On Shavuot, the status of teacher is elevated to its highest pinnacle. God, the Giver of the Torah is the Master teacher as well, and the recipients of Torah, the Jewish people, are God's students.
I have just returned from the graduation exercises of my lovely little shul in Annapolis. Simple, genuine and dignified, the ceremony was quite warm and moving. Everyone felt like members of one family and each one experienced the pride of every student's accomplishment as if he/she were everyone's own child.
One remark struck me in a particular way. It was an expression of a teacher who sorrowfully had lost a beloved daughter to cancer only a few short months ago.Yet, devoted as she is to her six and seven year old students, she persisted in teaching with an open mind and a cheerful heart.
"Whenever I teach, I return home happy.(That makes my husband happy, too.)"
What a wonderful criterion for success as a teacher. Not the amount of knowledge one imparts, neither the level of grade; but the feeling of joy that both student and teacher experience as a result of this sacred activity of study.
I wish everyone a joyful festival ,one in which after once again standing on Sinai to receive the Torah ,we return home to our everyday lives happy and joyful.
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