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Short Summary
Main recommendation: Teachers should recognize that their influence on students can be profound and lasting, so they should continue their work even when it feels burdensome. The story of Jeffrey Levinson, a boy from a non-observant family who became Shabbos-observant after a fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Esther Reich, illustrates this. The video urges teachers of Torah to keep going, since they may never know the impact they have.
Key Points
- Jeffrey Levinson (a pseudonym) was from a non-observant family sent to a Jewish day school, where his teachers inspired him to daven seriously and consider keeping mitzvos.
- Before his bar mitzvah, Jeffrey told his parents he would not be driven on Shabbos. He stayed with the elderly shamash and his wife for Shabbos, and after the bar mitzvah his parents stayed there too for the rest of Shabbos instead of driving back.
- Rabbi David Trank, a warm mechanech at a Philadelphia yeshiva, learned with Jeffrey twice a week after Jeffrey's father called him directly and the Akiva principal also spoke to him about Jeffrey.
- Jeffrey said he became committed to Shabbos because he wanted to be just like his fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Reich.
- Mrs. Reich had been planning to quit teaching due to the earlier school start time, but after learning of her influence she decided to continue.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: The video gives no step-by-step instructions. Its only actionable advice is for Torah teachers to recognize the great responsibility and influence they hold, and to keep doing their work.
- The school is called 'the Akiva Day School' (a placeholder name) in New Jersey, and the story is presented as a true account from Stories to Inspire.
- Jeffrey was valedictorian at his high school graduation and later lived in Baltimore with a frum family.
- Mrs. Reich is identified as the daughter of Rav Schneider Kohn and the wife of Rosh Yeshiva Rav Oren Reich.
- The story is relayed through Rabbi Trank's wife, Leah, who is the narrator's cousin.
Bottom Line
A teacher's example can shape a student's life in ways the teacher never sees, so educators should persist in their work with that responsibility in mind.
