Reflections of a Teacher
Last week, two Masonic brothers and I traveled to an im-portant meeting in New Castle, Delaware. We went early so that we could stop and visit with my sister Ruth (an affiliate member of Sha’are Shalom). Ruth recently retired as a public high school teacher and she waxed rhapsodic about her career and how much she enjoyed teaching but because of physical problems had to retire. This made me think about my own situation. With Jackie (my wife and the President of Sha’are Shalom) retiring as a Financial Manager from the Naval Re-search Laboratory next week, I (being well past retirement age and looking at the big “70” next year) began to think about retiring also.
Let me tell you about Sam (not his real name). Sam came into my 5th Grade Hebrew class a few years ago very upset. He didn’t want to be in Hebrew school and let it be known that he only came because his parents made him. He told me he would drop out as soon as he could and didn’t want to be a Bar Mitzvah. During the first week of class, he would get under my teachers desk (which had a closed front) in a fetal position with tears in his eyes. I would not allow any of the other students to tease him in any way and I allowed him to adjust in his own way never disciplining him. After a few classes, he would sit on my chair at my desk (I never sit at the desk and teach – I roam around the classroom as I teach) and sharpen all the pencils in the drawer. A few weeks later, Sam would come early to class (before and other students arrived) and ask me about the Hebrew material we were covering. I worked with him before and after class until he caught up with the rest of the class. Several times a month, all the students attend worship services together in the Sanctuary. Sam insisted that he sit with me the rest of the year as we worshiped. By the end of the year, he was a well adjusted capable student. He asked me if there were any way possible that I could be promoted with the rest of the class in order to be their 6th Grade Hebrew teacher.
This morning, I am going to attend Sam’s Bar Mitzvah at the synagogue where I teach.
I still teach the 5th Grade and will probably teach one more year.
A little bit of Kabbalah from the Rebbe, obm before clos-ing: The truly humble person is not one who feels worthless or inferior. True smallness is what happens when a person stops thinking, “What will be with me?” and instead thinks, “What is needed of me right now?”
ב׳שלום,
R. Schoch, PRF Emeritus
Disclaimer – Anything written in this column is only my own impres-sion of events, the way that I interpret them, and not meant to be factual and true. If confronted by a challenge, I will immediately claim senility and deny writing whatever is being challenged.