Originally published in January 2014. Click here for a printer-friendly version of this blog post.
"Everything in This Class is About Reality!"
A few years ago, in the middle of my Mishlei class, one of my 9th graders raised her hand and exclaimed, "I just noticed something: everything in this class is about reality!" I would describe the tone of her remark as pleased, surprised, and somewhat bewildered by the novelty of this realization. I wanted to write a short post to express a thought and a question sparked by this student's comment.
In an ideal world, students would view every class as being "about reality" - especially when it comes to limudei kodesh (Torah classes). The fact that this 9th grader felt it was an anomaly to gain insight into reality from one of her Torah classes is a sad commentary on the current state of Jewish education - and perhaps, the state of talmud Torah (Torah study) altogether.
I am reminded of Chazal's "Mishlei Mishlei" (i.e. analogies about the methods used by Shlomo ha'Melech in his writings). I thought of this mashal in particular:
R' Yossi said: Imagine a big basket full of fruit without any handles, so that it could not be carried, till one clever man came and made handles for it, and then it began to be carried by the handles. So too, until Shlomo arose no one could properly understand the principles of Torah, but when Shlomo arose, all began to comprehend the Torah.
The main point of the mashal is to highlight the fact that Shlomo ha'Melech took a Torah that was unusable for most people and rendered it usable for everybody.
The explanation of this mashal is as follows. A big basket full of fruit is a wonderful thing, but if there is no way to move it then it will go to waste. Sure, an individual might be able to salvage however many fruits he can carry, but the majority of the fruits in the basket will have to be left behind. Picture a the farmer who has harvested his entire crop and loaded it up into crates. If he can move the crates, then he can take his fruit to market to sell and earn a living. But if he can't move the crates, then all but a small portion of his efforts will have been for naught.
The Torah is bountiful in its fruits. "It is a tree of life to those who hold fast to it, and those who support it are happy" (Mishlei 3:18). Nevertheless, Shlomo ha'Melech saw that the average Jew couldn't get a "handle" on the fruits of the Torah. That is to say, people were unable to use Torah in their everyday lives and reap the benefits that it has to offer. One might be able to keep the halachos of the Torah and appreciate the beauty of its ideas, but not be able to gain the perfection that those halachos and ideas were designed to facilitate.
Shlomo ha'Melech wrote Mishlei to help us bridge that gap - to make the ideas and values of Torah real to its adherents. How Mishlei accomplishes this is a topic for another discussion. Suffice it to say, Shlomo ha'Melech's method works. I have seen ample evidence of its efficacy in myself, my friends, and my students. The differences are apparent even after a few months of Mishlei learning.
The question I'd like to leave off with is this: What obstacles stand in the way of students experiencing all of their Torah learning as "about reality"?
I have a number of ideas - some of which I have written about (see list below), and some of which I intend to write about. But I thought it would be more productive to just state the question and hear what people have to say. Let me know what you think!
Here are some other posts I've written on or around this topic:
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