Prepping for Finals and all of Life's Tests

Students go to school 9 months a year, but it is this time of year when they really think about how to grasp information, if for no other reason than to spit it back on final exams, standardized tests, achievement tests, etc. There are other reasons in life that we might need to gain information, or impart that information onto others. Not just for tests in school but for the tests that we come across in life: the right way to act, how to respond to injustice or mistakes- made by us or others. The very beginning of Parshat Emor gives us suggestions on how lessons can be learned:

And the Lord said to Moses: Speak to the kohanim, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: Let none [of you] defile himself for a dead person among his people

אוַיֹּאמֶר יְהֹוָה אֶל משֶׁה אֱמֹר אֶל הַכֹּהֲנִים בְּנֵי אַהֲרֹן וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם לְנֶפֶשׁ לֹא יִטַּמָּא בְּעַמָּיו:

Emor--- veAmarata

On the most basic level, Hashem tells Moshe to convey these rules to the Kohanim- twice. Lessons are rarely learned on the first try, Learn it- and learn it again, and probably a few more times. Our Rabbis have said that to truly know a piece of Gemara you need to review it 4 times- or 100 times, and “the person who reviews it 101 times is even better.” As students of life we must be willing to accept that we won’t learn it the first time. As educators we can’t say that we’ve done our job by mentioning the lesson once, or even teaching it thoroughly once- we need to constantly review and reinforce.

Midrash: Emor- VeAmarta: Teaches us that angels with no yetzer hara can be told things once, while humans who have a yetzer hara need to hear things at least twice.

The Midrash is not discussing our ability to absorb information but rather our willingness / interest inundertaking a course of study. Before a person will learn something, s/he must be ready and willing to undertake the learning process. This can only be accomplished when students understand the importance of that lesson and therefore commit to learning it, such as: it’s important for my grade or if I learn it I will get an incentive. This step of appreciating the value of the lesson is critically important for those lessons that do not have a clear and immediate payoff- the lessons of modesty, honesty, faith in Hashem, commitment to Halacha- the lessons that don’t appear on one’s final grade (from school at least).

          Every student needs to make appreciate the value of the lesson and commit to it, as the step before any lesson can be learned. This is an often ignored but critically important role that a teacher fills. we can't just learn Hilchot shabbat or the Talmud in Baba Metziah; we must also explain why Shabbat and the holidays are so important to Jewish identity, and what an ox goring another ox has to do with 21^st century Jewish living.

Let us commit to teaching and learning in the spirit and with the strategies that we learn from Emor - VeAmarta.