In front of you is a record of a brilliant talk given by Maran Rosh Hayeshiva ztz"l [translated from the Yiddish in the Tradition journal by R' Shalom Carmy - with slight modifications on my part]. His words are especially meaningful today because what he says is that home-schooling is the IDEAL. Torah should ideally be transmitted from father to son and compulsory schooling is בדיעבד.
Very honorable gathering:
Let me excuse myself, first of all, for speaking while sitting. In
fact, it would be quite inappropriate for me to make a speech here at
all. No commodity has been so hit by inflation as speech making. A
speech today would be too cheap an offering to so important a
gathering as this. If I am here, in any event, it is, indeed, not to make
a speech but simply to "learn and study." Therefore it is quite fitting
that I speak not standing but seated, for I am not "standing and
speaking" but rather "sitting and learning."
Since I have come here to study, clearly what one must learn
here is the halachos pertaining to teaching. But to study all the laws
of teaching is impossible; therefore I have selected one sugyah in this
great area of halachah pertaining to teaching. This topic is:
The Specific Vocation of Teachers in Our Generation.
Why have we chosen this topic? It elevates a man's soul to understand his distinction. When a man understands clearly and well
the characteristics which distinguish him from his environment, this
understanding serves him as a source of inspiration and gives him
strength to endure many difficult trials. What is true of the individual
is also true of the group collectively. Therefore we consider it very important that the present generation of teachers understand clearly
and well the Torah view regarding its distinction vis à vis the teachers
of previous generations.
Yehoshua Ben Gamla
To understand properly the Torah view regarding the distinction
of the present generation of teachers, we must correct a deeply entrenched mistake concerning the origin of teaching among Jews,
which is connected with Yehoshua Ben Gamla:
Indeed is that man remembered for good, Yehoshua Ben Gamla is his name. If
not for him the Torah would have been forgotten from Israel. For at first,
whoever had a father-his father taught him Torah; whoever had no father
did not learn Torah. . . until Joshua Ben Gamla came and ordained that they
should establish teachers of children. It has already become an accepted formula of all those who
write the history of Jewish education to record with pride the fact
that the Jews had established compulsory schools in such ancient
times! We openly state that this entire formula is the opposite of the
truth. Such writers clearly have no conception of the difference between Israel and the nations.
Let us learn through this piece of Gemara. In the Gemara it is
stated that if not for Yehoshua Ben Gamla, "The Torah would have
been forgotten from IsraeL." This arouses wonder. From Mount Sinai
to Yehoshua Ben Gamla there passed many periods, during which
"whoever had a father - his father taught him Torah; whoever had
no father did not learn Torah"; nevertheless there was no danger of
the Torah being forgotten from Israel. So why does Yehoshua Ben
Gamla deserve such a yasher koach in the Gemara, that without his
ordinance the Torah would indeed have been forgotten from Israel?
One must recognize that in all those generations in which it was
the case that "whoever had a father - his father taught him Torah"
conduct was built upon an axiom that one must receive Torah where
one has received life. If one received life from one's father, then one
must receive the Torah from him too. Imagine that we were suddenly
to discover that a particular country has passed a law requiring all
newborn children to be placed in an incubator. We would all understand that something is not in order with the mothers of that country.
This is indeed what the Gemara says: that until Yehoshua Ben Gamla
"whoever had a father- his father taught him Torah." Surely a profession is a blessing in life; but living itself can never become a profession. And Torah is identical with living. Just as one generation can not give over life to the next generation professionally, so too one
generation cannot give Torah to the next generation professionally.
Just as a mother must carry her child biologically, so must the home
carry a Jewish child spiritually. The definition of a fetus is surely that
it is nourished by that which nourishes its mother; the best incubator
is surely no more than a substitute. It is self-evident that, if the importance of education demanded that one not employ any substitute,
this brought about the situation in which "whoever had a father-his
father taught him Torah; whoever had no father did not learn
Torah."
But Israel and Torah are one, and just as it was ordained that
Israel undergo all sorts of setbacks, so too it was ordained that the
Torah undergo various setbacks. And there came a time when a
deterioration occurred. The father's house lost its fundamental
capacity for educational vitality, (when we say lost, we mean relatively; a millionaire can lose a great deal and yet remain rich.) Then came Yehoshua Ben Gamla and ordained the school for children. This means
that he superseded the educational approach of children with their
father, replacing it with that of children before their rebbe.
