Title: Teacher and Student

General Information about Item: 

• Verbal Lore, proverb
• Language: Hebrew
• Informant: Shoshana Zohar
• Date Collected: 1 November 2018

Informant Data

• Shoshana Zohar was born 13 November 1988 in Elko, Nevada to a Jewish mother and Jewish, Israeli father. Shoshana was raised Jewish and after visiting Israel as a young adult, decided she felt safer there than in her home country. She moved to Israel in January 2013. Shoshana speaks fluent Hebrew and English.

Contextual Data

• Cultural Context: Shoshana first heard the proverb when she admitted to her cousin that she was too shy to ask something. It was said in a friendly but firm way to remind Shoshana that if she wanted to learn something, she would have to “get over” her shyness at least momentarily to ask. The second part of the proverb was told to her in a more soothing way to remind Shoshana that educators and people that teach will not be impatient or harsh with her or they would not choose to be educators.
• Social Context:  Shoshana says the two parts of the proverb can be used individually. For instance, she says that when she gets impatient at work when trying to teach someone how to do something, she’ll remind herself of this part of the proverb as a self-criticism to try harder to be patient. Shoshana would also use this proverb or tell it to others if she saw someone like her too shy to ask something, or someone being impatient when teaching another something.
• Shoshana invokes the first part of the proverb most often to remind herself that to use something she has just learned and may not have mastered yet. She added, “If you are too afraid of how you’ll look when you try something or when you ask a question, you won’t learn or improve.”
• Shoshana also indicated that this proverb isn’t always used literally. For instance, it can be used simply to relate to the fact that certain pairs of people will not work well together. Shoshana said that this proverb can be said to an acquaintance when discussing a dysfunctional relationship or partnership among two people with contradictory personalities.

Item

The piece was recited by Shoshana Zohar over a phone call and then repeated in Hebrew, followed by English translation for Hannah to record. Shoshana kindly provided the Hebrew text.

לא הביישן למד, ולא הקפדן מלמד

Word for Word Translation:

“No the shy learn, and no strict teaches.”

Translation:

“The shy one does not learn, and the impatient one doesn’t teach.”

 

Collector’s Notes

• I was unsure when I first heard this piece if it was in fact a proverb. The initial situation in which Shoshana explained it was used was far too literal with no use of metaphor. However, when Shoshana explained that the proverb can also be used to refer to any pair of people in a difficult relationship, the proverb gained metaphorical meaning.
• The proverb itself lacks the structures suggested by Dundes, but clearly has a parallel structure of its own that is unique among the proverbs I collected. The piece is also interesting as it does not seem to suggest a way of resolving the situation (two people that aren’t able to work together), but rather provides the absolute that such a relationship will not work.

Collector’s Name: Hannah Margolis

Hannah Margolis, 20

Hinman Box 2464

Dartmouth College

Hanover, NH 03755

Russian 13

Fall 2018

Tags/Keywords 

• Verbal Lore
• Proverbs
• Hebrew Proverb
• Relationships
• Teaching
• Learning