By Rabbi Yoel Caroline, Director of Chabad of Key Biscayne, FL
I am having a hard time with this contest for best teacher in Chabad. Promoting the tireless devotion and sacrifice of mechanchim who dedicate themselves to the most important Shlichus in our generation and arguably in the history of creation is understandably a most worthy endeavor.
I understand that a contest where someone ‘wins’ is, based on human nature, a good way to inspire awareness and excitement.
However, I am feeling that the inherent value of the dedication of each and every one of our dedicated mechanchim is just too much to be limited to any form of contest and for sure to any one winner or a group of finalists.
Of the five finalists,I actually know personally of the incredible dedication of 2 of them. One of them Mrs. Gerber, is a Shlucha in my hometown of Philadelphia and my wife and I worked for them in their Gan Israel camp which is a paradigm example of what a camp representing Chabad should be. Another of the finalists is a teacher in our own LEC, Lubavitch Educational Center here in Miami.
My wife Rivka and myself have experienced the education of our seven children at LEC, 3 of whom are current students. Just at this one Chabad institution we have experienced so much dedication from so many chassidishe mechanchim, that it would be ridiculous to try to choose ‘the best’.
I can personally say the same for other educational institutions including Chicago Mesivta, Oholei Torah, Brunoy Yeshiva and others.
While just as in any group, there will be those who are less motivated etc., as a whole and with few exceptions, our teachers are the most important, dedicated, under-appreciated and underpaid group in the world.
What would you think about a contest to choose the best Shliach or best Shlucha in the world? Wouldn’t it seem a bit ridiculous? (Unless of course you were voting for my wife).
Our teachers are the most important group of Shluchim of our Rebbe. They are on the front lines of our Rebbe’s Shlichus to prepare the world for greeting Moshiach. They are educating the next Shluchim and leaders in the Rebbe’s army. The growth ratio of the effort that they invest in awakening the pure potential in our children is exponential beyond our imagination.
Dedicated Chabad teachers, YOU are all winners!
Let’s get an independent board of judges from professionals outside chabad. And we could announce winners at main kinus.
Tell us about a teacher who stands above the rest! The Chinuch Award offers everyone the opportunity to say “thank you” to an exceptional teacher and show them how much we appreciate the hard work they do every single day. Please scroll down to fill out the form below. Each nominee must meet the following criteria: Teacher of any subject, grades 1-12, in a Chabad school. Spends more than 10 hours a week in a classroom. Three or more years of teaching experience. Communicates the core principles of MEF’s “Vision for Chabad Schools” and effectively integrates the Vision into his… Read more »
I don’t think Rabbi Caroline was necessarily saying that they should not have this award and attention. But rather to add context and perspective to it.
As a teacher for 7 years, I appreciate the award that is being given as well as this article. They are both needed. Life is rarely black or white, it is almost always in the grey area…
So well written and meaningful!!! I have been a teacher for over 20 years. I am of the firm belief that a teacher is an equal partner to the parent of the child. We work together to mechanech the children under our care. I love how you asked the question “what if” we had a Best Shliach/Shlucha contest. Same for the best parent award (unless you are referring to my husband who wins hands down) We all have our strengths and weaknesses, but it is hard to pick from such a vast ocean of wonderful people. Kol Hakvod to all… Read more »
I think it’s a great idea to have this recognition – but who were nominations accepted from ? Were any of them nominated by relatives or friends with a personal interest in mind?
While there are many old senior shluchim, there are few old Rebbes. I feel bad for the young Rebbe who starts teaching in Cheder and dedicates his youthful years. He replaced an old Rebbe who was “retired”, and after this young Rebbe is drained and deemed burned out, he too will also be put out to pasture, to be replaced by fresh blood.
It seems that almost everyone here agrees that barely anyone today wants to be a teacher and therefor there are just many unqualified teachers teaching because they couldn’t find a better job. if so perhaps the appreciation for great teachers (there are definitely more than 5) which are really needed should be much better E.G. support them monetarily and emotionally. If you cannot support them, at least don’t hurt them, they have feelings too.
