Musar for Bava Batra 41:13

דכתיב (מלכים א יא, טז) כי ששת חדשים ישב שם יואב וכל ישראל עד הכרית כל זכר באדום כי אתא לקמיה דדוד אמר ליה

Come and hear: If a man has a room in a courtyard which he shares with another, he must not let it either to a Mohel, or bloodletter, or a tanner, or a Jewish teacher<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Heb. sofer [H] generally meaning 'scribe', is here taken to denote 'teacher' (Rashi). Tosaf., however, translates 'townscribe', to whom people come to have their documents written. R. Gershom renders 'hair-dresser', as though the original were [H] ');">¹¹</span> or a non-Jewish teacher! — The reference here is to the head teacher of the town [who superintends the others].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And who therefore has an exceptionally large number of visitors. ');">¹²</span> Raba said: Under the ordinance of Joshua ben Gamala. children are not to be sent [every day to school] from one town to another,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For fear they may come to harm on the way, but any parent can compel the community of his town to appoint a teacher. ');">¹³</span> but they can be compelled to go from one synagogue to another [in the same town]. If, however, there is a river in between, we cannot compel them. But if, again. there is a bridge, we can compel them — not, however, if it is merely a plank. Raba further said: The number of pupils to be assigned to each teacher is twenty-five. If there are fifty, we appoint two teachers. If there are forty, we appoint an assistant, at the expense of the town. Raba also said: If we have a teacher who gets on<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'reads', viz., the prayers or the Scripture. ');">¹⁴</span> with the children and there is another who can get on better, we do not replace the first by the second, for fear that the second when appointed will become indolent.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Having no competitor to fear. ');">¹⁵</span> R. Dimi from Nehardea, however, held that he would exert himself still more if appointed: 'the jealousy of scribes increaseth wisdom.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., the jealousy of the one who has been replaced will be a stimulus to the other not to disgrace himself. ');">¹⁶</span> Raba further said: If there are two teachers of whom one gets on fast but with mistakes and the other slowly but without mistakes, we appoint the one who gets on fast and makes mistakes, since the mistakes correct themselves in time. R. Dimi from Nehardea on the other hand said that we appoint the one who goes slowly but makes no mistakes, for once a mistake is implanted it cannot be eradicated. This can be shown from the Scripture. It is written, For Joab and all Israel remained there until he had cut off every male in Edom.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' 1 Kings XI, 16. ');">¹⁷</span> When Joab came before David, the latter said to him:

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