A Scary Story for Teachers

The Talmud relates (at Berachos 62a) a story about Kahana, who hid under his teacher’s bed and listened to his teacher engage in foreplay and conversation with his wife.  His teacher discovered Kahana and was outraged – demanding to know what Kahana was doing hiding under the bed.  Kahana answered:  “This too is Torah, and I must learn it.”

I thought about this aggadah (Rabbinic homiletic non-legal material) today as I talked to one of my most important teachers.  I have not hidden under my teachers’ beds, but I have learned a lot from them – how they act towards their students and colleagues, how they balance their work and family lives, how they prioritize tasks.  Of course, I also learned from their formal classroom material and research training, but more than anything else, I learned from their examples. 

This story in the Talmud clearly explains that students learn more than just classroom material from teachers – they learn how to conduct themselves as scholars and adults.  And what a burden on teachers – to not only be responsible for clear pedagogy, but also to teach through their proper behavior. 

I don’t plan on finding my students hiding under the bed.  But I do have to remind myself often that I am teaching all the time I am with my students – even when I am not at a chalkboard.

(Image from Talmudcomics)