Avraham Avinu made souls – so did Sarah Imeinu – each focusing on members of his or her own specific gender. Developing the spiritual qualities of their students and leading them to belief in the Almighty was much more than spiritual refinement. It was a process by which Avraham and Sarah transformed their students, actually made them anew. They developed the potential of each student, bringing it to the surface. They accomplished this through the medium of mitzvah performance, which teaches us that every act of mitzvah performance is transformative, capable of altering a Jew’s overall essence.
In Pirkei Avos (5:22), Chazal distinguish between the students of Avraham and those of Bilaam harasha, the evil one. Avraham’s talmidim, students, were identifiable by their good eye, humble spirit and meek soul. Those who possessed the opposite – a greedy soul, an arrogant spirit and an evil eye – were students of Bilaam. In his commentary to Parashas Balak, the Sfas Emes wonders why one requires the services of a rebbe to teach bad/negative middos, character traits. No pedagogical process is necessary. All one needs to do is remain in the proximity of an unrefined, uncouth, self-centered, evil person – and those traits will eventually rub off. It sounds almost as if one must “learn” these negative middos, when, in reality, it should be understood that one who does not strive to develop good/positive character traits will invariably develop negative ones!
Horav Mordechai Gifter, zl, teaches us a critical lesson in Torah chinuch. Chazal are not addressing the teaching of middos, but rather, the learning of chochmah, wisdom, from a rebbe. One must be acutely aware that separating the educational material from the personality of the rebbe is impossible. Thus, when one studies wisdom from a mentor whose middos are vulgar, insensitive, discourteous, iniquitous and revolting (just to mention a few), his mentor’s deficiencies will rub off on him.
When one manifests good middos, it indicates that he has studied under a rebbe who possesses refined character traits. Someone who possesses negative character traits attests to the inferior ethical and moral quality of his mentor. Avraham’s students were walking advertisements for the Rebbe and institution in which he mentored the students. Likewise, those who attended Bilaam’s school of wisdom demonstrated by their very behavior who their mentor was. This is a powerful lesson to parents from a Rosh Yeshivah who transformed the lives of thousands of students: the establishment of an appropriate environment through the influence of a mentor, friends (who also mentor) is an essential aspect of the educational development of a child. It is not only all about learning. It is about who your child’s mentor is that often determines the direction the child will take in life.
