The artscroll edition Quotes R' Eliezer as saying ,"I learned much Torah, and I taught much Torah. I learned much Torah, But I did not diminish my teachers knowledge even as much as a dog laps from the sea." He then says,"I taught much Torah, But my students diminished my own knowledge only as much as an aplicator that is dipped in a tube of eye-powder.
What is the meaning of the symbols in their contexts?
Thankyou for your reply!
yale siegel, St Louis Pk Mn U.S.A.
The oral Torah is often described as the 'Yam ha'Talmud' (the ocean of the Talmud - hardly surprising, seeing as the Torah is compared to water, as is well-known). Indeed, Rebbi Akiva compared all the vast knowledge that he had gleaned from the entire Torah to a drop out of the ocean.
Rebbi Eliezer is saying the same thing here about himself, only, as the Maharsha explains, in his extreme humility, he degrades himself by comparing himself to a dog. Needless to say, he did not extend that 'title' to his Talmidim'.
I would suggest that again as a mark of humility, he compared his Rabbeim's knowledge to the ocean, whilst his own, he compared to the relatively minute contents of a tube of eye-powder. But I don't know why he used specifically the example of a tube of eye-powder.
Be'Virchas Kol Tuv,
Eliezer Chrysler