Joodse traditie als permanent leren

198.

((Moral Character of the Teacher))

246, 8. Even though a teacher be very learned and all the people have need of him, if he does not walk in the right path we may not go to him for instruction until he changes his ways (with reference to Mai. 2:7: "For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should keep the law ((Torah)) at his mouth, when he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts"),

((Classroom Formalities))

246,9. What was the manner of instruction? The teacher would sit at the head of the room and the students would seat themselves before him, grouped around him in a semicircle, so that they all could see him and hear his words. The teacher should not sit on a chair while his students sit on the floor. Either he and they must sit on the floor, or all must sit on chairs.

Some explain that this ruling applies only to senior students who have reached the grade of ordination.

246, 10. When students have failed to understand what the teacher has been teaching, he should not be angry with them, but he should go over the whole matter again, time after time, until they understand thoroughly. The student should not say, "I understand" if he has not understood; but he should ask, if necessary again and again. Then if the teacher becomes angry, let the student say, "Master, we are studying Torah and I must learn it, though my understanding is slow".

246, 11. A student should not feel ashamed because a fellow student has mastered the subject at issue at once, or almost at once, while he has not grasped it after many explanations. For if he feel ashamed on this account, the result will be that he will enter and leave the House of Learning without having learned anything. Therefore the Rabbis said tha.t the shamefaced cannot become learned, nor can the quick tempered be teachers.

What has just been said applies to the case where the students do not understand because the matter which they are studying is profound, or because their capacity is limited; but if the teacher knows that they are treating the study of Torah carelessly and in an offhand