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Do you have any specific teacher who did something or said something that affected your life? Any teacher who stands out in your memory? Share your story!
A teacher once said “at a certain point in my life i knew more names of actors and singers than of gedolieh torah.”
We have a publication in school we put out for yom tov and theres a section which girls quote inspiring things teachers say. So a friend of mine quoted that but wanted to ask her permission before printing. So time went on and we were both under the impression that the other had asked. The day came when the magazines were printed and we both realized neither has asked. I approached the teacher and asked her permission and se said she would rather not since doesnt reflect her class material. I said i was really uncomfortable but it was already printed. Without missing a beat she smiled and said “oh well then bH it was bashert, someone needed to read that!”
I LOVE HER!
I had a teacher who carved out time to learn with me one on one once a week.
I still love her to this day, and stay in touch with her.
Ah same here! A teacher and I learn every erev shabbos and another and i already made a deal for this summer.
One beautiful thing I learned from a teacher was when I was by her for Shabbos and I saw her learning a sefer with her 20 year old son! That just struck me as wow, for a mother to have such respect from her yeshiva bachur son that he finds it worthwhile to learn with her….was beautiful!
What a shame that a yeshiva bachur having respect for his mother is considered remarkable, not normative.
I used to not be so strong academically in elementary school and in one particular subject-Navi-I was particularly weak. I used to fail almost every single test in a certain grade and when i did pass, i got 66’s and 67’s usually. one time there was a kiddush in shul and my teacher came over to my mother and this is what she said(it made me feel so special and it really helped me change academically)”marks do not define_ (me) they are not who she is, and if you were to ask me who she was i would tell you an exceptional girl who tries her best in my class and her efforts really show i wouldnt say she fails all my my tests.” i was right next to my mother and when i heard those few words being said i was crying and it really meant a lot to me knowing that someone does not care about grades, all they care about are the middos and this teacher always tried to help me with tests-gave me english, modified them for me, and it really changed my life. i love this teacher because she saw the potential that i had to become better and she looked past the bad grades and only saw my middos and my neshama. it really meant a lot to me and it still does when i get back bad grades and i could tell it to all of you. MARKS ARE NOT YOU!!!!!
Jewishfeminist
Respect yes, but respect as someone to learn with? Who else do you know learns with her 20 year old son?
So it’s not “worthwhile” for a bachur to learn with someone who is not at the same level of learning? Every time he learns it has to be with someone who knows enough for him to “respect”?
Those who know less, whether because they are women, baalei teshuvah, etc, should not be considered unfit to learn with at all. I am not suggesting that bachurim make their mothers their regular chavrusas, but again, to learn with them once in a while if they want to should not be so remarkable.
A mother’s role is not to learn a blatt gemara with her son. A mother’s role is to offer love, hadracha, make a yiddishe home, etc. A bachur is supposed to get intellectual stimulation from his rov, his chavrusas, etc. Partners in Torah and Oorah are for people who want to learn with the not-yet frum. Even if my mother were frum, I wouldn’t bother learning torah with her. Maybe Tzenah Urenah or Nefesh Shimshon. But to do “real” learning with people who aren’t immersed in the realm of shakla ve tarya, and who aren’t immersed in the lashon haGemara is fruitless.
Rebdoniel
Sorry, i didnt specify, she wasnt learning gemara with him, just some seder, not sure what it was but probably something tanach based since that is her area of expertise. Yes i do understand that a moters role is the nurture and love but i find it beautiful that this is how it is expressed. At her table all her children say their sivrieh torah which their rebbe or teacher really prepared. I an see my teacher theough and through as I watch her family question their 9 year old brother and look up his little 4th grade dvar torah in the Rambam to clarify something. Yes, my teacher doesnt HAVE TO instill these values and e the one to bring this into her home but she is doing her job. She nurtures her kids and this is how she does it. They are walking copies of her in the way they think and learn. Is this a bad thing? Should a brilliant woman not instill her love for learning (and when i say learning i mean tanach very very in depth as well as sifrieh mussar)?
