Leading astray, going astray

Avtalyon (Avot 1:11) warns us that our rabbis have the potential both to lead and to mislead. He states:

חֲכָמִים, הִזָּהֲרוּ בְדִבְרֵיכֶם, שֶׁמָּא תָחֽוֹבוּ חוֹבַת גָּלוּת וְתִגְלוּ לִמְקוֹם מַֽיִם הָרָעִים, וְיִשְׁתּוּ הַתַּלְמִידִים הַבָּאִים אַחֲרֵיכֶם וְיָמֽוּתוּ, וְנִמְצָא שֵׁם שָׁמַֽיִם מִתְחַלֵּל

[Translation] Scholars, be careful with your words, in case you are exiled to a place of evil waters. The disciples who come after you will then drink of these evil waters and die—and the Name of Heaven will be desecrated.

The “evil waters” here are generally taken to be distortions of true Torah teaching which, if internalised by one’s pupils and followers, may lead to error and even heresy.

Everyone who has been involved in teaching, at any level, will know how easy it can be for a student to misunderstand a teacher’s words, however sincere and well-meaning, if they are ambiguous or poorly chosen. For many years, at the Universities of London and Alicante, I found myself teaching highly educated postgraduates and often legally qualified lawyers whose first language was not English. In general, their grasp of English was excellent, but I learned to be careful because there was always room for misunderstanding a poorly-chosen word, phrase or metaphor. Avtalyon’s teaching is usually taken to refer to the teacher’s need to take particular care in choosing the right words, especially where the message derived from them might adversely affect a student’s thoughts and conduct in this world and his entitlement in the world to come.

But there is another way of looking at Avtalyon’s teaching. Midrash Shmuel asks us to look at the rabbi or teacher’s words in a different light. Don’t look at whether they are good or bad, right or wrong. Look instead at whether they are matched by the speaker’s actions or not. If a person advises or instructs one thing but personally does another, the gap between what is said and what is done is a zone of uncertainty, confusion and potential error for the talmid: do I do what I’m told—or do I do what my teacher does? If a person’s words are wise, that wisdom should be mirrored in his or her conduct. If not, the inconsistency may be absorbed and perpetuated.

This summary of the Midrash Shmuel’s explanation is culled from R’ Chaim Druckman’s Banim Le’Avot, vol.1.