Baishan Lo Lomed
This post is based on a shiur given by Rabbi Markowitz. It will be concise and more in note form than as a written out essay.
Rambam Talmud Torah Chapter 4
Halacha 2
How is [Torah] taught? The teacher sits at the head and the students sit around him, so that all can see the teacher and hear his words.
The teacher should not sit on a chair, [while] his students [sit] on the ground. Rather, either everyone should sit on the ground or everyone should sit on chairs.
Originally, the teacher would sit and the students would stand. [However,] before the destruction of the Second Temple, everyone followed the practice of teaching while both they and the students were seated.
Halacha 4
If the teacher taught [a concept] and it was not grasped by the students, he should not become upset with them and display anger. Rather, he should repeat and review the matter, even if he must do so many times, until they appreciate the depth of the halachah.
Similarly, the student should not say "I understood" when he did not understand. Rather, he should ask again and again, even if he requires several repetitions. If his teacher becomes upset with him and displays anger, he should tell him: "My teacher, this is Torah. It is necessary that I study, and my powers of comprehension are weak."
Halacha 5
A student should not be embarrassed because his colleagues grasped the subject matter the first or second time, while he did not understand it until it was repeated a number of times. If he becomes embarrassed because of such matters, he will find himself going in and out of the house of study without learning anything.
Accordingly, the Sages of the previous generations stated: "A bashful person will not learn, nor should the short-tempered teach.
Question:It sounds like a bashful student will not learn only if he is slow to understand. What if he is not slow to understand? In other words is the consequence automatic or only when it is combined with being slower than others?
Approach: Any sort of pressure that is placed on a person prevents that person from acquiring true education. Education under pressure is not education. These pressures can be unconscious making it very difficult for the student to accurately assess whether he truly grasped the ideas or not. Like in any other area, the mind sees most clearly when there are no conflicting interests (pressures, insecurities, desires) in this area.
Here we can outline two pressures that prevent a person from learning.
Pressure 1 Authority: Someone who has a powerful air to him has an affect on people, where they shut off their minds and listen to the message not because of the message but because of who the person is. The presence of the authority itself places a pressure on the student.
Halacha 2 is meant to combat this pressure. The rav is not allowed to tower over the students and the students are even allowed to stand over the rav! Limiting the feeling of the rav's authority in the students can be very helpful in making the student comfortable enough to be able to ask questions.
Pressure 2 Bashfulness: If a person is bashful, worried about an image or a facade of being intelligent (in math for example) then he will not even be able to accurately examine whether he understands an idea or not. Rather, because he has such a strong desire to understand the idea (because understanding it implies something about how smart he is) he will fool himself to believe that he actually understands it.
Other times this bashfulness can express itself in particular situations.
For example, many students (me) learn better in a small classroom environment then in a large auditorium. That is because there is an additional fear in the student that he will embarrass himself in front of two hundred people. The student becomes self conscious which itself is a pressure and prevents learning. However, in a small classroom the student can feel like he is speaking one on one with the teacher. Unless the student is worried about his image in front of the teacher he will not have pressures preventing him from learning. Sometimes a person is afraid to ask a question because he projects onto the Rav deciding that the Rav will think that he is an idiot. But he should realize that the Rav is more learned than he is and is aware of this idea that a bashful person cannot learn.
Halachot 4 and 5 address this area. It demands from the teacher that he create as pressure free of an environment as he can. It demands from the student that regardless of how stupid the question, the student ask until the materiel is perfectly clear to him. Curiously, if the teacher gets angry the student must respond: "My teacher, this is Torah. It is necessary that I study, and my powers of comprehension are weak."
This seems like a difficult response for someone who is grappling with a facade of looking intelligent. But that is precisely what the halacha demands. It demands that the student confront the very fear that is preventing him from learning. The student must evaluate and decide what the goal of his learning is. Is it to seem smart or is it to learn? While a student should force himself to ask any question he should also evaluate what makes him hesitant to ask the question. Once he establishes the reasons for his reluctance the causes of the reluctance will become much weaker. The person will see that he is holding himself back from a lot of learning simply because he is chasing some fantasy or facade.
