Four Generations

My first mentor used to say, "If what we learn isn't passed along to others, we're like the Dead Sea—rich in minerals, but can't support life." (This was long before I read Avot 1.1.) So I suppose it was no accident that when I first read 2 Timothy, these words jumped off the page:

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Messiah Yeshua. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Tim. 2:1-2).

Shaul envisions four generations passing on the apostolic mesoret (tradition): (1) Shaul, (2) Timothy, (3) those whom Timothy will teach, and (4) those who would be taught by Timothy's students.

Let me tell you, when you teach (formally or informally) with the idea that those you teach need to pass it along, your teaching will acquire a dynamic that can come from no other source. It acquires a unique intensity and momentum that emanates from Messiah Yeshua.

Here's the key: teaching has to be permeated with a forward-moving dynamic that impels students to pass it on to others who, in their turn, will pass it on to still more. 

This doesn’t imply only rote transmission, though that has its place as well. What you give to others should be integrated with their own learning from all sources and with what they develop themselves.

Shaul has a large vision. He is thinking of four generations. He urges Timothy to envision (at least) three. He’s not suggesting that Timothy’s students only envision two, then one, then none! At each step, there must be a vision for at least three generations: never teach with the idea that it ends with your students.

Shaul is writing about the formation of tradition. It takes generations to establish a tradition, and each generation has to own the responsibility to pass it on.

These instructions have guided me during several decades of teaching and mentoring followers of Yeshua. I won’t go into details here, but thanks to my first mentor and the grace of the Messiah, I’ve seen this dynamic work for several decades now.