T134 PNC - Teaching Torah Even to One — Must Not Exceed Listener's Capacity (1 seg)

Teaching Torah — even to a single individual — is a great and holy work. All the more so when teaching many. However, a teacher must exercise extreme care not to convey concepts that are beyond the listener's current capacity to receive and understand. Teaching Torah beyond the listener's capacity is compared to a form of licentiousness — it is a misplacing of something holy into a space that cannot yet hold it, and the result is not illumination but damage. The Torah given to a student who is not yet ready for it does not build him up — it can overwhelm and confuse, leading to spiritual harm rather than growth. The teaching must always be calibrated to the student: give what the student can receive and absorb, and when the student grows, give more. This is the path of the true teacher.