Chullin 133 - Teacher, Leave Them Kids Alone

0:00Push your limits, train with precision, see the results. At Equinox, that's high performance loving. Iconic spaces that inspire. Personal training backed by real data, unlimited group fitness classes from yoga and Pilates to strength and conditioning. Elevate your post-performance ritual with sonas, steam rooms, cold plunges, and more. Everything you need to lock in and unlock your potential at Equinox. Start today at Equinox.com. Music Hey there and welcome back to Take One. The podcast that brings you just one educational page of Tomod each day. We just kicked off the school year as my unhappy children frequently remind me. So how fortunate are we that today's staff,

1:00Huline 133, has teaching on the mind. Now ask any of us moderns and we will tell you a story about education that goes something like this. Every child we would coup is a precious blank slate, a beautiful mind, a curious, open heart waiting to be led to the trough of wisdom and knowledge and filled with education. And it's our sacred task as educators to find interesting and engaging ways to make sure these terrific children have the best time ever learning. That way lies educational reform, Montessori schools and any and old progressive approaches to teaching that hold that an educator's first mission is to find a fun, stress-free way to engage young minds. Thankfully then, the rabbis of the Tomod today have a cold, hard dose of reality in store for us. I'd like to cite them at some length. So I hope you have a good, strong cup of coffee at hand.

2:01Here goes. In the preceding incident, the Gammara related that the verse as one that takes off a garment in cold weather and is vinegar upon nighter. So is he that sings songs to a heavy heart, Proverbs 25-20, was proclaimed to Rob Staffra in a dream, a bias set to Rob Demi, and with regard to what matter is the plain meaning of the verse written, Rob Demi said to him, it is referring to one who teaches an unworthy student. In other words, just as one should remove a worn garment that has no use in cold weather, or just as vinegar upon nighter, ruins the nighter, rendering it unusable so too. There is no use in singing songs, i.e. teaching Torah to an unworthy student who has a heavy heart, i.e. who does not intend to adhere to the halachot, to the rules. He is taught. As Ravyu Das said the Torah said, anyone who teaches Torah to an unworthy student falls into Gehenna, hell, kinda, as it is stated, all darkness is laid up for his treasures, a fire

3:03not blown by man shall consume him, it shall go ill with him that remains in his tent. And Sarid, the word that the Book of Job here uses, means nothing other than a Torah scholar as it is stated, and among the remnant or Sarid, those whom the Lord should call from the Book of Job. The word Yira here shares a root with the word Ra, Ival, and Yira Sarid, which is the word that the original Hebrew uses, is therefore understood to be referring to an unworthy student. And a similar note, Rabbi Zera says, that Rav says, anyone who teaches Torah to an unworthy student is considered like one who throws a stone to marklyce, or mercury, the Roman God, as it is stated, as a small stone and a heap of stones, so is he that gives honor to a fool, and a diswritten luxury is not seemingly for a fool, meaning teaching an unworthy student is akin to idol worship. Whoa, sure, the rabbis were great believers in teaching. We know, for example, that a town wasn't even considered worthy of the designation of a town,

4:05unless it had a school where children could be taught. They spared no expense and stopped at nothing, to make sure anyone who wishes to learn Torah would have the opportunity to do so. But there were no softies and no fools, and they realized that education was a two-way street. Sure, the teacher must give his or her all, but then again, so does the student, because the student is not a patient in the clinic or a consumer in a store. He or she is a partner in the educational process, and the less they are serious about their learning and about improving not only their minds, but also their characters. There's really no use in teaching them anything. We should share today's page of Talmud, sadly, with children and with parents, who too often treat school just like they do a high-end luxury goods retailer, expecting a bank for their buck and a tailor-made experience that leaves them feeling happy. As the rabbis knew all too well, that is not how education. Real education works at all. This has been Take One.

5:15If you enjoy the show, and we hope that you do, you are really going to love the new-ish book by LL, called How the Talmud Can Change Your Life, surprisingly modern advice from a very old book. You can get it now at your favorite local or online bookstore. Please go rate and review Take One on Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Take One is a tablet studio's production. The show is hosted by LL Libavits and produced by Josh Cross and L.A. Axelrod with Tal Allroy. You can email us at podcasts at tabletmag.com. I hope we have made your day a little bit more Talmudic.