Rashi cites the Sifri which interprets “your children” to be synonymous with “your students.” Indeed, students are likened to spiritual children. The Talmud Bava Basra 8b interprets the pasuk in Daniel 12:3 — sgu okugk ohcfuff ohcrv hehsmnu, “and those who teach righteousness to the multitudes [shine] like stars forever”, as a reference to Torah teachers. Why is a mechanech, educator, compared to stars? Horav Mordechai Ilan, z.l., suggests two reasons. The rebbe must be pure, his mind and heart unspoiled. Just as the stars are distant from the earth, the rebbe’s essence is distant from “artzius,” earthliness…
