What is the Teacher's Role in the Age of Information Abundance?

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel and the Sages disagreed about this. One said: Sinai is preferable; the other said: an uprooter of mountains is preferable.

Rav Yosef was Sinai; Rabba was an uprooter of mountains. They sent there [to the Land of Israel]: Which of them takes precedence? They sent back: Sinai is preferable, for the Master said: Everyone needs the master of wheat. Even so, Rav Yosef did not accept the appointment. Rabba led for twenty-two years; afterward Rav Yosef led. Throughout the years Rabba led, Rav Yosef did not even have a bloodletter come to his house.

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: When Moses ascended on high, he found the Holy One, blessed be He, sitting and tying crowns to the letters. He said before Him: “Master of the universe, who is holding back Your hand?” He answered: “There is a man who will arise after many generations, Akiva ben Yosef by name, who will expound heaps upon heaps of laws from every point of a letter.”

Moses said before Him: “Master of the universe, show him to me.” He answered: “Turn around.” Moses went and sat at the end of eight rows. He did not understand what they were saying, and his strength failed. When they reached a certain matter, Akiva’s students asked him: “Rabbi, where do you get this?” He said to them: “It is a law given to Moses at Sinai.” Moses’s mind was put at ease.

Moses returned and came before the Holy One, blessed be He. He said: “Master of the universe, You have such a man, and You give the Torah through me?” He answered: “Be silent; this is what arose in My thought.” Moses said: “Master of the universe, You have shown me his Torah; show me his reward.” He answered: “Turn around.” He turned and saw them weighing Akiva’s flesh in the market stalls. Moses said: “Master of the universe, this is Torah and this its reward?” He answered: “Be silent; this is what arose in My thought.”

Reish Lakish was marking the burial caves of the rabbis. When he reached Rabbi Ḥiyya’s cave, its location eluded him. He was distressed. He said: “Master of the universe! Did I not analyze Torah as he did?” A heavenly voice went out and said to him: “You analyzed Torah as he did; you did not spread Torah as he did.”

When Rabbi Ḥanina and Rabbi Ḥiyya disputed, Rabbi Ḥanina said to Rabbi Ḥiyya: “Are you disputing with me? If, Heaven forbid, Torah were forgotten from Israel, I would restore it through my analysis.” Rabbi Ḥiyya said to Rabbi Ḥanina: “Are you disputing with me? I make it so that Torah will not be forgotten from Israel.”

“What do I do? I go and sow flax, weave nets, and catch deer. I feed their meat to orphans, prepare scrolls [from their hides], and write the five books of the Torah. I go to a town and teach five children the five books, and teach six children the six orders of the Mishnah. I say to them: ‘Until I return, teach one another Scripture and teach one another Mishnah.’ Thus I make it so that Torah will not be forgotten from Israel.”

This is what Rabbi [Yehuda HaNasi] meant when he said: “How great are the deeds of Ḥiyya!” Rabbi Yishmael, son of Rabbi Yosei, asked him: “Even greater than yours?” He answered: “Yes.” “Even greater than my father’s?” He answered: “Heaven forbid! Let there be no such thing in Israel!”

A parable: A man lived among the mountains and did not know the ways of city dwellers. He sowed wheat and ate the grains themselves. One day he entered the city, and they brought him good bread. The man asked, “What is this for?” They said, “It is bread to eat.” He ate, and it tasted very pleasing to his palate. He asked, “What is this made from?” They said, “Wheat.” Later they brought him loaves kneaded with oil. He tasted them and asked, “What are these made from?” They said, “Wheat.” Later they brought him royal pastries kneaded with honey and oil. He asked, “What are these made from?” They said, “Wheat.” He said, “Surely I am master of all these, for I eat the root of all these things: wheat.” Because of this understanding, he did not know the delights of the world, and they were lost to him. So it is with someone who grasps a general principle but does not know all the enjoyable delights that come from that principle.