[Avodah] Teachers learn from students

[Daniel Eidensohn]

I need some help in understanding Bava Metzia 33a;

"MISHNAH. IF [A MAN'S] OWN LOST ARTICLE AND HIS FATHER'S LOST ARTICLE 
[NEED ATTENTION], HIS OWN TAKES PRECEDENCE. HIS OWN AND HIS TEACHER'S — 
HIS OWN TAKES PRECEDENCE; HIS FATHER’ S AND HIS TEACHER'S — HIS 
TEACHER'S TAKES PRECEDENCE, BECAUSE HIS FATHER BROUGHT HIM INTO THIS 
WORLD, WHEREAS HIS TEACHER. ‘WHO INSTRUCTED HIM IN WISDOM, BRINGS HIM TO 
THE FUTURE WORLD....

Gemora ....R. Hisda asked R. Huna: ‘What of a disciple whom his teacher 
needs?’26 ‘Hisda, Hisda,’ he exclaimed; ‘I do not need you, but you need 
me.’ Forty years27 they bore resentment against and did not visit each 
other. R. Hisda kept forty fasts because R. Huna had felt himself 
humiliated, whilst R. Huna kept forty fasts for having [unjustly] 
suspected R. Hisda."

The mishna states that even though there is an obligation to honor one's 
father and return his lost objects - the teacher who brings him to Olam 
HaBah takes precedence. The gemora acknowledges that only certain 
teachers have this superior status. In the course of clarifying this 
issue the gemora describes an encounter between Rav Huna and his student 
Rav Chisda. This is where I get stuck.  Rav Chisda asked Rav Huna if a 
rebbe - who would normally take precedence over a father - loses that 
status because he learns from the student. Rav Huna was insulted because 
he mistakenly thought that his student Rav Chisda was implying that he  
was dependent on Rav Chisda. He strongly denied that he needed his 
student Rav Chisda and said the opposite was true - that Rav Chisda the 
student was in fact dependent on him. In fact Rav Chisda was not only a 
student of Rav Huna but had been a student of Rav - the teacher of Rav 
Huna. Thus  Rav Chisda was a talmid chaver of Rav Huna. The gemora 
clearly indicates that eventually Rav Huna fasted forty fasts to atone 
for having incorrectly suspecting his student while Rav Chisda fasted 
for having upsettiing his teacher.

I simply don't understand what happened and what we are supposed to 
learn from this. Why did it take 40 years to reconcile? We know that 
teachers learn most from their students - is it a crime for a student to 
mention or even allude to that fact? I did find that the Beis Yosef 
learns from this than an implied insult is considered an insult.


Daniel Eidensohn