They should also endeavor to influence their former students and contacts of previous years, by sending them a letter, phoning them or using other means of contact. They should even reach out to those who have now grown up and already accepted positions as teachers and mentors.
This connection (between a teacher and his or her former student) should be as enthusiastic as it was in the past, when they had a formal teacher-student relationship. However, the teacher should take into account that both teacher and student will have advanced intellectually since then, and endeavor, using more advanced methods, to expand his or her knowledge accordingly.
Once a teacher, always a teacher … True, these former students are presently studying under other teachers, or may have gone to another city altogether. Nevertheless, a teacher does not forget his or her pupils… A teacher always looks for an opportunity – and Hashem grants success to such endeavors – to come in contact with former pupils and to impart something, be it via letter, telephone or personal encounter. After all, since the teacher has acquired additional knowledge of Judaism, general positive information, wise words or spiritual insights since then, he or she desires to share this additional knowledge with former students.
“Many years ago,” the teacher explains, “we were afforded a limited number of hours to cover a specific (limited) quantity of material. Now that I have advanced in chochmah, binah veda’as (wisdom, understanding and knowledge), I'd like to share some additional insight…” And this is true even when the former pupils have themselves become teachers... (Address to Neshei Chabad [Chabad Women’s Organization], Iyar 23 5749; Hisvaaduyos pp. 206-207)
