We suggest you learn together with your children, and then create a booklet to commemorate this learning. But, we’d like to model the learning and teaching of different children in the family on the educational philosophy of Rabbi Hiyya:
Resh Lakish was marking the burial vaults of the Rabbis. But when he came to the grave of R. Hiyya, it was hidden from him. He experienced a sense of humiliation. “Master of the Universe!” he exclaimed, “Did I not delve into the Torah as he did? ” Thereupon a Heavenly Voice cried out in reply: “You did indeed delve into the Torah as he did, but did not spread the Torah as he did.”
Whenever R.Hanina and R. Hiyya were in a dispute, R. Hanina said to R. Hiyya: “Would you dispute with me? If, Heaven forfend, the Torah were forgotten in Israel, I would restore it by my argumentative powers.” To which R. Hiyya rejoined: “Would you dispute with me, who achieved that the Torah should not be forgotten in Israel? What did I do? I went and sowed flax, made nets [from the flax cords], trapped deer, whose meat I gave to orphans, and prepared scrolls from their skins, upon which I wrote the five books of Moses. Then I went to a town which had no teachers and taught the five books to five children, and the six orders of the Talmud to six children and I said to them: Until I return, teach each other the Pentateuch and the Mishnah; and thus I preserved the Torah from being forgotten in Israel. This is what Rabbi (Rabbi Judah HaNasi) meant when he said, “How great are the works of Hiyya!”
(Baba Mezia, 85b)
Consider the educational philosophy of Rabbi Hiyya. He does not begin by teaching. He begins with a handful of flax seeds. He plants, he weaves, he makes nets, he traps deer. He uses their skin for parchment to prepare scrolls of the Torah and the Mishnah. In addition he gives the venison to orphans. Clearly, R. Hiyya engages in tikkun olam. Everything has a purpose in nature and every action leads to educating the children.
Once the five books of Moses have been prepared, R. Hiyya enters the town and teaches each one to a child. He then tells each child to teach the other until he returns. Brilliantly, R. Hiyya turns each student of his into a teacher, both with the Torah and the Mishnah. Consider if you will the educational benefit of this method. In addition to giving the children the responsibility to teach there is a cumulative effect rendered. By the time the first child has taught the Book of Genesis for example for the second time he has already learned (from his colleague) the Book of Exodus, so that his knowledge has increased exponentially. This process continues.
It is therefore, no wonder that Torah will not be forgotten in Israel! It is also not surprising that Reish Lakish (who we met at the beginning of our story) was unable to find the burial vault of R. Hiyya. The message is that R. Hiyya never really died since his Torah lived on.
We suggest that during the eight days of Hannukah you and your family prepare booklets using the texts you have studied. Having each author teach their interpretation (in their booklet) to the other members of the clan insures that your Hannukah “Torah will not be forgotten in Israel”.