As principal of a major Modern Orthodox yeshiva high school, I am often confronted with the challenge of creating and cultivating the best, most inclusive environment to help educate our talmidim. It is without question that as a school, we strive for academic excellence, both in Judaic and general studies within the classroom. But in 2024, the typical student demands more than top-tier academic instruction.
As a rebbe and administrator, I constantly ask myself: How can I succeed in taking the lessons that I have taught from behind the desk and in front of the smart board, and give them a life of their own, so that my students can actualize their meaning and apply them to their own lives? Often, I attempt to look back on some of the most influential and successful chinuch moments that I personally experienced as an impressionable talmid and try to incorporate those same modalities of impactful education into my own educational philosophy, now that the proverbial “shoe is on the other foot.”
When I think back to some of the most memorable and formative moments in my adolescent years, one “event” that always comes to mind is the Shabbos that I spent in Kiryat Arba and Chevron on the weekend of Parshas Chayei Sarah 2005/5765.
It is well known that each year, tens of thousands of Jews make the pilgrimage to the holy city of Chevron to spend 25 hours davening, learning, eating and walking in the very same “sdei hamachpela” that is featured at the outset of our parsha. Why is this so important? Why the emphasis on making this specific trip on this specific weekend?
There is something magical about the experience of spending Shabbos Parshas Chayei Sarah in Chevron.
The opportunity to not only read and learn about the story in the parsha, but then be able to experience it to the fullest extent possible is truly incredible. To be able to walk the footsteps and feel the land under your feet brings the parsha to life. It takes a story of the past and makes it tangible. The ability to translate material or a concept from theoretical or purely cognitive into practical and real is magical. It is the epitome of bringing the educational cycle full circle. Often as educators we work towards teaching our talmidim to live the Torah, and not just learn it. There is something so valuable in experiential learning that it cannot be an understated domain of chinuch in today’s day and age.
In last week’s parsha, we saw how the ability to implement and live a lesson learned literally saved Lot’s life. Chazal tell us that what merited Lot’s salvation from the destruction of Sodom was the fact that he not only learned from Avraham how to welcome guests, but he lived it and practiced it, even amidst a society steeped in immorality.
This lesson can similarly be learned from Moshe’s training of Yehoshua to take over for him as leader of the Jewish people. When preparing to transfer his leadership to Yehoshua, Hashem tells Moshe “צו את יהושע וחזקהו ואמצהו״”. What is the meaning of this repetitive language?
The simple understanding based on the meforshim’s explanation is that it was not sufficient for Moshe to verbally “command” Yehoshua about what to do. He could not simply convey leadership skills to Yehoshua orally. There could be no mere conveying of instructions or provision of guidance. Rather, Moshe needed to empower Yehoshua by giving him bona fide opportunities to lead and practice the things that he had been taught. That’s what it means for a rebbe to be mechazek his talmid— or, more specifically, strengthen the lessons he has taught that talmid -—by ensuring that the talmid has opportunities to implement, practice and live that which he has been taught. A successful rebbe must ensure that the talmid has the ability to make the learning real and can experience the things that he has been taught.
For the past 15 years, I have taught a Gemara shiur to a wide range of talmidim, both in terms of age and level. One comment that is most ubiquitous among them is bemoaning the fact that much of the content learned seems impractical and irrelevant. I have always felt a certain responsibility to try and make the content of a given sugya or shiur seem as pertinent and real as possible and constantly strive to make the material come to life.
The same is true for the values and life lessons that, as mechanchim, we attempt to impart to our talmidim, in formal or informal ways. As the Ramchal establishes in his introduction to Mesilas Yesharim, a holistic approach to avodas Hashem must be built on a foundation of middos and values upon which Torah and mitzvos can rest.
As a father, rebbe and principal, I am constantly attempting to inculcate within my children and students a sensitivity to others, and an awareness of how their conduct will be perceived by the outside world. In this sense, there is often no better forum to live these lessons than by participating in extracurricular activities like clubs, trips and sports, where they will be required to put these lessons into practice in a very real way.
Rabbi Daniel Konigsberg is the principal of MTA.
