We continue in chapter five of Pirkei Avos, in Mishnah twelve, and before us is another set of four: "Arba middos b'talmidim" - there are four types among students. The Mishnah evaluates students according to their abilities on two axes:
Sharpness - the ability to learn and absorb quickly.
Memory - the ability to retain what was learned and not forget it.
From these two axes emerge four possible combinations: quick to grasp and slow to grasp, strong memory and weak memory - and the Mishnah lists all of them.
"Mahir lishmoa u'mahir l'abed":
A student who absorbs his learning quickly, but also forgets it quickly - about him the Mishnah says "yatza s'charo b'hefsedo" - his gain is cancelled by his loss. The advantage of learning quickly is more than offset by the disadvantage of a weak memory.
An important clarification: this is the same expression we saw in the previous Mishnah, and it must not be misunderstood. When the Mishnah speaks here of "gain" and "loss," it does not mean divine recompense - the reward and punishment a person receives in the World to Come. A person's reward in the future is a function of his choices and of the effort he invests in carrying them out, as Chazal put it, "l'fum tza'ara agra" - according to the effort is the reward. Here reward and punishment are not under discussion at all; the phrase is borrowed language only, used to describe advantages and disadvantages.
"Kasheh lishmoa v'kasheh l'abed":
The second type is a student for whom learning comes with difficulty and who is not quick to absorb, but once he has understood, he does not easily forget. About him it says "yatza hefsedo bi'scharo" - his loss is cancelled by his gain. True, there is a disadvantage in being a slow learner, but that disadvantage is more than compensated for by his good memory.
From here emerges an important practical halachic application: in a situation where there are resources to support only one student - for example, supporting someone learning or awarding a scholarship - preference is given specifically to the one with the good memory over the sharper and quicker student, since in the end he is the one who retains the information.
No exemption from learning or from review:
In none of these four possibilities is there any hint that a person is exempt from learning or from reviewing what he has learned. On the contrary, it is incumbent upon a person to exert himself and learn to the best of his ability, and for every effort he invests he receives reward. Therefore, even someone whose memory is extremely poor should learn, for he receives reward for the very act of learning Torah.
As for forgetting - we have already seen in the previous Mishnayos that one who forgets something from his learning endangers his life, and that one who serves as a rav cannot even claim that he acted unintentionally. A person must do his utmost to remember, and Chazal gave advice for this:
Review: The Rema explains that whenever a person is not learning, he is forgetting, and therefore he must review what he has learned from time to time. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, and not some ordinary person, would review all of his learning every thirty days so that he would not forget a thing. The key to review is to go back over the material before it has been forgotten, for then the review strengthens it; once the learning has already been forgotten, this is no longer review but learning all over again.
Learning out loud: Chazal stressed the importance of saying one's learning out loud, in order to involve as many senses and limbs as possible in the act of learning. One can write the material down, say it aloud, chant it with a tune, and even move the whole body - all of these deepen the impression and help one remember over the long term. Well known, and amusing, is the story of Bruriah, the wife of Rabbi Meir, who kicked a student for not learning out loud.
Still, the bottom line is that people differ from one another. From here comes an important conclusion for anyone who serves as a teacher: he must internalize that every student has different abilities and different ways of thinking. True, we were all born free, but we were not born equal. In every classroom there are children who are smarter than others and children with better memories than others, and the teacher has to figure out at what level to aim his lesson in order to serve his students in the best possible way.
"Mahir lishmoa v'kasheh l'abed - chacham":
The third type is the one who learns easily and quickly and also does not forget what he has learned, and about him the Mishnah says that he is "chacham," wise. Literally the word means intelligent, and it seems that the Mishnah's intent is that this person possesses the traits found among the wise - this is, as it were, the recipe for wisdom, and it is largely given at birth. No one is born wise; a person must toil for it. But the traits required for it are generally found in someone who is blessed with these two qualities. Notice that there is no moral judgment here: the Mishnah does not say that this person is pious, for whether a person is pious or wicked depends on his own choice, whereas here choice plays no role at all - some are born with certain talents and some are not. Indeed, the Meiri's version of the text here is not "chacham" but "chelek tov": this person received a good portion from Heaven, he was given a good mind.
"Kasheh lishmoa u'mahir l'abed - chelek ra":
The fourth type is the one for whom learning is difficult and whose memory is weak, so that he forgets quickly. About him the Mishnah says that this is a "chelek ra," a bad portion - such is the lot that fell to him. Since he is not especially sharp and his memory is weak, learning will be hard for him; nevertheless, he too receives reward for his learning, and in fact, precisely because learning is harder for him, his reward is greater, in keeping with "l'fum tzaara agra" - the reward is a function of the effort invested.
It emerges that not one of us is permitted to stop learning, no matter how difficult it may be for him. Not only do we receive reward for the effort itself, but the more a person exerts himself, the better he becomes at his learning and the stronger his memory grows. For anyone who wants to preserve his memory and strengthen it, the best way is to use it, to remember things as best he can and to review them in an organized and consistent manner. And with Hashem's help, may each person do whatever he is able in order to learn and know as much Torah as possible.