Avtalyon Said: "Sages, Be Careful With Your Words, For You May Incur The Penalty Of Exile And Be Banished To A Place Of Evil Waters [Heresy], And The Disciples Who Follow You There Will Drink And Die [Spiritually], And Consequently The Name Of Heaven Will Be Desecrated."

The Disciples Who Follow You There Will Drink And Die

The mishnah does not express fear with regard to the future of the teacher himself, since he is a mature person, protected by the virtues of his Torah knowledge.[40] His students, by contrast, are more vulnerable, since they have not developed as thorough a knowledge of the Torah. Therefore there is greater concern for their fate.

(Sichos Shabbos Parshas Shemini, 5728)

   

Notes:

40. (Back to text) See Yoma 38b.