A barber tells his customer: Here comes the dumbest kid in the world. The barber holds out both his hands, palms open. In one hand he shows a dollar, and in the other hand two quarters.

He allows the boy to choose, and the boy selects the two quarters. The boy exits the barbershop, 50¢ in hand, to the sound of the barber’s laughter.

Later that day, the customer sees the boy and asks why he doesn’t just take the dollar. The boy replies: “The day I take the dollar is the day the game is over!”

Though it appears at first that the boy doesn’t know that a dollar is worth more than two quarters, in reality he actually understands that there is more value in selecting the smaller amount.

There is a difference between “knowing” and “understanding.” It is a distinction I am trying to discern in my goal to be a more effective classroom teacher.

In their classic textbook, Understanding by Design, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe explain to teachers that “to know” only means to acquire facts — mathematical formulae, historical dates, grammatical rules, etc. But “to understand” means to gain the ability to apply knowledge to meaningful situations — which leads us back to the very wise young man who takes the barber’s money every day.

The partnership of “knowledge” and “understanding” is already familiar to us via the Torah and Siddur. When God instructs Moses, in the book of Exodus, to build a tabernacle, God selects a man named Betzalel to be the chief artisan, declaring that He has endowed Betzalel with both “knowledge” and “understanding.”

The great 11th century commentator, Rashi, explains that “knowledge” is what one hears from others and then learns for himself; “Understanding” is the ability to distinguish between different pieces of information.

Both kinds of wisdom are necessary in order to truly succeed. Factual knowledge is the basis of further and deeper understanding of any subject matter.

In the daily Amidah which we recite three times each weekday, we ask God to grant us these same two gifts—“knowledge” and “understanding.”

Jewish education starts at the level of knowledge. Beginning students, whether children or adults, must first acquire some basic skills—e.g. learning to read Hebrew, awareness of the Jewish calendar, common ritual practices, familiarity with rudimentary prayers and tunes.

If the extent of one’s Jewish education ends with knowledge, and never proceeds to understanding, then I certainly can accept that one would be disenchanted with the process. That is why we have more work left to do.

Learning to read Hebrew (and all the more so, not learning) for the sole purpose of preparing for Bar/Bat Mitzvah is education which lacks any deep understanding, and will certainly not be sustained.

On the other hand, Jewish learning which continues into the sanctuary, the library, the Internet, the dinner table, one’s workplace, one’s interpersonal relationships, one’s very way of dealing with the most challenging hurdles in the paths of our lives—this is Jewish learning which is truly understood and has penetrated the mind, heart and soul.