Beyond The Letter Of The Law
‘He May Be Replaced By One Who Teaches More [Faster] …’
(Baba Basra 21a)
We find the following very relevant dispute on our daf as regards teachers of young children. Rava is of the opinion that a rebbi of young children, who teaches at a certain pace, may not be replaced by one who teaches at a faster pace. Though the replacement is more qualified, we fear that he may slacken off.
Rashi (s.v. “dilma asi l’isra’shuli”) explains that he will be overconfident as he assumes that he is so superior that he even replaced another teacher – he will surely have no fear of his ever being replaced. This will cause him to take his teaching duties lightly.
R. Dimi disagrees with Rava and opines that we may replace a teacher with one who teaches at a faster pace, and surely we need not worry that he will slacken off because the jealousy between scholars serves to increase wisdom.
Rashi (s.v. “kol sheken”) explains R. Dimi’s view. Since there is competition between scholars, he will always be mindful of the teacher he replaced, who will be at the ready to openly correct any of his mistakes, even to the degree of embarrassing him before the townsfolk.
Job Security/Performance
Shita Mekubetzet (ad loc.) explains that their dispute centers around whether job security enhances job performance or whether it weakens job performance.
Rava reasons that where there is no job security, a teacher might not expend even minimal effort, let alone any special effort on behalf of the students. He assumes his efforts will not be appreciated for he is constantly subject to summary dismissal.
R. Dimi argues that to the contrary, a teacher, subject to dismissal at any time, will be ever vigilant for fear of being replaced.
The Halacha
The halacha follows R. Dimi that a teacher can be replaced. However, there is a dispute as to how we understand this halacha.
Aruch HaShulchan (Yoreh De’ah 245:19) explains that a teacher can be replaced even mid-term, as a teacher is no different than any other worker who can be replaced at any time – just as the worker has the right to quit at any time.
He notes that neither the employer nor the employee would be allowed to indenture one another – as this would violate “Avadai hem, ve’lo avadim l’avadim” – they are my servants and not servants to servants.
Radvaz, however, rules that a teacher can only be replaced at the end of the school term. His view apparently is that our Gemara is does not refer to the issue of dismissing a teacher mid-term – rather, the question centers on whether he must be rehired for the next term. He reasons that the intent of our Gemara is that where it is deemed not to be beneficial for the students, he need not be rehired for the following term.
The Advocate
The gaon Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (Iggros Moshe, vol. I:75-77) takes a stricter view on behalf of the employee (teacher), and would not permit dismissal of a teacher or a worker even at the end of the term (of employment) without good reason, even though his performance is only minimally satisfactory. We find a similar view in Even Ha’azel, (Hilchos Sechirus), where the gaon Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer, Kletzer rosh yeshiva, ruled in a case similar to ours – the employer being a communal entity, a yeshiva – that the hanhala were duty bound to go beyond the letter of the law in dealing with their employee.
