Parker J. Palmer, The Courage to Teach
"The power of our mentors is...in their capacity to awaken a truth within us, a truth we can reclaim years later by recalling the impact on our lives...." (p. 21)
"In the face of the apparent judgment of the young, teachers must turn toward students, not away from them, saying, in effect, 'There are great gaps between us. But no matter how wide and perilous they may be, I am committed to bridging them-not only because you need me to help you on your way but also because I need your insight and energy to help renew my own life.'" (p. 49)
"To teach is to create a space in which the community of truth is practiced." (p. 90)
"Every person participates at all times in the act of either destroying or redeeming the world. The Messiah is in us. This is why every child is of such immense importance."
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
Empowerment cannot happen if we refuse to be vulnerable while encouraging students to take risks. Professors who expect students to share confessional narratives but who are themselves unwilling to share are exercising power in a manner that could be coercive. In my classrooms, I do not expect students to take any risks that I would not take, to share in any way that I would not share .
bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress, p 21.
“If you want your child to study Torah, study Torah in front of them. Because if you only tell them to study, you will instead have children who will one day tell their own children to study Torah.” Hence this has the transitive property of "If you want your child to redeem the world, attempt to redeem the world in front of them. Because if you only tell them to redeem the world, you will instead have children who will one day tell their own children to redeem the world.”
Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk
Empowerment cannot happen if we refuse to be vulnerable while encouraging students to take risks. Professors who expect students to share confessional narratives but who are themselves unwilling to share are exercising power in a manner that could be coercive. In my classrooms, I do not expect students to take any risks that I would not take, to share in any way that I would not share.
bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress, p 21.
Zohar
A parable.
To what can this [Torah study] be compared? To a lovely princess,beautiful in every way and hidden deep within her palace. She has one lover, unknown to anyone; he is hidden too. Out of his love for her, this lover passes by her gate constantly, lifting his eyes to every side. She knows that her lover is hovering about her gate constantly.What does she do?
She opens a little window in her hidden palace and reveals her face to her lover,
then swiftly withdraws, concealing herself. No one near the lover sees or reflects,
only the lover, and his heart and his soul and everything within him flow out to her.
And he knows that out of love for him she revealed herself for that one moment to awaken love in him.
So it is with a word of Torah: She reveals herself to no one but her lover.Torah knows that he who is wise of heart hovers about her gate every day. What does she do? She reveals her face to him from the palace and beckons him with a hint, Then swiftly withdraws to her hiding place. No one who is there knows or reflects;
he alone does, and his heart and his soul and everything within him flows out to her.
That is why Torah reveals and conceals herself. With love she approaches her lover
to arouse love with him.