How Can I Not Teach?

The chorus rings out across our land: "I am not good enough to teach. I can't teach. I don't know enough. I don't know how." Perhaps there are those who fear the joke that "those who can't, teach," and they don't want to reveal the fact that they "can't" do some things. But it is not only the perfect teachers who are called to teach; there are no perfect teachers.

The following story was told by a Jewish religious leader, the Chofetz Chaim, in the 1930s, to encourage his people to keep each other pure, and let each one teach others so that they didn't fall away.

A traveler was invited by a wealthy man to have a cup of tea. When the guest looked into his cup, he saw sediment that had settled on the bottom. "Where is your water from?" he asked. When told that the town's water came from a local river, he advised his host that the town needed a filtration system. The system was installed, and thereafter, the water was crystal clear. It worked well until a huge fire broke out some time later and burned down half the town.

The next time the traveler was in town, he heard what had happened and inquired, "Couldn't you put out the fire?" The people replied, "It took a long time for the water to work its way through the filtration system, and there wasn't enough filtered water available to quickly control the flames."

"Fools!" said the traveler. "You don't need filtered water to put out a fire!"

The Chofetz Chaim went on to explain to those who resisted his call to outreach, "There is a fire raging in Klal Yisrael. We must grab whatever water we have and use it to douse the flames. Every Jew, on whatever level he or she is on, has to use his own capabilities to help extinguish the raging flames around us.”

From the article, "Those Who Can, Teach".

The article goes on with the query: The question is not, “How can I teach?” The real question is: “How can I not teach?”

We as parents, as friends, as family, must grab whatever water we have as well, to not only douse the flames of ignorance, fear and doubt, but to nourish knowledge, wisdom and faith. As Jesus' apostles taught, we plant and water where we can, and God uses what ever we can do in order to bring forth increase. The poor widow put in two mites, which were all she had, and she was made a great example. Another poor widow shared the last of her flour with a prophet, and she was blessed herself. May we all share what we have, be it small or imperfect or even lacking some of the details. The call to teach and admonish one another was not given to only the mighty and rich and schooled, but to the weak and poor and unschooled, so that the glory might go where it belongs, when teaching is done in the name of the LORD, as all things should be.

So we do our best. And May we all see the blessings that come from sharing what we have with those who are in need.