And God said, "Behold, I have given you every seed bearing herb, which is upon the surface of the entire earth, and every tree that has seed bearing fruit; it will be yours for food. (Bereishit - Genesis - Chapter 1:29)
Educating children is the main instrument for the continued existence of Judaism. It is an established fact that children learn more from observing their parent's behavior than from hearing parent's instructions how to behave.
If the parents only speak to the child bout good behavior, but they themselves do not behave that way, then even if they give themselves some excuse and apologizes, the child will not accept it in his heart. He may obey for a short duration but it won't be permanent, since he has no intention of being better than his parents. A certain man, who was very preoccupied, told me that he had a factory, and was also in charge of the Shul. He therefore found himself too busy to study Torah. Once he rebuked his 11-year-old son to sit and study. The son responded "I know as much Torah as you do!"
And this is the meaning of the verse (Proverbs 22:6) "Train a child according to his way; even when he grows old, he will not turn away from it". This means that if a child is educated according to the way of the father, that the son follows in the way he sees in his father how he himself behaves, and then " even when he grows old, he will not turn away from it."
Although some people think that it is difficult for themselves to overcome their natural instincts and to be meticulous in mitzvos and good deeds, they nevertheless want their sons to behave in this straight and good way, so they try to give off an external impression that they are very meticulous. Esau (Genesis 26) knew how to deceive his father with his mouth by asking his father how to tithe salt and hay to make his father think he was meticulous in the commandments. But the reality is that it is impossible to deceive one's children, because even children have a feeling and mind to notice that it is only an exterior facade, for they clearly see that in practice the father himself is not meticulous in mitzvos, so the children will follow this practice of posing on the outside as G-d fearing, and will demand of their children to be scrupulous in the commandments although they themselves are lax.
In particular, it is necessary for children to see the father learning and engaging in the mitzvos out of joy and cheerfulness, as in Psalms (Psalms 100:2)"worship G-d with joy". In this way, the children will develop their service of Hashem in joy. Of him scripture said (Psalms 112) Praiseworthy is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly desires His commandments. His seed will be mighty in the land, a generation of upright ones, which shall be blessed.
This is not so when a father groans in doing the mitzvos as Torah and prayer and Sabbath observance, and comes late to the synagogue fuming and full of anger and upset at his perceived burden. He converses freely during prayer services, showing that everything is a burden to him. If he has no regular time for Torah study, then he has nothing to give over to his children and no interest in discussing Torah and Halacha with them because he truly has no interest in mitzvos, but rather he tries to dodge the Torah and the mitzvos because he thinks that he is losing out when at the same time he can make money or other gains.
In this regard, it is narrated in the Gemara (Sukkah 56), a priestess married a Greek official. When the Greeks conquered Jerusalem and entered the Holy Temple, she kicked the altar on which the mitzvah of sacrificial offerings was observed, adding "How long will you devour Jewish money in vain" When the sages heard what she had done, they punished her family because as the saying goes "what a child says in public - it is from either the father or mother". The girl heard her parents speaking in a derogatory way about Torah and Mitzvohs that they lose money by keeping the commandments, which caused her to say that sacrifices is a waste of Jewish money (G-d forbid), because those who do not believe that everything is from G-d for the observance of the mitzvos, believe that it is a waste to lose the enjoyment and physical use of the flesh. This led her to marry a Greek who believe that money and good fortune is up to themselves.
It is well known that a great Rabbi said, that among the families who came to America in earlier years, only those who kept the Sabbath happily, saying that observance of mitzvos does not cause a loss, their sons remained observant of Torah and mitzvos, as opposed to others who sighed at the loss.
Therefore, each and every one of the children of Israel needs to know and remember that if he wants all his descendants to be holy and pure and behave in the right and good way, then the main thing depends on his own behavior, because his sons and daughters always see all his behavior, and this causes them to behave like him.
And it can be said that this is what Hashem alluded to in His words to the first man and Eve: "and every tree that has seed bearing fruit." - I created man like a tree, as it is written (Deuteronomy 19) that man is a tree of the field, "in which is the fruit of a tree" - whose own behavior influences the fruit. Therefore, the parents' behavior is "sowing seed for you will be edible" - in this you sow the good results of the nachas you will enjoy in the future all the years, that in addition to the reward you receive for the very good deeds, you get a real and eternal nachas.
Comments
Post a Comment