For those teachers who are truly exceptional, there hard efforts will finally be rewarded. To those teachers who require monetary incentives to feel appreciated (like in a previous COL article) this will motivate them to never give up. There are many great teachers out there, I’m luck enough to have had an excellent education and appreciate the majority of the teachers I have come to contact with. However there are many who have been damaged for life by terrible teachers, with ramifications that are too horrible to write. Well meaning point, but I only see positive in this competition. Healthy… Read more »
After decades of no recognition to mechanchim, we get this article. There is a good dose of lip service written here about how mechanchim are the Rebbe’s foot soldiers and how it is the “shlichus” of our time. The reality is that Merkaz (won’t spell out the full name as it would make it obvious that their primary focus should be Chinuch) has BH done a tremendous job of offering support to shluchim everywhere. Just the kinnus alone cost a fortune and takes a team of talented people 6 months to prepare. Yet the cause alone has the most demand… Read more »
there are good teachers, great teachers, bad teachers and very lousy teachers. just because someone is a teacher it does not make him/her great or even good. why not recognize the good teachers and maybe the lousy once will get better or quit
We salute our teachers! The most important job
No connection to Jewish kids got talent. There the contest is only between the ones that enter the competition, and the judges decide who the winner is. In this scenario, you don’t enter yourself in. That makes the field allot broader. Also, there isn’t one specific ‘act’ to judge on. It’s a much harder thing to pick a winner on.
could not have said it better. Also agree with #37, only HKBH can know who is “best” .Everyone should be recognized for their efforts and strength. Was hoping some teachers wouldn’t be hurt by not being recognized, when I read about the contest, Thanks again Rabbi Caroline for bringing out some very important points we needed to hear.
These may be 5 excellent teachers but how can you label best teacher? What may be best for one person is not best for another. I have had my children In classes with dedicated devoted and caring teachers, none of whom are listed here.
Not every teacher is the best teacher. That does not make any sense. Some teachers are better than others. Which basically means that not every teacher is the best.
How did the competition determine who are the five best teachers? what was the criteria? How many teachers were they chosen from?
What has become of us such lack of appreciation so much criticism so much self righteousness parents need to realise that when children fail it simply isn’t someone else’s fault teachers fault classmates’ fault. Everyone but the actual protagonist. Parents need to grow up and place responsibility where it lies. Teachers are entitled to be paid a living wage with decent benefits just as you the parents demand good conditions in your own employment.
BTW I ain’t no teacher nor a parent of a a teacher so unbiased opinion
Don’t post stuff which makes look like a loser
I wish the teachers from our little cheder were on that list. Yes, we do have some wonderful teachers. And they are for sure underpaid. But it takes someone special to be voted #1. I know teachers with years of education and experience and they still don’t “have it”. I know of a teacher with no education past high school and she is amazing. Teachers need motivation, too. Perhaps an award might be motivation. I would hope, though, that the reward for being an amazing teacher is the act itself.
As a veteran teacher and principal reading these comments I say amusedly, “Do you think this contest is going to create kinas sofrim and propel teachers to try to become the next winner of this contest”? Good teachers are propelled by their intrinsic
motivation to be masters at their craft. No contest has any bearings on that.
craft.
motivation to excel, grow and develop into masters at their cra
A more appropriate ‘contest’ might be voting for an award of excellence each year. It rewards exceptional teachers (who have someone to put their name forward, and vote for them), and it does not demean those ‘best’ teachers in every city who may not be nominated for a variety of reasons. It is not a ‘contest’! You cannot compare it to a talent show! You can work your hardest and try your best, and have a difficult demographic to teach, or have ungrateful, disinterested parents who don’t care to vote for you. It is nice to recognize excellence, and it… Read more »
Now teachers can feel like how students feel, when they award the best student of the year. I never got any of those rewards- not like I even tried- the kids who are naturally good kids get rewarded- and makes everyone else feel like chopped liver. The concept of best student/teacher has no place in our system. If you feel a teacher or student excels you can award them privately.
The headlines for the article of the five teachers chosen said..”best teachers in Lubavich” these are five excellent teachers that were chosen..based on feedback given to the judges…there are hundreds of teachers in Lubavich and lots of their students may not have even known of this contest…there are five contest winners…not necessarily the Best in Lubavich
Your point is 100% on target. Also, the choice is arbitrary…some might think this teachers is best …while others for their child thought that teacher was the worst, and didn’t meet their childs’ needs. excellent point..all mechanchim and mechanchos are WINNERS!
Some teachers are incredible, some should have quit years ago… if we cannot compliment 1 person without complimenting the whole crowd, the sentiment is worthless. Thank you MEF for all you do to ensure wonderful chinuch in all the schools!
Thanks for writing this article.
