{"id":13427,"date":"2011-02-02T16:00:46","date_gmt":"2011-02-02T16:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/production.ou.org\/life\/other\/love_the_key_to_education\/"},"modified":"2015-11-02T08:31:03","modified_gmt":"2015-11-02T13:31:03","slug":"love_the_key_to_education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/education\/love_the_key_to_education\/","title":{"rendered":"Love: The Key to Education"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A teacher described a most significant episode which occurred early in her teaching career:<\/p>\n

When one morning I reached the school I was surprised to see a youngster waiting near the door.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s locked,\u201d he said, as I tried the knob. I began to fumble for my keys. Immediately he exclaimed with both surprise and delight, \u201cYou\u2019re a teacher!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat makes you think that?\u201d I asked, amused, and not a little pleased to think that my station in life should be regarded with such delight.<\/p>\n

He hesitated not a moment, but said softly with respect, \u201cYou have the key.\u201d I was promptly humbled as well as overwhelmed at the magnitude of that simple statement, of the implication and the responsibility involved by merely having a \u201ckey.\u201d This was perhaps the most significant statement directed towards me in my entire teaching career. It remained with me forever.<\/p>\n

Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik taught that \u201cteaching involves more than the transmission of knowledge and understanding. It requires empathy between teacher and student, and a sharing of feelings, thoughts and motives. There is an interaction of personalities, an exchange of values and insights.\u201d To teach is to know how to unlock not only the mind, but the heart, feeling and interest of every student, as well. There is no master key. \u201cWhat we require is the warm embrace as much as the brilliant idea; sympathetic understanding, true befriending, and a human reaching out: a suggestion that we care; the teaching role is inadequate.\u201d We need the key.<\/p>\n

Is there a standardized lesson plan from which we can derive instruction as to how to transmit more than just dry knowledge and information to students? Listen to The Master Teacher Himself, G-d, teaching a lesson to his star pupil, Moshe. The lesson\u2019s goal was to convey the specifics of charity \u2013 terumah, needed for erecting G-d\u2019s sanctuary. The lesson begins with general instructions to \u201cSpeak to the children of Israel, that they may take unto Me an offering,\u201d and moves on to details of implementation. The terumah, Moshe is told, may be offered from gold, silver, copper, skins, wood, oils and stones. But the Teacher is not satisfied to merely communicate dry facts and information. G-d supplements the basic instructions with feeling and emotion: Veasu li mikdash veshachanti betocham \u2013 \u201cand let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.\u201d A lesson in the art of teaching.<\/p>\n

The Kotzker notes that G-d does not implore that He will dwell in his midst, but rather \u201cin their midst.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every individual must have ample room and easy access within his very being for G-d to enter and remain as a permanent resident [betocham mamash]. The lesson is not about facts and figures of charity. It is a lesson in character development. Ultimately, all good and effective teaching ought to arouse pleasant feelings and responses.<\/p>\n

G-d carefully instructs that the Mikdash be constructed li \u2013 \u201cfor Me.\u201d But, of course! What other reason might there be in constructing a Mikdash if not in the sharing of G-d\u2019s spirit and knowledge? Rashi comments: \u201cLet them make to the glory of My name a place of holiness.\u201d Success in imparting Torah knowledge can only measured by the ultimate affect the learning has on the total being of the student. If a student\u2019s actions, thoughts and responses are Mikdash like, the educational process is successful. That happens when Mechanchim \u2013 the educational producers consider the \u201cfor Me\u201d aspect of Mikdash as the finished product to be delivered to every student\u2019s heart and emotion. Such a product can only be delivered by a living and caring teacher, not simply by a creative curriculum<\/p>\n

The rabbis taught: Anyone who teaches Torah in public and does not make the words
\nas pleasant to those listening as honey and milk mixed together \u2013 it were better that he
\nnot teach the words at all (Shir Hashirim Rabba 4:11)<\/p>\n

The Kotzker once asked, \u201cWhere is the Mishkan of G-d?\u201d He promptly responded: \u201cWherever He will be let in.\u201d G-d feels welcome wherever His attributes of kindness, benevolence, forgiveness, and tolerance are part of the daily routine and atmosphere. If not? \u201cAn animal is better than a Sage without sensitivity to people\u2019s feelings.\u201d (Seder Eliahu Rabba 6:7)<\/p>\n

Producing a Mikdash just as HaShem instructed and anticipated required enormous efforts. The Avot D\u2019Rebi Natan teaches that G-d instilled His Shechina upon Israel only when He was assured of their willingness to work hard and invest maximum melacha. Producing a student just as G-d expects, requires much greater efforts, devotion, imagination and creativity. Building the Mikdash was accompanied by Moshe\u2019s loving guiding hand and spirit, which eased the ever present burden, pressure and anxiety. Teaching a Talmid, we are often left to our own devices, inadequacies, insecurities and prejudices, and with Moshe-less supervision. Yet, we know that G-d does not accept the task \u201cfor Me,\u201d unless effort, devotion, and maximum melacha are ever present.<\/p>\n

