Avtalyon Said: "Sages, Be Careful With Your Words, For You May Incur The Penalty Of Exile And Be Banished To A Place Of Evil Waters [Heresy], And The Disciples Who Follow You There Will Drink And Die [Spiritually], And Consequently The Name Of Heaven Will Be Desecrated."
The
mishnah does not express fear with regard to the future of the teacher himself, since he is a mature person, protected by the virtues of his Torah knowledge.
[40] His students, by contrast, are more vulnerable, since they have not developed as thorough a knowledge of the Torah. Therefore there is greater concern for their fate.
(Sichos Shabbos Parshas Shemini, 5728)
Notes:
- (Back to text) See Yoma 38b.
