Teacher Appreciation

ByAJWS Staff

AJWS On1Foot

Abraham Joshua Heschel, I Asked for Wonder: A Spiritual Anthology

Original
Everything depends on the person who stands in front of the classroom. The teacher is not an automatic fountain from which intellectual beverages may be obtained. The teacher is either a witness or a stranger. To guide a pupil into the promised land, the teacher must have been there themselves. When asking themselves: Do I stand for what I teach? Do I believe what I say?, the teacher must be able to answer in the affirmative. What we need more than anything else is not textbooks, but textpeople. It is the personality of the teacher which is the text that the pupils read: the text that they will never forget. [Edited for gender neutrality]

Original

Everything depends on the person who stands in front of the classroom. The teacher is not an automatic fountain from which intellectual beverages may be obtained. The teacher is either a witness or a stranger. To guide a pupil into the promised land, the teacher must have been there themselves. When asking themselves: Do I stand for what I teach? Do I believe what I say?, the teacher must be able to answer in the affirmative. What we need more than anything else is not textbooks, but textpeople. It is the personality of the teacher which is the text that the pupils read: the text that they will never forget. [Edited for gender neutrality]

Translation	Original
An elementary teacher who leaves the children and goes out, or does other work with them, or teaches them sluggishly, falls under the category referred to by Jeremiah: “Cursed be one who does the work of the Lord with slackness” (Jeremiah 48:10). It is improper, therefore, to engage a teacher unless they are a person of reverence and skilled in reading and in grammar. [Translation by CAJE. Edited for gender neutrality]	מלמד התינוקות שהוא מניח התינוקות ויוצא או שהוא עושה מלאכה אחרת עמהן או שהוא מתרשל בלימודן הרי זה בכלל ארור עושה מלאכת ה' רמיה, לפיכך אין ראוי להושיב מלמד אלא בעל יראה מהיר לקרות ולדקדק

Suggested Discussion Questions

1. Why is it important that an elementary teacher be a person of reverence?
2. What is the ultimate job of a teacher? Why is it so important?

Rambam, Mishneh Torah, The Laws of Torah Study, 4:2

Translation	Original
How should a class be taught? The teacher sits at the head of the table and the pupils surround the teacher like a wreath, so that all can see and hear the teacher. The teacher must not sit on a chair while the pupils sit on the ground; either they all sit on the floor or they all occupy chairs. Originally, the teacher used to sit while the pupils were standing. Ever since the time preceding the destruction of the Second Temple, it has been a general custom to teach pupils in the fashion they are seated. [Translation by CAJE. Edited for gender neutrality]	כיצד מלמדים, הרב יושב בראש והתלמידים מוקפים לפניו כעטרה כדי שיהו כלם רואים הרב ושומעים דבריו, ולא ישב הרב על הכסא ותלמידיו על הקרקע אלא או הכל על הארץ או הכל על הכסאות, ובראשונה היה הרב יושב והתלמידים עומדים ומקודם חורבן בית שני נהגו הכל ללמד לתלמידים והם יושבים

Translation

Original

How should a class be taught? The teacher sits at the head of the table and the pupils surround the teacher like a wreath, so that all can see and hear the teacher. The teacher must not sit on a chair while the pupils sit on the ground; either they all sit on the floor or they all occupy chairs. Originally, the teacher used to sit while the pupils were standing. Ever since the time preceding the destruction of the Second Temple, it has been a general custom to teach pupils in the fashion they are seated. [Translation by CAJE. Edited for gender neutrality]

כיצד מלמדים, הרב יושב בראש והתלמידים מוקפים לפניו כעטרה כדי שיהו כלם רואים הרב ושומעים דבריו, ולא ישב הרב על הכסא ותלמידיו על הקרקע אלא או הכל על הארץ או הכל על הכסאות, ובראשונה היה הרב יושב והתלמידים עומדים ומקודם חורבן בית שני נהגו הכל ללמד לתלמידים והם יושבים