All the good teachers need to be recognized, not only 5 of them
Yes, I’m sure these are all outstanding teachers. But, just because someone wrote a very persuasive comment about how amazing they are, direct necessarily mean they are better than other teachers who were voted for by ppl who didn’t express themselves so well. Or ppl who would’ve voted for a certain teacher but didn’t know about the contest… I saw a teacher’s name written by honorable mention. I know her personally. Why was she chosen over a diff amazing teacher? Maybe if someone would’ve written about the other amazing teacher the other one would’ve been chosen…
Thanks for your beautiful article. 100% agree! I like your example of best Shliach. Also, what makes a best teacher? The one Hashem gave the best talents to? The one who puts in the most hours? The one who tries the hardest? The one that the kids like the best? The one that is tech savvy and creative? The one who taught the longest? There are so many parts to a great teacher and each one deserves to be awarded for their effort. P.S., I greatly appreciate and I think it’s brave and real when the author of an article… Read more »
Hello all: Going back to the Mishnaic times, AvoisPerek Shaini.
Mishna Tes. Rabbi Yoichonon ben Zakai certainly had more than five students. And FIVE are enumerated together with each of their qualities. Kinas soifrim tarbe chochmo. Honorable mention is indeed productive.
“…put in that extra effort qnd were chosen”.
That’s exactly the point of the article. Hundreds of teachers put in the extra effort every day, but were not chosen. Not because they are not good teachers, and not because they don’t put in the effort. Point is they still deserve recognition, and just because someone decided on a set of criteria, and set up a committee of a few teachers to vote, that doesn’t make these teachers the best. There are hundreds of best teachers out there.
#13 very well said! it’s important to appreciate teachers. It’s also important to know that some teachers can be destructive to students
Every teacher is not the best. Sad to say, some really shouldn’t be in the classroom at all.
MEF is doing great work in supporting chinuch and bettering our schools.
Like everything in life, everyone doesn’t always agree and it’s ok to hear the opinion of others.
Kol hakovod to MEF, to teachers and mechanchim who dedicate their lives and partner in raising our children.
Sorry! The arbiter got it all wrong. It’s not a competition between teachers. It’s a reward given to a nominated teacher chosen by a panel. Every teacher has a chance to be nominated as the initial request was made clear. It is an appreciation of ALL teachers work and dedication. The fact that there is one grand prize winner etc… only encourages and motivates schools to be more appreciative. The fact is that this prize and the banquet and all MEF activities brought up the level of professianalism in the field of Chinuch to unprecedented heights.
Very nicely written article. I think there is truth to what you are saying, but it not the whole truth. On a certain level, just by being a teacher one already deserves a huge yasher koach and endless recognition and gratitude. As a teacher myself, I thank you for noticing that. However, there is also room to recognize outstanding talent it achievement. So the contest is not a bad thing. I would say the wording is very important with regards to the contest. They should not use the words ‘best’ teacher. They should use the contest as a way to… Read more »
So far all the responses have been from parents or others. I would be interested to hear from teachers themselves hi5w they feel about thiss contest instead of speculating.
To those who disagreed with my emphasizing the greatness and importance of our dedicated mechanchim; I believe that we are not disagreeing much, if at all. The title of the article was chosen by COL. I don’t believe that ALL teachers are the best. It is the responsibility of the parents to work with administration to either train or weed out unqualified teachers and to protect our children from any form of spiritual, emotional or other abuse Hashem yeracheim. I made that point subtly but I wanted to emphasize the positive of our DEDICATED (that’s group I was praising) mechanchim.… Read more »
“…put in that extra effort qnd were chosen”.
That’s exactly the point of the article. Hundreds of teachers put in the extra effort every day, but were not chosen. Not because they are not good teachers, and not because they don’t put in the effort. Point is they still deserve recognition, and just because someone decided on a set of criteria, and set up a committee of a few teachers to vote, that doesn’t make these teachers the best. There are hundreds of best teachers out there.
Yikes!
What the writer is saying is that teaching is Meserus Nefesh. I know I could never be with 25 kids for 8 hours a day. Yes some teachers may not be good but the majority are and therefore singling out five is not saying that the thousands of others aren’t superstars. They all deserve our respect and deep deep gratitude for polishing our gems every single day!