This is indeed the true understanding of the fact that in the situation of "whoever had a father - his father taught him Torah; whoever
had no father did not learn Torah" there was never any fear that the
Torah would be forgotten. To the contrary, this was the healthiness
of Torah and masorah among Jews. Since the situation of "whoever
has a father - his father teaches him Torah" is a healthy one, then
even when there is an orphan, he too breathes in an atmosphere of
"whoever has a father - his father teaches him Torah," and there can
be no speaking then about forgetting the Torah.
Yehoshua Ben Gamla
receives a yasher koach in the Gemara, because he anticipated the setback, and he ordained the schools for children.
Therefore, when one writes the history of Jewish education and
calls upon us to be proud of the achievement - that among Jews there
is already, in antiquity, compulsory schooling-we repulse the proud
with the scorn appropriate to idolatrous values. That which they
regard as such pride for us would for us be the greatest humiliation
were it (Heaven forbid!) true. It is certainly true that, among the
Gentiles, the law of compulsory schooling is a step closer to the ideal
of "education" among Jews. But this is only an "adjustment." If they
tell us to be proud of the antiquity of this law of compulsory schooling, we say, for our part, that this is not to begin to understand the
havdalah between Israel and the nations.
However, if Sanhedrin enacts an ordinance for future generations until the end of days, this takkanah gives Klal Yisrael whatever powers are required in order to fulfill the ordinance. So, if they
enacted an ordinance superseding the education of children in the
house of their father with that of children in the house of their rebbe,
this ordinance alone gives that power that through the study of Torah
one may receive paternal power over the student. A fit Jewish teacher
never falls into the mentality of a "professional" because deep in his
soul he feels that he is only a "substitute" - their rebbe in place of
their father.
"You shall be like My mouth".
However, all this talk about the tradition of Torah passing
specifically from father to son is only one aspect of the Giving of the
Torah; for the Chumash speaks about two aspects of the Giving of the
Torah. From one aspect, the Torah was given to 600,000 receivers of
the Torah; it is they who were told: "You shall teach your sons to
speak of them, when you sit in your house. . ." (Devarim 11:19);
"You shall make known to your sons and your sons' sons the day you
stood before your God at Chorev" (Devarim 4:9). All talk about
"whoever has a father - his father teaches him Torah" refers only to
this aspect of the Giving of the Torah.
The second aspect of the Giving of the Torah is also stated explicitly in the Chumash. From this aspect, the Torah was not given to
be transmitted only from father to son; rather, the Torah addresses
itself to fathers, sons and grandsons simultaneously. Thus it is stated
in the Chumash: "With whomever is with us here standing today
before God and with whomever is not here with us today" (Devarim
29: 14).
We call this - "he who is with us here. . . and he who is not
with us here" aspect- "the Giving of the Torah to neshamos," following the usage of our Sages who state that all souls, all neshamos, were
at Sinai (Exodus R. 28:4). Referring to this as the Giving of the
Torah to neshamos, one implies that this has nothing to do with our
world. But this is not so. If not for the second aspect, the Giving of
the Torah would have been exclusively a matter of transmission from
father to son; then if there had been a disruption for one generation,
it would have been (Heaven forbid!) a break in the chain. If one link
in a long chain falls out, the wholeness of the chain can never be
restored; it is broken and lost. Because, howcvcr, thc Giving of the
Torah had a second aspect which reaches much deeper than the first
and which addresses itself to both fathers and sons simultaneously,
then even if there occurs (Heaven forbid!) a misfortune and one generation falls out, the next generation is not yet cut off from the
root. The next generation can again begin anew.
Now we may understand the special halachah of teaching in a
special educational situation, namely the case of he who "teaches
Torah to the son of an ignoramus (am haarets)." For thus we rule
halachically: that he who teaches Torah to the son of an ignoramus
becomes like the mouth of God, as it were, as the prophet Yirmiahu was told: "If you shall extract the noble from the worthless, like My
mouth you shall be" (Yeremiyahu 15:19). Do not wonder that I speak of
a halachic ruling (pesak); a practical ruling derives from this statement, namely that there is a preference to be shown for the teaching
of the am haarets's son.
Here lies the delicacy of the matter. We, as men, can only activate our souls through our bodies. Thus our natural mode of Torah
and masorah is only that of transmission from father to son. The
Giving of the Torah to the neshamos can be transmitted through the
Holy One's mouth alone. Therefore when an individual teaches Torah to the son of an am haarets, where, in that case, the tradition
from father to son has been broken, a generation has fallen out of the
chain, then one must arrive at the Giving of the Torah to the neshamos. The Giving of the Torah to souls is directly related only to the
mouth of the Holy One. Thus when a teacher successfully extracts
what is noble from what is worthless and leaps over the lost links in
the chain, this indicates that he has had the fortunate opportunity to
be engaged in the Giving of the Torah to neshamos. Therefore he
who teaches Torah to the son of the am haarets- his mouth becomes
like the mouth of the Holy One: "If you extract the noble from the
worthless, like My mouth you shall be."
