Growth Mindset: A Key to Torah Greatness
The Torah states, LOW BASHOMAYIM HE…- “(The Torah) is not in Heaven that you should say, who shall go up for us to heaven and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it?”
The Gemara Airuvin (55a) explains this verse that if the Torah would be in heaven we would still have an obligation to climb up and reach it. It means that because Torah is so crucial to our existence even if its acquisition was very difficult we would still need to make every effort to do so.
Baruch Hashem, Torah is not in Heaven or on the other side of the world. It is within the grasp of all of us to pursue and acquire. Yet, success in Torah for many is a great challenge because of various human limitations. Many children in our schools struggle to experience academic success. As such, good schools offer quality supports, employ appropriate instructional strategies and individualized attention to enable children to forge ahead and overcome the obstacles that limit success. However, a basic personality attitude often undermines the greatest efforts to help children succeed. And the opposite mindset can help a person defy the greatest odds against success.
Sefer Toldos Odom brings a story of HaRav Zalman of Volozhin, a student of the Vilna Gaon and brother of HaRav Chaim the founder of the Yeshiva of Volozhin. Rav Zalman needed a certain sefer in the Bais Medresh that was physically in a difficult place to reach it. It was stuck behind a very heavy box and no one was available to help him move the obstacle. Rav Zalman began to repeat the passage in the Gemara, “If the Torah would be in heaven we would still have an obligation to climb up and reach it...” over and over again with great love and devotion to the Torah that there eventually welled up in side of him such a strong desire that he moved the box by himself. Rav Zalman believed in himself and he was able to overcome a most challenging obstacle.
Rav Zalman exhibited a GROWTH MINDSET in contrast to a FIXED MINDSET. Basically, a GROWTH MINDSET fosters a belief that basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work. A strong aptitude and talent are just starting points. The growth mindset creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. On the other hand, a FIXED MINDSET, fosters a belief that basic qualities like intelligence and talent are simply fixed traits. There is a belief that talent alone fosters success without great effort.
In her book, MINDSET, Dr. Carol Dwek describes the results of her exhaustive multi-year research on the affects of a person’s mindset on his success. Suffice to say, everyone has either a growth or fixed mindset or a combination of the two. Children are impacted by their own mindset and the mindset of the adults who are responsible for their growth and development.