Recently a conference took place in Yerushalayim of a new
organization called Beis Vaad Lemechanchim ("The Teachers'
Meeting-Place").
Without any publicity, and away from the limelight, a group
of bnei Torah got together and decided to found an
association for cheder teachers, with the following
aims: to provide teachers with tips on how to deal with
problems which commonly arise, to hold educational workshops
and debates between teachers, to open an educational library
to also include teaching tools, to organize weekend seminars
and vacations. It is also envisaged that a help line will be
opened for teachers. In addition, prizes and special
scholarships will be awarded for outstanding teachers. In
short, everything has been thought of, except a teachers'
trade union!
The organizers were amazed and heartened by the incredible
response to notices put up in staff rooms in chadorim
throughout Yerushalayim asking rebbis to attend the
opening conference of this new organization at which
important rabbonim and educators were to give lectures.
Hundreds of young teachers registered to join the Beis Vaad
and its workshops.
We met with Rav Uriel Kook, one of the educators in charge
of the Beis Vaad, and he told us more about it:
"Without meaning to insult any existing institution, I think
it would be fair to say that nothing exists to match our
organization. Until today, no framework has been available
offering teachers and educators educational tools and
guidance on how to educate, the stress being very much on
`education.'
"Teachers have to be distinguished from educators. A teacher
transmits information, in an interesting or boring manner.
He enters his classroom and teaches in a mechanical way. An
educator, on the other hand, enters his classroom with the
express purpose in mind of imparting important and
fundamental values.
"Education molds a child, it changes his values and
concepts, his character traits, the structure of his
personality, and even his feelings. A boy spends about ten
years in the company of his cheder teachers. These
are critical years, which lay the foundations for the rest
of his life in some cases. Every day he is in cheder
for about eight hours or even more, which means that he
spends more time there than with his parents. It is
therefore only fitting that those who are entrusted with
these tender and impressionable souls are suitably qualified
for their job.
"A top avreich who has studied for many years in
Yeshiva and Kollel cannot, with all due respect, be expected
to have any knowledge of the recesses of a young boy's soul.
He may be a good teacher and be very proficient in
explaining himself, spending hours preparing a gemora
shiur, but this does not mean that he is an educator!
"In Yerushalayim alone there are about two thousand
teachers. It would create a real revolution if those young
men who have decided to join the teaching profession would
get a thorough training in educational methods and insights
into the psychology of children via special lectures and
courses. This way they could learn about how to influence a
child. Every educator who does a better job improves the
quality of a whole class, which may consist of two or three
dozen boys.
"These ten years are crucial for a child's development for
his whole life and it is high time that we recognized this
fact and gave it due consideration. The organization intends
to concentrate only on educational matters. Other matters of
interest to teachers should be dealt with by new umbrella
organizations or within existing frameworks."
The organizers of the Beis Vaad intend to make use of the
accumulated experience of well-known teachers and educators
about topics such as methods (old and new) of disciplining
pupils and instilling them with derech eretz. As we
said, it is also proposed to put a hotline for special
problems at the disposal of the rebbi population.
In addition, teachers' conferences are in the pipeline, to
cater to the specific age groups of talmidim which a
teacher specializes in. All in all, the Beis Vaad is to look
after all the needs of a cheder rebbi in this
country.
HaRav Eliashiv says that education is a whole "Torah" in its
own right, which has to be carefully studied. Several
hundred rebbis have already registered with the Beis
Vaad, hoping to be educated about education. There is a
great thirst for this and expectations are high, but so are
the costs, especially considering the fact that a
respectable grant has been promised to each participant:
another expense which the organization together with the
chadorim will have to cover.
The Mashgiach HaRav Wolbe spoke at the opening
conference of the Beis Vaad. He conveyed words of
chizuk to the teachers participating and gave his
warm endorsement to the new organization. He stressed that
anyone following the advice of gedolim will not fail
in his endeavors. He also spoke about the great importance
of the educational mission, adding that only the Torah world
could save us from our difficult situation in Eretz
Yisroel, and that everything starts with the hevel
piyoseihen of cheder boys.
"'Chabakuk came and based them [the 613 mitzvos] on one
principle, as it is said, "But the righteous shall live by
his faith" (Makkos 24a). He shall live by his
faith, a faith full of vitality. When a rebbi teaches
the alef beis, he is at the same time conveying a
faith full of fervor and warmth. He teaches them about the
Creator, about Torah min haShomayim, and about our
being His servants who believe in Him, and that He watches
over us.
"This gathering is of enormous significance. In this holy
field of education, you all have to encourage each other.
There is no shortage of problems and, with mutual help, pure
motivations and tangible faith, we can find refuge from the
difficult times we are facing. In this meeting I see
hundreds of educators and, together with them, thousands of
talmidim in their care will have the benefit of a
more successful education. May the pleasantness of Hashem be
upon you, and may He grant you success in all your
endeavors."
Rav Y. Efrati, a close talmid of HaRav Eliashiv,
blessed the gathering and conveyed a message from the Rov
shlita:
"Why has the need arisen for a gathering of this kind? The
answer is simple. The character of those devoted public
servants, our teachers, has not changed over time, but their
responsibilities have changed in two respects.
"Nowadays, children are entrusted into the hands of the
cheder for the majority of the day. To educate means
to give the educated a starting point, and a solid
foundation to last forever. In our time, educational
institutions sometimes have some of the responsibilities
which parents used to have in the past. The nature of the
partnership between parents and the cheder has
changed, circumstances having forced the teacher to take
upon himself a much greater responsibility.
"Moreover, in former times, temptations from the outside
either did not exist, or were of a very minor nature
compared to the situation today. The nature of education
differed accordingly. Today a child is, Rachmono
litzlan, exposed to inappropriate things on the street,
and sometimes even within our camp. The yetzer hora
dances around the streets of the city presenting our
talmidim with temptations of a different order to
those which he had to offer previous generations.
"Every assembly which gathers for the sake of heaven is
assured of success, and this applies with especial force to
a gathering in which devoted matzdikei horabim meet
with the purpose of helping each other, and bolstering our
traditional, pure cheder education. May you be
blessed, and may Heaven grant you success in your
undertakings."
The Tolner Rebbe HaRav Yitzchok Weinberg stressed in his
speech the need for G-d-fearing educators. He quoted the
Rambam, who says that we are obliged to have teachers who
are baalei yir'oh, because if a rov does not resemble
an angel, one may not learn Torah from him, and yiras
Shomayim is an essential prerequisite for a teacher,
outweighing all other considerations in importance.
Rav Simcha Hakohen Kook, the rov of Rechovot, spoke at
length about the need for an institution to help educators.
He said that Chazal call the educational mission "the work
of Hashem" and that the creation of servants of Hashem was a
meleches Shomayim. The root of chinuch appears
for the first time in the posuk, "And he led forth
his trained men (chanichov)."
Chinuch essentially means placing an object in its
correct place, for example returning a sword to its sheath.
Every educational exercise is not a one-time affair, but
part of an ongoing process: it is only a good start. Thus
you have the concept of a chanukas habayis. The
purpose of education is to deepen and strengthen a message
until it becomes second nature and a permanent asset for the
student.
Other important public figures gave speeches and blessings
at this gathering, all of them stressing the great need for
the establishment of this Beis Vaad. May all their blessings
be harbingers of future, successful gatherings of this new
organization which holds out the promise of affecting
positive changes in an area of vital importance to all of
us. May the pleasantness of Hashem be upon them!