I worked as a teacher in a black-hat yeshiva this school year. I’d like to think I impacted my students. Some kids were on the worldly side and definitely were at-risk, and used my class as an opportunity to “show” this off, which resulted in my calling such students’ homes and sending such students to the rosh yeshiva.
I was previously a paraprofessional in yeshivos, and tried to help those kids, also. I had one case where the bachur was emotionally abused, and I went through the proper channels to help him.
mitzvahgirl613:
That story is truly great. One thing bothered me, though it is not about your story but something in general. Let’s follow the logic.
The goal of all schooling, at least that which is considered Torah chinuch, is to help each student develop into a carrier for the next generation, another link in the chain of Yiddishkeit, progressing from Matan Torah through all of our history and into the future. It is clear that the goal of such chinuch is to produce the Yiras Hashem and Ahavas Hashem that forms that link. The volume of data that has been transmitted is not even a factor in that formula. Whether someone retains more or less information, be it psukim of Chumash, numbers of Mishnayos, or blatt of Gemora is completely irrelevant. Why then are report cards, that are meant to reflect the success of a talmid/oh based on grades that reflect only retention of information? Perhaps these report cards portray more of the teacher’s success than anything informative about the student.
Your teacher’s comment was beautiful. It would have been unnecessary if the process of grading was geared to overall progress of the student growing into a fine Bas Yisroel, not the capacity to spit back information on tests. You were indeed fortunate to have a teacher who valued the right things. Maybe we will be zocheh in our days to see schools focus more on development of character than on downloading data.
How is emphasizing the importance of kibud eim “political”? It takes my breath away to see ostensibly frum Yidden suggesting that it is not “worthwhile” for a yeshiva bachur to sit down and learn with his mother because it would be a “waste of time”.
If his mother wants to learn with him on occasion, why deny her that pleasure? Until he gets married, she is the one enabling his yeshiva education and he owes her a great deal.
jewishfeminist: In this case I think you guys are both right- it’s a major thing for a guy to be learning with his mom and it really shouldn’t be.
It’s just not considered a “normal” thing to be doing, which I think is a shame.
However amazing this teacher is, I think that this is more in praise of her son for getting rid of the stigma (that, as I already said, shouldn’t be there).
the little i know- you know a lot!! yes what you say is true!! i was fortunate because she really helped me focus on what was important in life to teach my future children iy”H what they need to know and to express what my teacher said to me. Another story i have is from this past year, my halacha teacher always stressed that we should be aware that we are all special. some of us may feel like failures(because we get bad grades(i should tell them this lesson lol), some teachers may not think we dont try hard enough…)or if some ppl may have struggles but were all special and we should always remember that no matter what were going through! by our final which was absolutely murder, he said that if you smiled you would get extra points. he always made sure that we would feel good about ourselves at the end of the day and appreciate ourselves for who we are as a person! he said at his end of the year speech that the goal this year for us as students wasnt just to learn new information but it also was that we should learn to respect ourselves and learn to realize that we are special and once we gain that respect for ourselves and realize that were special-we learned a lot this year!! how often do you come across a teacher like this!!! he literally instituted in us that we are special and we should always realize that!! ahhh im gonna miss him soo much and his class!!!!!
I once had a really amazing teacher. I had difficulty taking tests that were written in hebrew. I had several teachers that gave me alternate tests, but one in particular was really special. After every test, she would have me call her at home and she would test me orally on the material. A week before our final she had a baby, and still, she insisted I call her after the test. She spent over an hour on the phone with me, asking me questions on the material. This was a week after she had a baby! I don’t think I will ever forget what she did for me. As a teacher of general studies I tried to show my students that I’m not out to get them- I’m out to help them learn as much as possible.
wow gamanit-thats really something!!!
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