See One, Do One, Teach One in the 21st Century (S2, E32)

April 21, 2025·18 min·1 clip

Rabbi Cohen reveals how the Red Sea moment created a unique personal relationship with God.

Host Dr. Stephen Lapkoff and Rabbi Daniel Cohen explore the medical learning model "see one, do one, teach one" as a metaphor for Jewish life and legacy. They connect this framework to the Passover holiday and the intergenerational transmission of faith. Lapkoff recalls learning this motto during his medical training for procedures like drawing blood. He links the "see" stage to the child at the Seder who does not know how to ask, the "do" stage to his current role leading his family's Seder, and the "teach" stage to a future grandparent role. Rabbi Cohen emphasizes that Passover is about carrying forward ancestral investments so future generations become teachers themselves. He references the splitting of the Red Sea, noting the rabbinic distinction between those who entered the water first as leaders and those who followed. Cohen argues teaching is not filling a head with knowledge but "lighting somebody else's fire." Lapkoff shares a professional example of teaching a new analytics method by having his team first see an example, workshop it, and then own its implementation. He observes his own shifting role from a young parent to a parent of adults in their twenties. Rabbi Cohen connects the "do" phase to the personal revelation at the Red Sea, where individuals understood their unique relationship with God and responsibility to fuel God's light. A central question involves when to pass leadership to the next generation, illustrated by Lapkoff's dilemma over when to let a future son-in-law run the Seder. Lapkoff also considers whether to give his daughter family heirloom candlesticks at her wedding or hold them until his death. Rabbi Cohen advises giving the candlesticks now to fill her home with ancestral light but suggests retaining Seder leadership as the "elder statesman" for now. Lapkoff recounts how he assumed Seder leadership from his uncle Herman when his uncle's Parkinson's disease progressed. Rabbi Cohen shares a poignant memory of feeling his living father's spiritual guidance when he put on his kittel to lead his first Seder as a rabbi. The episode has a reflective, conversational, and personal tone, blending personal anecdotes with religious teachings. Listeners interested in intergenerational dynamics, spiritual mentorship, or applying life frameworks from other fields to faith would appreciate this episode. Those seeking a purely theological or scriptural analysis might find the personal storytelling less engaging.

As heard by us

A plainspoken reminder that Jewish learning matters most when it turns into lived responsibility.

The episode treats a medical-school mantra as a Jewish lesson about learning, then living what was learned, and passing it on. Stephen Lapkoff and Rabbi Daniel Cohen tie that idea to the stretch from Pesach to Shavuot, where personal growth, legacy, and responsibility all sit…

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When you want a Jewish conversation about learning, responsibility, and giving back.

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