Back to the Beginning of the Lecture
Now we come to the clarification of the special distinction of
teachers in our generation from all previous generations of teachers.
For that which was a special case for teachers of all the generations
has today become an everyday happening. Teachers today must be
prepared to leap over the lost links; it is the vocation of us all today
to extract what is noble from what is worthless. Our distinction vis à
vis all previous generations of teachers is that our mouths must
become like the mouth of the Holy One. We must affect the Giving
of the Torah to the souls.
This idea, in truth, is an explicit chapter of prophecy; and not
just any explicit prophecy, but the final prophecy among Jews:
"Behold I shall send you Eliyah the prophet. . . And he shall restore the heart of fathers upon sons, and the heart of sons upon their
fathers" (Malachi 3 :23). "He shall restore the heart of fathers upon
sons" - Rashi interprets "upon sons" as meaning "through the sons";
the sons will lead the fathers to repentance. Until the coming of Eliyahu, the Torah always speaks about a transmission from fathers to
sons. Only when the Torah speaks of the spreading of Torah through
the prophet Eliyahu does it speak of a reversed transmission from
sons to fathers. For this is a prophecy for sons whose parents are a
generation that has fallen out of the continuum of generations; such
sons one must approach precisely via the Giving of the Torah to the
neshamos. For only through this aspect of the Giving of the Torah
can a later generation begin anew and so reestablish the continuity of
generations retroactively. And because this teaching is a Giving of
the Torah to the souls, it pertains to the prophet Eliyahu who did not
taste death and burial, whose body is, therefore, also his soul.
Who of our teachers today has not experienced the process of
bringing about repentance on the part of fathers through sons? This
is the distinction of our generation of teachers vis à vis previous
generations. Our spreading of Torah, that of a generation for which
Messiah's coming is imminent (Ikvesa dMeshikhah), is already like
that of the prophet Eliyahu: "He shall restore the heart of fathers upon
sons-through the sons."
In Practice
From the awareness that the present generation of teachers happens to work in extraordinary circumstances there arises a special
obligation for orderly contact with the gedolei hador. For under such
conditions matters often come up as to what should take precedence
over what, and how far one may proceed with the rule: "It is a time to
do-they have abrogated Your Torah" (Psalm 119:126). Here one
may not rely upon oneself, Heaven forbid. Here one must consistently be tied to the great Sages of the generation. They are the "eyes of
the congregation" and no sane person willingly ignores his own eyes.
That Torah Be Not Forgotten
I would like to suggest a line of conduct, for which I can in effect
claim personal experience. It is good to introduce this with a
halachah. If an entire community has only an invalid esrog, then one
makes the benediction over the invalid esrog. Of course, when there
is a valid esrog this one would be invalid and the benediction recited
over it would be a "blessing in vain"; yet when there is no valid esrog available, there is a special ordinance that one should take the invalid
one. The term for this halachah is: "That it not be forgotten." Even
more so regarding the modes of talmud Torah there certainly is a
matter of ~'lest it be forgotten." And since for our generation of
teachers who work in strange environments it happens very often that
they cannot fulfill the halachos of schoolchildren as these are stated
in Shulchan Aruch, one should keep in mind something in the
category of "lest it be forgotten."
I would like to offer two examples
of this. It is the halachah of all poskim that the study of children
must be conducted both by day and by night. We know very well how
rarely it is possible, under present-day conditions, to fulfill the law of
"by night"; however, in order "that study at night not be forgotten,"
one should encourage some children, at least, from time to time, to
come for learning at night. Or, for example, the law that one may
cancel lessons of school children only on the Eves of Sabbath and
yom tov. Now we all know that there are days when we are forced to
cancel the lessons of school children. But it would be very fine if
precisely on these days the teacher should keep it in mind to encourage several children to come to learn, if only for a short time, in
order that "the idea of not cancelling lessons not be forgotten." I
know from my own experience that I have instructed good friends of
mine who were teachers to do so. It is understood that one gave this
advice to teachers of personal courage. And they have afterwards
told me with joy the benefit they found in this conduct. The two examples are general. Local examples one can find in every place more
and more. In these situations, where the goal is to extract the noble
from the worthless, the extra-curricular activities which I urge "lest it
be forgotten" can be very useful.
I wish that you be so successful in your holy work that the next
generation of teachers after you will no longer need to extract the
noble from the worthless, but rather the noble from the noble.
