Out of sight

Learning a mishnah over my breakfast this morning, I was struck by a sudden thought.

In the mishnah in question, Avot 2:6, we learn from Hillel that (among other things) an irascible, impatient person cannot teach. The consensus view of commentators over the ages is that we learn by asking questions and that a student will be inhibited from doing so if he or she fears that any defect in the question will be met with an angry, intimidating or embarrassing response.

This mishnah is quite capable of bearing a wider meaning than that. As Rabbi Reuven Melamed notes in his Melitz Yashar, a student who fails to develop a close relationship with a teacher and indeed feels alienated by hostile or unsympathetic behaviour will find it harder to absorb and accept the teacher’s lessons, even when there is no need to ask questions.

There is still more. Most of what human beings learn does not originate in the classroom, yeshivah, seminar or shiur. It is the result of watching others and doing one of two things: we either emulate them or we reject their actions and do the opposite. This is how we learn to behave at home and in company, as well as how to avoid danger. You don’t pick up a hot potato that has been painfully dropped by the person next to you.

Curiously, Pirkei Avot—which is full of advice about teaching and learning—has very little to say about learning by watching. The 48 measures through which one acquires Torah (Avot 6:6) mention both attentive listening and careful speaking but make no special mention of perspicacious viewing.  Attending on the wise is listed. Since this includes every form of service to chachamim, it presumably embraces the notion of watching them and learning to follow their ways, but that is about all. There is also a mishnah (5:22) which identifies the three good qualities of talmidim of Abraham and contrasts them with the three bad qualities of the talmidim of Balaam. As the Netivot Shalom points out, one cannot distinguish the two camps merely by looking at them since these qualities relate to their attitudes, not to their appearance.

Earlier in Avot (at 2:1 and 3:1) we encounter two mishnayot that contain the injunction histakel (“see clearly” or “consider”), but they do not refer to the human sense of sight since, in each case, the object to be seen is abstract and therefore invisible. The use of this word is comparable to the English words “I see”, spoken as a shorthand for “I understand”. We also find several uses of the word ayin (“eye”) within the context of ayin tovah (“magnanimity”) and ayin ra’ah (“mean-spiritedness”); once again, there is no sense of the word “eye” being used in relation to vision.

The dangers of sight are however noted. For example, one should avoid making any effort to see a person who is experiencing humiliation or embarrassment (4:23), and one should not look at the bottle in preference to its contents (4:27).

Why then do sight and the ability to learn by looking receive so little attention in Pirkei Avot?  Suggestions, anyone?

Watch what you say -- and what you do: a new slant on Avtalyon

With the new academic year in mind, it’s a good time to give some attention to teachers, students and the nature of their relationship. This is the second in a series of posts that reflect on the teachings in Avot on this topic.

The first chapter in Avot contains one mishnah that isn’t a bon mot or neat maxim, but really a narrative. It’s also unusual because it’s not being addressed to the public at large: it’s literally a “word to the wise”. I’m referring to the teaching at Avot 1:11 that runs like this:

Avtalyon used to say: “Wise men! Be careful with your words, in case you are exiled to a place where the water is bad. The disciples who follow after you will then drink this bad water and die, and the Name of Heaven will be desecrated.

This is one of a number of mishnayot in Avot that receives relatively little treatment from the commentators—not because it is undeserving of comment and discussion but because the parable is so clear in its meaning. Teach the Torah in a way that is wrong, and your students and followers will perpetuate your error. Fulfilment of the precepts of the Torah as a recipe for a Jew’s eternal life in the world to come; non-fulfilment is no guarantee of eternity.

The text of this Mishnah leaves it open to a wider interpretation. The parable opens with the Hebrew words

חֲכָמִים, הִזָּהֲרוּ בְדִבְרֵיכֶם, שֶׁמָּא תָחֽוֹבוּ חוֹבַת גָּלוּת

The Hebrew word rendered and generally understood as “your words” is דִבְרֵיכֶם. This same word, as Rabbi Yitzchak Ze’ev Yadler points out in his Tiferet Tzion, can also be taken to mean “things”—a general term that includes not just a person’s words but also one’s deeds, possessions, appearance and demeanour. Since humans learn from another not solely through verbal transmission but by emulating the conduct of others, a wise teacher should be aware of the extent to which not just classes and course materials but also personal habits, mannerisms, pet phrases and out-of-class conduct can impress themselves on disciples, talmidim and pupils of every kind.