatory and condescending attitudes from those who claim to “know.” How unlike the Master this is. How unlike the faithful rabbi who repeats his lesson four hundred times! The Master never looks down on us for our ignorance, but like the patient teacher that he is, teaches us the lesson not four hundred times but seven times seventy-seven times.
May we impart on others the patience of the Master as he continues to impart upon us. May we learn to follow the apostle’s injunction in 2 Timothy 2:24–26, “The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but be gentle toward all, able to teach, patient, in gentleness correcting those who oppose him: perhaps God may give them repentance leading to a full knowledge of the truth, and they may recover themselves out of the devil’s snare, having been taken captive by him to his will.”
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