Note: At various times in the past, we have published the
thoughts of HaRav Einfeld on education (for example, in the
editions of parshas Pinchas 5761 and parshas Noach 5761).
Here are some more of his observations.
Many educators have complained to me that although what I
have written about having patience with talmidim,
showing them love, and taking a genuine interest in their
general welfare, is surely true, it is impossible for a
teacher always to act accordingly. After all, teachers are
also human, flesh and blood, and the teaching profession
wears one out and frays one's nerves. Even if children are
not to blame for being lively, they can surely set a teacher
on edge. It is difficult for children to listen and to
concentrate, to be quiet and to sit still. You will always
find one child for whom being an attentive student is overly
demanding. He starts chattering with his neighbor, cracks
jokes and doing pranks. Such a "wild" child destroys the
serious atmosphere and infects the whole class.
Possibly the teacher has a ocean of troubles, perhaps
personal affairs, medical problems, and lack of livelihood.
It could well be that the subject he is teaching is
complicated and difficult to understand. We all know that
some lessons are like that. Only after enormous work and
devotion can a teacher succeed with the Herculean task of
infusing children with the basic elements of such
material.
Sometimes, in the middle of such a backbreaking lesson,
suddenly one child starts playing around and making fun of
the teacher, and the teacher realizes that soon his
classmates will join him and all his efforts at teaching will
go down the drain. Can a teacher just remain silent at this?
Can we judge the teacher unfavorably if he loses his head and
reacts improperly?
A firm foundation of Yiddishkeit is that the Torah
does not demand from a person something he cannot accomplish.
"HaKodosh Boruch Hu does not try to find fault with
His creations" (Avodoh Zorah 3a). Rashi writes
(Shabbos 88b) that when Bnei Yisroel said, "We
shall do and we shall hear," they, "followed Hashem
innocently as those who love [Hashem] and rely on Him not to
mislead us to do something we cannot do." Indeed we find that
for the restrictions that we could not withstand, Hashem
allowed us (Kiddushin 21b, and see the Chinuch,
mitzvah 263, that for this reason the Torah permits a
Cohen to become tomei when his relatives die. See also
the Chinuch, mitzvah 74).
I heard in the name of Maran the Chazon Ish zt'l that
the parsha of the yefas to'ar teaches us that
it is not difficult to fulfill any of the Torah's
dinim.
The Torah is Love Itself
Studying Torah is an absolute obligation, something we are
required to do. It is only proper to cite the explanation of
Maran HaRav Yeruchom HaLevi Levovitz zt'l, the
mashgiach of Yeshivas Mir (Daas Torah II, pg.
190), about the statement of Chazal that HaKodosh Boruch
Hu appeared on Sinai as "an old man full of pity":
"Although we are required to fulfill the Torah's mitzvos with
love, that is only with regard to how we fulfill them. The
mitzvos themselves are truly a burden and a decree from the
King, HaKodosh Boruch Hu — but the Torah is love
itself! When we make the brochoh before krias
Shema at Ma'ariv we say, `With an eternal love
have You loved the House of Yisroel, Your nation. Torah and
mitzvos, decrees and ordinances have You taught us.' This
refers to our receiving all parts of the Torah. We conclude,
`Blessed are You Hashem Who loves His nation Yisroel.' How
does Hashem show His love towards us? He does it by His
giving us the Torah. What is love itself? That is the
Torah.
"`When a father and his son, a rav and his talmid are
engaged in Torah study . . . they do not budge from there
until they love each other' (Kiddushin 30b). Chazal
(Succah 49b) teach us on the posuk, `She opens
her mouth with wisdom and on her tongue is a Torah of
steadfast love' (Mishlei 31:26) that teaching Torah is
a Torah of chesed since teaching another person Torah
is the best thing we can do for him, the biggest
chesed in the world. The essence of Torah itself is
love and lovingkindness. It seems to me that this is what
Chazal mean (Sanhedrin 19b) that `teaching a friend's
son Torah is as if giving birth to him,' since the teacher
and talmid unite through the Torah's love and become
like a son to a father.'"
Is there anything to add to the enthusiastic words of the
Mirrer Mashgiach?
An Impatient Person Cannot Teach
The Torah itself is love and chesed and we should
likewise study it with love and chesed. HaKodosh
Boruch Hu revealed Himself at Sinai like "an old man full
of pity" to teach us the way to receive and transmit Torah.
HaRav Ovadiah of Bartenura explains that "An impatient person
cannot teach" (Ovos 2:5) — not because
talmidim will not learn from him properly, but because
he is an improper teacher. The Meiri also emphasizes the same
message: "His impatience prevents him from speaking
pleasantly."
