Joodse traditie als permanent leren

180.

preter, who declaims what he has just heard to all the pupils. And when they put questions to the interpreter, he asks the teacher. The teacher replies to the interpreter who addresses the answer to the one who put the question. The teacher should not raise his voice above the interpreter's voice. Nor should the latter raise his voice above that of the teacher, when he addresses a question to him. The interpreter may not detract aught from the teacher's words, nor add to them nor vary them - unless he is the teacher's father or instructor. In addressing the interpreter, the teacher uses the introductory formula: "Thus my revered preceptor said to me" or "Thus my revered father said to me". But when the interpreter repeats the words to the listener, he recites them in the name of the sage quoted, and mentions the name as if he were the teacher's father or teacher, and says, "Thus said our Master so-and-so" (naming him). He does so, even if the teacher abstained from naming the sage on the ground that it is forbidden to mention one's teacher or father by name. If the teacher taught and his pupils did not understand, he should not be angry with them or fall into a rage, but should repeat the lesson again and again till they have grasped the full meaning of the Halacha (rule) he is expounding., So also, the pupil should not say, "I understand" when he has not understood, but should ask again and again. And if the master is angry with him and storms at him, he should say, "Master, it is Torah. I need to learn, and my intellectual capacities are deficient".

A disciple should not feel ashamed before his fellow-students who grasp the lesson after hearing it once or twice, while he needs to hear it several times before he knows it. For if this makes him feel ashamed, he will go through college without having learnt anything. The ancient sages accordingly said: "A bashful man cannot learn, nor a passionate man teach" (Ethics of the Fathers 2:6). These observations only apply v/hen the students' lack of understanding is due to the difficulty of the subject or to their mental deficiency. But if the teacher clearly sees that they are negligent and indolent in their study of the Torah and that this is the cause of their failure to understand, it is his duty to scold them and shame them with words of reproach, and so stimulate them to be keen. And in this regard, the sages said, "Arouse awe in the pupils". It is thus improper for a teacher to indulge in frivolity before his pupils, or to jest in their