The Aron, considered the permanent abode of Torah knowledge and wisdom, is cited by the Chachamim\u00a0as existing miraculously, without reliance on a measured and specified site (mekom aron eino min a\u2019mida, veomed b\u2019nes) True, we find students emerging from schools unblemished and untarnished even where little attention if any is placed on love, sensitivity and sympathy; whose focus is primarily on quantity of pages and chapters covered, with little concern for feelings and emotions.<\/p>\n

But, should we rely on miracles when it involves our children? When the key is lost, it is almost impossible to replace.<\/p>\n

\n

Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu Safran serves as OU Kosher<\/a>\u2019s Vice President of Communications and Marketing.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With this large breadth of knowledge at our disposal, the most essential piece becomes just how to transmit it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":363,"featured_media":14784,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education"],"yoast_head":"\nLove: The Key to Education - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Teaching involves more than transmission of knowledge & understanding. It requires empathy between teacher & student, & sharing feelings, thoughts, motives\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/education\/love_the_key_to_education\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Love: The Key to Education - OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Teaching involves more than transmission of knowledge & understanding. It requires empathy between teacher & student, & sharing feelings, thoughts, motives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/education\/love_the_key_to_education\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-02-02T16:00:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-11-02T13:31:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/screen-capture-42.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"561\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"525\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rabbi Eliyahu Safran\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rabbi Eliyahu Safran\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/education\/love_the_key_to_education\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/education\/love_the_key_to_education\/\",\"name\":\"Love: The Key to Education - OU Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/education\/love_the_key_to_education\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/education\/love_the_key_to_education\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/screen-capture-42.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-02T16:00:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-11-02T13:31:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/acbbaebb03ce2ffa212da7d2138e1b5d\"},\"description\":\"Teaching involves more than transmission of knowledge & understanding. It requires empathy between teacher & student, & sharing feelings, thoughts, motives\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/education\/love_the_key_to_education\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/education\/love_the_key_to_education\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/screen-capture-42.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/screen-capture-42.png\",\"width\":\"561\",\"height\":\"525\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/\",\"name\":\"OU Life\",\"description\":\"Everyday Jewish Living\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/acbbaebb03ce2ffa212da7d2138e1b5d\",\"name\":\"Rabbi Eliyahu Safran\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/torah\/files\/Rabbi-Eliyahu-Safran_avatar_1398790441-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/torah\/files\/Rabbi-Eliyahu-Safran_avatar_1398790441-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Rabbi Eliyahu Safran\"},\"description\":\"Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu Safran is an educator, author and lecturer. He can be reached at e1948s@aol.com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/rabbi_eliyahu_safran\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Love: The Key to Education - OU Life","description":"Teaching involves more than transmission of knowledge & understanding. It requires empathy between teacher & student, & sharing feelings, thoughts, motives","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/education\/love_the_key_to_education\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Love: The Key to Education - OU Life","og_description":"Teaching involves more than transmission of knowledge & understanding. It requires empathy between teacher & student, & sharing feelings, thoughts, motives","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/education\/love_the_key_to_education\/","og_site_name":"OU Life","article_published_time":"2011-02-02T16:00:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-11-02T13:31:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":561,"height":525,"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/screen-capture-42.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Rabbi Eliyahu Safran","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rabbi Eliyahu Safran","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/education\/love_the_key_to_education\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/education\/love_the_key_to_education\/","name":"Love: The Key to Education - OU Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/education\/love_the_key_to_education\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/education\/love_the_key_to_education\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/screen-capture-42.png","datePublished":"2011-02-02T16:00:46+00:00","dateModified":"2015-11-02T13:31:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/acbbaebb03ce2ffa212da7d2138e1b5d"},"description":"Teaching involves more than transmission of knowledge & understanding. It requires empathy between teacher & student, & sharing feelings, thoughts, motives","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/education\/love_the_key_to_education\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/education\/love_the_key_to_education\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/screen-capture-42.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/screen-capture-42.png","width":"561","height":"525"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/","name":"OU Life","description":"Everyday Jewish Living","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/acbbaebb03ce2ffa212da7d2138e1b5d","name":"Rabbi Eliyahu Safran","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/torah\/files\/Rabbi-Eliyahu-Safran_avatar_1398790441-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/torah\/files\/Rabbi-Eliyahu-Safran_avatar_1398790441-96x96.jpg","caption":"Rabbi Eliyahu Safran"},"description":"Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu Safran is an educator, author and lecturer. He can be reached at e1948s@aol.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/rabbi_eliyahu_safran\/"}]}},"acf":[],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/363"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13427"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51357,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13427\/revisions\/51357"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}