Doubtless anyone with bad middos or hot-tempered by
nature should not teach. Furthermore, if a teacher after
being vexed at home walks into his class in anger he is
committing a grave sin. I once heard how a melamed
innocently told a certain marbitz Torah that once
before he left home his bank called and informed him that
they refused to endorse certain checks he had made out. He
was naturally terribly upset from the news and in such a
frame of mind he started teaching his class. He was impatient
when he taught them and even corporally punished students for
minor infractions of discipline.
The marbitz Torah told him he was exempt from coming
to teach on that day. He should have gone to a doctor and
asked for a medical certificate attesting to his bad health.
"But I was not sick," protested the melamed. "A
sickness of the soul is also a sickness," answered the
marbitz Torah. "The talmidim do not have to
suffer and be beaten up because your checks bounced."
Every experienced Torah educator can easily triumph over a
cunning talmid and maintain discipline in the class.
When they see the educator is more clever than they are, the
talmidim abandon all their pranks and the teacher
gains full control of the class.
Anger and Its Reward
The gemora (at the end of Kiddushin) teaches us
that, "The only thing a habitually irate person manages to
accomplish is to wreck his own body" (see Rashi on the
gemora, and the commentaries of the Alshich and the
Vilna Gaon on Mishlei 19:19 about not punishing when
angry. We must realize that reacting in anger is not
chinuch and will never produce positive results.
I will relate two occurrences I heard. An eighth grade
melamed walked into the classroom and to his dismay
the class ledger was missing. No one disputes that stealing
it was a grave sin, something that should never have
happened. The teacher immediately condemned the audacity and
hefkeirus of such an act and demanded that whoever
took the ledger return it to his desk at once. Ten minutes
passed but the ledger was not returned. He became angry and
poured his wrath on the thief and on the class for covering
up for him. "Every family with members who are thieves are
all thieves" (Shavuos 89a) and are his cronies.
The end result was that the melamed did not succeed in
teaching a lesson and the ledger was never returned. The
melamed became angry without any gain whatsoever.
A similar occurrence happened once in another class. This
melamed acted differently. He was well acquainted with
his students and controlled himself. He disregarded what had
happened and continued with the lesson. At recess he called
over a certain student whom he suspected of doing this (You
need much siyata deShmaya to know whom to suspect).
The student came to him taut and terrified, but the
melamed smiled to calm him down and gently said:
"Please do me a favor. Bring the ledger to me since I must
check something written there." This request confused the boy
and after he came to his senses he answered: "I saw the
ledger in some corner. I don't know who put it there; I'll
bring it immediately." He brought the ledger and the
melamed pretended to be looking at some detail in it.
Meanwhile the student's heart was storming. The teacher
closed the ledger and said: "I thank you for returning it to
me. Let us now put an end to the matter between us without
involving your parents and the principal and without
punishments. You hid the ledger, correct?" The talmid
burst into tears and admitted he was guilty, that the desire
to carry out a prank overcame him. He understood that he was
wrong and had done something totally improper. He asked the
melamed to forgive him and promised he would never do
such a thing again. The melamed forgave him but made
it clear that if this happened again he would have no choice
other than to tell the parents. The talmid promised to
conduct himself better in the future.
Everyone gained in the above anecdote. The ledger was
returned, the class was not insulted, and the talmid
was not ashamed. The most important gain was that this was an
example of good chinuch. The student realized that he
should not continue acting in such an unbecoming fashion and
was grateful to the educator who did not get angry at him,
who acted cleverly and with rachamim.
An exceptionally clever educator with many years of
experience told me that once a student openly confronted him
and yelled out in front of the whole class: "You are
meshuga!"
Everyone was astounded. Such an outburst of defiance could
not possibly be disregarded. Many proofs can be found in
Chazal that a rav is forbidden to forgive such blatant
disgrace. The child too was stunned at his outburst and
waited nervously for the harsh reaction that would inevitably
follow.
What did the melamed do? He neither sent him away from
the class in anger nor did he ask for his parents to come
speak to him. With amazing self-restraint he said solemnly:
"According to halochoh a talmid is obligated to
honor and fear his rav. If he does not honor or fear him, the
rav is forbidden to teach such a talmid. I therefore
recommend that you be put into a higher class. Perhaps you
will honor the melamed there more." The educator
showed he did not intend to place him in a lower class (as is
usual) but, on the contrary, to promote him.
This reaction totally removed the student's defiance and
prompted him to mend his ways. He cried bitterly and asked
forgiveness, pleaded with the melamed to pardon him.
The melamed clarified that this was not a punishment.
It is only the logical reaction to such a situation where a
boy does not fear his rav. In such a case he must study with
another rav. The talmid, however, considered this to
be a terrible punishment, cried and begged to remain in the
same class with this melamed. On his own initiative
the boy brought his parents to talk to the melamed and
promised he would never behave so again. The boy fulfilled
his promise and became a well-mannered talmid.
