Think before you text

For 40 years, Moshe learned Torah from Hashem. Their lessons were always preceded by a call. Hashem would summon Moshe and then proceed to teach a particular subject. When one examines the layout of a Torah scroll, one notices that it is broken up into smaller sections or paragraphs. Did Hashem call Moshe before teaching him each subsection? 

Rashi writes that this was not the case. He called to him only at the beginning of the section, not at each subsection. If so, asks Rashi, what was the purpose of breaking the subject up into smaller sections? He explains that these pauses gave Moshe time to contemplate the laws he had just learned. If such a methodology was required for the greatest teacher and the greatest student, then how much more so is it when one human being teaches another! A student needs time to reflect on the lesson they have just heard. 

This teaching has major implications for education in particular and for the way in which we communicate information in general. Anyone who has studied Torah will notice that whatever subject one is studying, it is always broken up into smaller sections, be it Tanach, Mishna, Talmud, or Halacha. 

But the current state of communication is the furthest thing from the way in which Torah is taught and studied. Whereas Torah study provides opportunities for contemplation and reflection, the same thing cannot be said for 21st-century human interactions. Consider the world before emails. A person would receive a letter. The subject matter might have been extremely unpleasant, such as a demand for immediate payment, failing which, certain penalties would be instituted. The recipient of the letter would be annoyed, irritated, furious. His initial reaction would be to reply with an equally harsh response denying all claims. However, given the speed, or lack thereof, of traditional “snail mail”, the knee-jerk response would seldom be what was sent. The recipient would mull over his response. He might even sleep on it. He would draft a first version, then rewrite it, before placing it in an envelope and sending it by post. There was simply no possibility for immediate responses. 

But this is no longer the case. The speed at which we communicate today has created a culture in which replies are instant. More often than not, these replies, whether on email or social media are not adequately considered. They are emotionally charged and contain words of anger. In a few seconds, a business partnership or marriage can be destroyed because the offended party didn’t stop and think. 

I often wonder why people are so easily offended these days. Perhaps the answer is related to our subject. Before the advent of immediate communication, there was time to think before hurling insults, sharing fake news or airing dirty laundry. There were far fewer avenues available to be offensive. If we would only follow the method that Hashem used to teach Moshe Torah, the world would be a happier place: speak, pause, think, and only then, reply.