“In the last conversation I had with my teacher Elie Wiesel z’'l, he quoted the Rosh Chodesh liturgy in which we pray for ahavat Torah v'yirat Shamayim, or, the love of Torah, and then awe of Heaven (which means spiritual awareness of the kind that leads to integrity). Wiesel explained that it is love of learning which leads to integrity and spirituality, and that our main role as teachers is to cultivate and awaken that love of learning. I asked him how we might do that. "By being it," he replied. "We have to become lovers of learning ourselves, and then the love becomes contagious." -- Rabbi Dr. Ariel Burger 

As part of a panel titled “Educating Jewishly to Live Wisely,” Rabbi Dr. Ariel Burger shares his pedagogy on the topic of "Teaching to Jewish Wisdom."

Illustration by Jessica Tamar Deutsch.

More to Consider

• Ariel Burger's website
• Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom