Zoom’s shortfall?

Chapter 1, Mishnah 4

יוֹסֵי בֶן יוֹעֶזֶר אִישׁ צְרֵדָה וְיוֹסֵי בֶן יוֹחָנָן אִישׁ יְרוּשָׁלַיִם קִבְּלוּ מֵהֶם. יוֹסֵי בֶן יוֹעֶזֶר אִישׁ צְרֵדָה אוֹמֵר, יְהִי בֵיתְךָ בֵית וַעַד לַחֲכָמִים, וֶהֱוֵי מִתְאַבֵּק בַּעֲפַר רַגְלֵיהֶם, וֶהֱוֵי שׁוֹתֶה בְצָמָא אֶת דִּבְרֵיהֶם

Yose ben Yoezer (a man) of Zeredah and Yose ben Yohanan [a man] of Jerusalem received [the oral tradition] from them [i.e., Shimon the Righteous and Antigonus]. Yose ben Yoezer used to say: let thy house be a house of meeting for the Sages and sit in the very dust of their feet and drink in their words with [great] thirst.

L: A first thought: In today’s world, I don’t think we fully appreciate how difficult and how precious it was to get a scholar to come to your house, and distances they had to travel in order to reach your home.  

An aside: I have a friend, a Jewish history scholar, who told me that during the Middle Ages (or during the times of the Mishnah, I imagine) it took two days to go from Yerushalayim to Yafo.  And here we are today, complaining how it took us an extra twenty minutes to get from Tel Aviv to Yerushalayim because there was a P’kak, a traffic jam, on Route 1!  Today, we have Zoom, the Internet, that allows teachers to enter your home almost any hour of the day or night.

H: Even more important. I think it’s important to add that you, the student, should appreciate everything a Rabbi teaches you. You should have a lot of respect for them.

L:  Irving Bunim, in his commentary, adds to your point, Howie. He says, “There are too many of us who consider having people visit our home an invasion of our privacy. Some, perhaps, fear the wear and tear on the furniture, or getting the house in the a ‘mess.’  Yet there can be no finer atmosphere with which to suffuse your home than that of learned meaningful discussion and the study of Torah. Let your children and grandchildren be exposed to such an environment. Let your neighbors see a home alive with the glories of Torah.”

Bunim does not even say anything about your children or grandchildren actually listening to the visiting scholar.

H: I suppose Bunim is staying that it is by osmosis that the grandchildren will learn from them. 

L: …even if you were a four-year-old child running around the house, you will absorb something from the atmosphere created in your home during a scholar’s visit.

Bunim further says, “If we wish, we can interpret the Mishnah to mean: wherever the wise congregate, make that your home.  Frequent the study hall; spend time with those intellectually alive. Make the study hall your second home.”

I don’t know about you, but I haven’t done that for quite a while.

If Bunim were writing today, what would he say about learning through Zoom, as we had to do during Covid?

H: I think he would say that pick yourself up, bring in that scholar or go to shiur, and make something of your learning opportunity.

L: You’re right. We should not just pick up a mouse and click into a session.  What impression do your grandchildren have when seeing you learning on a Zoom session.  The child may think, “Oh Dad, or Zeide, is ignoring me again!”