I’m not sure if i agree that all teachers r excellent but so many were not even thought about. The ones that won deserved it, but so do so many others. I guess it boils down to who knows who. In tzivos Hashem as long as a child learns they win, it just depends how much work they r willing to put in. There can be 50 generals. In this contest some teachers were not even judged or thought about. Maybe the title should say some of the top teachers allowing room that there others as good, as dedicated as… Read more »
There is a Gemorah in Bava Basra that discusses issues about teachers, and the Gemora ends off by saying “Kinus Soferim Tarbe Chochma” that through teachers seeing that other teachers are doing amazing jobs, that will cause a jealousy, that will make other techers work harder”. That Gemorah believes strongly that there is a need showing efforts of a teacher, so that other teachers will realize what type of responsibility they have, a take there teaching seriously. If you going to say all teachers try hard and do there best, I think you should sit in your kids classroom for… Read more »
I agree with most of this article. It’s true that every teacher is a shliach and dedicates his/herself to educating and inspiring the students. Yet, as we all know, there do seem to be some teachers who go above and beyond their call of duty. I personally know Bailey Vail and she is a true example of “ibergegebn” to her shlichus. So let’s reward them and honor them, but be sensitive when writing an article about them. Perhaps title the article , “Dedicated Teachers in Lubavitch” or “Teachers who are Making a Difference. …” This way, no teacher feels slighted… Read more »
Especially these days, many teachers don’t belong in school with our kids!
A teacher is a big role to fill and requires alot
As it is brought down in Hayom Yom, we need to make sure that our kids are being guided by the proper people that are fit to lead by example.
Teaching is not a job or a paycheck
Bailey Vale, we love you!!!! You are THE BEST!!! We appreciate your hard work in Austin, TX and still miss you!!!!!
Grow up will ya? Why are we taking everything so literal. Yes many teachers work very hard no one is denying that. But these 5 put in that extra effort and were chosen. We don’t have to write ab op-ed every time a thought pops into our head.
I’ve had children in our Chabad schools for over 3 decades. Some teachers were warm, caring and effective in teaching my children. Some were so so. And some were downright awful. Some were born leaders. Some were teaching only because “if you can’t do, teach”. Some were living examples of what a chossid should be. Some looked like they didn’t care two hoots about halacha. My children loved some teachers and still respect them and their teaching methods. Some were really bad, ineffective, abusive. One was so detrimentall I had to remove my child from that teacher’s class. There is… Read more »
this is the liberal way of thinking…lets reward everyone and lets reward for effort not achievement, looks and smells like communism to me, lets remember the rebbe did approve the tzivos hashem system where the children are able to go from rank to rank in a competition….
I totally agree with the sentiments expressed by Rabbi Caroline
Though, as in every field , there are those who do not meet the highest standards, most teachers are dedicated ,proffessional, and devoted to their studentse. Voting for the “best,” somehow demeans them( although the intention was definitely positive
100% agree
Teachers do need motivation, and that should come from support of the hanhala and verbal or written thank you’s from parents
Like this article. Well said
“mechanchim ……the most important Shlichus in our generation and arguably in the history of creation” Finally someone who calls it as it is!
If you are at all shayach to teach, care and guide children this is the Shlichus of today. You can be the greatest of shluchim. The Rebbe spoke countless times about the importance of being in the field of chinuch. So many of the schools in Lubavitch are looking for teachers so please consider taking it if you can……. we (parents) will be sooooooo appreciative.
Oh and by the way, an excellent article, point well made.
All educators are winners
If only world leaders thought like you. Then teachers would not be underpaid!
This was expressed beautifully . The dedication and succes of all Chabad Educators is exceptional and are amazing Shluchim of the Rebbe. They are the frontline soldiers .
These are exactly my sentiments! How can you say these are the best teachers in lubavitch? Every teacher is the best in their own way!!
But weird…. what about jewish kids got talent? Are u saying the competition is ridiculous because they are all winners? They all have talent! Thats the point of a competiton! Some one- or more then one person win! And that’s life!!!!!! While many teachers are understandably amazing (and I know personally 4 out of the 5 women finalists!), it’s still a wonderful idea to have people compete to become better and more amazing…. there’s always room for improvement 😉
VERY WELL SAID !!
Were not 2 years old … I think we understand that there are other great teachers out there … but leaving that point aside, no…. not all teachers are amazing… some shouldn’t be teaching at all actually … Some are in it because they won’t get a job anywhere else if they left… some are staying because of salary and benefits — yeled vylda teachers have that advantage … please don’t tell me all teachers are great teachers … and the part where they think they’re great is actually damaging to students many times. No, I’m not a bitter person,… Read more »