Rambam Talmud Torah Chapter 4
Halacha 2
How is [Torah] taught? The teacher sits at the head and the students sit around him, so that all can see the teacher and hear his words.
The teacher should not sit on a chair, [while] his students [sit] on the ground. Rather, either everyone should sit on the ground or everyone should sit on chairs.
Originally, the teacher would sit and the students would stand. [However,] before the destruction of the Second Temple, everyone followed the practice of teaching while both they and the students were seated.
Halacha 4
If the teacher taught [a concept] and it was not grasped by the students, he should not become upset with them and display anger. Rather, he should repeat and review the matter, even if he must do so many times, until they appreciate the depth of the halachah.
Similarly, the student should not say "I understood" when he did not understand. Rather, he should ask again and again, even if he requires several repetitions. If his teacher becomes upset with him and displays anger, he should tell him: "My teacher, this is Torah. It is necessary that I study, and my powers of comprehension are weak."
Halacha 5
A student should not be embarrassed because his colleagues grasped the subject matter the first or second time, while he did not understand it until it was repeated a number of times. If he becomes embarrassed because of such matters, he will find himself going in and out of the house of study without learning anything.
Accordingly, the Sages of the previous generations stated: "A bashful person will not learn, nor should the short-tempered teach.
Question:It sounds like a bashful student will not learn only if he is slow to understand. What if he is not slow to understand? In other words is the consequence automatic or only when it is combined with being slower than others?
Approach: Any sort of pressure that is placed on a person prevents that person from acquiring true education. Education under pressure is not education. These pressures can be unconscious making it very difficult for the student to accurately assess whether he truly grasped the ideas or not. Like in any other area, the mind sees most clearly when there are no conflicting interests (pressures, insecurities, desires) in this area.
Here we can outline two pressures that prevent a person from learning.
Pressure 1 Authority: Someone who has a powerful air to him has an affect on people, where they shut off their minds and listen to the message not because of the message but because of who the person is. The presence of the authority itself places a pressure on the student.
Halacha 2 is meant to combat this pressure. The rav is not allowed to tower over the students and the students are even allowed to stand over the rav! Limiting the feeling of the rav's authority in the students can be very helpful in making the student comfortable enough to be able to ask questions.
Pressure 2 Bashfulness: If a person is bashful, worried about an image or a facade of being intelligent (in math for example) then he will not even be able to accurately examine whether he understands an idea or not. Rather, because he has such a strong desire to understand the idea (because understanding it implies something about how smart he is) he will fool himself to believe that he actually understands it.
Other times this bashfulness can express itself in particular situations.
For example, many students (me) learn better in a small classroom environment then in a large auditorium. That is because there is an additional fear in the student that he will embarrass himself in front of two hundred people. The student becomes self conscious which itself is a pressure and prevents learning. However, in a small classroom the student can feel like he is speaking one on one with the teacher. Unless the student is worried about his image in front of the teacher he will not have pressures preventing him from learning. Sometimes a person is afraid to ask a question because he projects onto the Rav deciding that the Rav will think that he is an idiot. But he should realize that the Rav is more learned than he is and is aware of this idea that a bashful person cannot learn.
Halachot 4 and 5 address this area. It demands from the teacher that he create as pressure free of an environment as he can. It demands from the student that regardless of how stupid the question, the student ask until the materiel is perfectly clear to him. Curiously, if the teacher gets angry the student must respond: "My teacher, this is Torah. It is necessary that I study, and my powers of comprehension are weak."
This seems like a difficult response for someone who is grappling with a facade of looking intelligent. But that is precisely what the halacha demands. It demands that the student confront the very fear that is preventing him from learning. The student must evaluate and decide what the goal of his learning is. Is it to seem smart or is it to learn? While a student should force himself to ask any question he should also evaluate what makes him hesitant to ask the question. Once he establishes the reasons for his reluctance the causes of the reluctance will become much weaker. The person will see that he is holding himself back from a lot of learning simply because he is chasing some fantasy or facade.
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