May Our Eyes Light Up

“When a student sits before his teacher and discusses a matter of the law, his teacher perceives the trend of his thoughts, and what he has overlooked and what is clear to him and what stubbornly eludes him, and explains (the matter) to him until the student’s eyes light up…”

I came across this quote from Rav Sar Shalom b. Boaz, a 9th-century Babylonian Gaon, earlier in the semester, and I was so touched by it. Here, R. Sar Shalom lifts up the value of relational teaching. He asserts that even regarding the most mechanical issues, proper teaching can only be carried out in the closeness of relationship. 

What especially strikes me is the imagery of light he uses to capture the experience of learning. Every form of light is born of movement—an electrical current passing through a filament, a flint brushing against steel, the charged collisions in a storm that give rise to lightning. It stands to reason then, that the light we draw out of one another must come from spiritual movement. To put R. Sar Shalom’s insight another way: To teach someone in earnest is to move them, such that they illuminate.

This metaphor resonates because it reflects the teaching and learning experiences that many of us know intimately. When I think about the teachers who have shaped me most, their impact had little to do with the content they conveyed. Instead, it came from the way they stirred something within me—how their presence, curiosity, and care set something in motion. That is why I love teaching and learning Torah: because it has an enduring and holy capacity to move the spirit in deeply transformative ways. As R. Sar Shalom expresses, that movement can be as powerful and dramatic as turning darkness into light. 

Especially now, in this month of Kislev—our month of prolonged darkness, where Jews around the world are tasked with bringing and growing light—it’s worth remembering that light doesn’t only come from Hanukkah candles or from a decorative strings of LEDs. Light is within us. It is through knowing one another, through sharing our wisdom and our experience, our personal Torah, that we draw it out. 

I look forward to learning, teaching, and generating light with all of you—not only this month, but throughout my time at BJ. This community already shines with radiant Torah and song, and I am honored to be moved by it. May we continue to connect, to ignite each other in learning and in care, and may we bring forth light from the darkness of our season and from the depths of our spirits.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy Thanksgiving and Kislev, filled with light and care. 

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbinic Fellow Iliana Brodsky