Maimonides called teachers who beat children cruelly wicked men
Evidence
The teacher should strike the children only with a small strap, only on their bodies, and only for the sake of their learning. He should not strike them in anger, and he should not strike them with a cruel beating. If he does so, he is a wicked man. … The phrase, in Hebrew, is harey zeh rasha. Behold, this one is a wicked. This is not a soft formula. Rasha is the legally and morally weighted word for a bad person in rabbinic Hebrew. It is the word the prayerbook uses for the enemies of the people. It is the word the Passover Haggadah uses for the wicked son — the son who excludes himself from the community. That is the word Maimonides applies to a teacher who strikes children too hard. — , The Rod and the Child, 231
Categorization
- XREF: The rasha designation links to the broader theme of how religious authority held corporal punishment accountable, contrasting with the license found in the English tradition. — connects to: Maimonides codified that striking a child in anger makes the teacher wicked — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 2513