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Tree and Man

31/08/2012 08:51:39 AM

Aug31

 

In Parasha Shoftim we are told that "Man is like the Tree of the Field" and on this basis the Talmud and commentaries expound upon the many similarities that exist in both Tree and Man.

Among my favorites is the following: It is only possible to ignite a large piece of wood by first getting the fire going with small branches and chips. So too, explain our rabbis, the teachers of the generation depend for their inspiration on their students. It is the constant questioning and probing of students which enables their teachers, rabbis and professors to achieve the clarity they require for new discoveries. Or as our rabbis have so succinctly put it: "I have learnt much from my teachers, even more from colleagues, but from my students, most of all".
 
In this regard, it is worth quoting one of the most famous physicists of our time - John Wheeler.
 
A journalist once approached Wheeler with the following question:
 
You have educated many leading physicists, both in nuclear physics and in general relativity, at Princeton. Do you have some thoughts about educating students?
 
Wheeler: Shouldn't you rephrase your question? After all, I'm sure that it is really the students who educate me! We all know that the real reason universities have students is to educate the professors. But, in order to be educated by the students, one has to put good questions to them. You try out your questions on the students. If there are questions that the students get interested in, then they start to tell you new things and keep you asking more new questions. Pretty soon you have learned a great deal.

So please dear congregants, fire your questions away, and with Hashem's help, I will do my best to respond.

Rabbi Benzion Milecki OAM

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