Song of Songs Rabbah 1:4
Rabbi Meir said: "When Israel stood before Mount Sinai to receive the Torah (Bible), the Holy One. blessed be God said to them "Shall I give you the Torah? Bring me good sureties that you will adhere to it and then I will give it to you..' They replied: "Sovereign of the Universe. our ancestors will be our guarantors. Said the Almighty to them "Your sureties need sureties themselves. I have found fault with them. They answered. "Our prophets will be our guarantors. The Almighty replied: "I have found fault with them also. Then the Israelites said "Our children will be our guarantors. To which the Almighty replied "In truth these are good guarantors. For their sake I will give it to you."
Our Rabbis taught: It once happened that a man's wife died and left behind a nursing child, and the man could not afford to pay a wet-nurse. A miracle happened to him and his breasts opened like a woman's breasts and he nursed his son. R. Yosef said, "Come and see how great was this man, that such a miracle was performed on his account!"
The rabbis taught: A parent has these [Biblical] obligations to their child: to circumcise them, to redeem them, to teach them Torah, to get them a spouse, and to teach them a trade. Some say, also to teach them to swim. Rabbi Judah said, "Anyone who does not teach their child a trade teaches them thievery."
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL, I ASKED FOR WONDER: A SPIRITUAL ANTHOLOGY
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.