“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos
Kodesh parshas Beshalach – Shabbos Shirah
12 Shevat 5783/February
3, 2023
FOREVER
OURS
In
a commencement address to the Eagle Hill School Class of 2013, noted educator,
Rick Lavoie, spoke about the importance of education.
Towards
the end of his lecture, he related the following:
“I
don’t happen to be Jewish, it’s not my faith. However, my teaching philosophy
matches closely with the Jewish philosophy and 20% of my speeches are delivered
in front of Jewish organizations. Many times, I am the first non-Jew asked to
speak at their organizations. I have fallen under the spell of these rabbis;
they are just so brilliant and scholarly. One time I lectured to a group of 400
rabbis. Do you know what it’s like to be in a room with 400 people and know
you’re the dumbest person in the room?
“One
time I asked a rabbi why the Jewish people are so focused on education? He
replied that it’s because education is portable; you take it with you wherever
you go. As a people, the Jews have been driven out of their land numerous
times. They have been stripped of their money, homes, and wealth. But no one
could take away their knowledge and education.”
Rabbi
Jonathan Sacks related: “Imagine you are the leader of a people that has
suffered exile for more than two centuries and has been enslaved and oppressed.
Now, after a series of miracles, it is about to go free. You assemble them and
rise to address them. They are waiting expectantly for your words. This is a
defining moment they will never forget. What will you speak about?
“Most
people answer: freedom. That was Abraham Lincoln’s decision in the Gettysburg
Address when he invoked the memory of “a new nation, conceived in
liberty,” and looked forward to “a new birth of freedom.”
“Some
suggest that they would inspire the people by talking about the destination
that lay ahead, the “land flowing with milk and honey.” Yet others
say they would warn the people of the dangers and challenges that they would
encounter on what Nelson Mandela called “the long walk to freedom.”
“Any
of these would have been the great speech of a great leader. Guided by G-d,
Moses did none of these things. That is what made him a unique leader. If you
examine the text in parshat Bo you will see that three times he reverted to the
same theme: children, education and the distant future…
“Jews
became the only people in history to predicate their very survival on
education. The most sacred duty of parents was to teach their children. Pesach
itself became an ongoing seminar in the handing on of memory. Judaism became
the religion whose heroes were teachers and whose passion was study and the
life of the mind. The Mesopotamians built ziggurats. The Egyptians built
pyramids. The Greeks built the Parthenon. The Romans built the Coliseum. Jews
built schools. That is why they alone, of all the civilizations of the ancient
world are still alive and strong, still continuing their ancestors’ vocation,
their heritage intact and undiminished.
“Moses’
insight was profound. He knew that you cannot change the world by externalities
alone, by monumental architecture, or armies and empires, or the use of force
and power. How many empires have come and gone while the human condition
remains untransformed and unredeemed?
“There
is only one way to change the world, and that is by education. You have to
teach children the importance of justice, righteousness, kindness and
compassion. You have to teach them that freedom can only be sustained by the
laws and habits of self-restraint.”
The
late Chief Rabbi of Britain, Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits, had a warm relationship
with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
The
first time they met, Thatcher was recently appointed Minister of Education.
Rabbi Jakobowits greeted her and said, “It is a pleasure to meet you, Minister
of Defense.” She replied that he was mistaken because she was the minister of
education, not defends.
Rabbi
Jakobovits replied, “In our tradition the security of a country and the defense
of its values and ways of life lie in the hands of those who educate our
children. There is nothing more important than education!”
An
administrator in an Israeli yeshiva recounted his experience as a child living
in a dormitory Yeshiva many decades ago.
The
food served in the institution was fairly meager and the young boy was always
hungry. One day the institution served chocolate pudding and the boy took his
portion and wolfed it down, and then got back in line and asked for another
portion. The server refused his request with a nasty remark. Frustrated and
angered the boy turned over the entire chocolate pudding pot and spilled its
contents on the ground.
The
boy was beaten for the act and the head of the institution publicly reprimanded
and humiliated the child. The following day Rabbi Aryeh Levin was coming to
visit the Yeshiva. The child was told that his eventual fate as to whether he
would be expelled from the institution would be decided by Rabbi Aryeh.
The
child spent a sleepless night crying over his fate. The next morning, he met
Rabbi Aryeh who asked him to sit next to him and then asked him if he really
spilled out the entire pot? When the boy admitted his guilt, Rabbi Aryeh asked
him if he would do such a thing again. The boy shamefacedly said that he would
never do such a thing again. Rabbi Aryeh then asked him, “Do you really
like chocolate pudding?” When the boy answered that he did, Rabbi Aryeh told
the boy that he too loves chocolate pudding. He then took out two containers of
chocolate pudding and told the boys they would enjoy eating it together.
At
that moment, the educator said, I realized what it means to be a Torah Jew.
In
a similar vein, Rabbi Chanina Herzberg, the late beloved menahel of the yeshiva
of South Shore for over 40 years, was a devoted student of the legendary
mechanech, Rabbi Shlomo Freifeld.
Rabbi
Herzberg related that on one occasion when he was a high school student in
Yeshiva Chaim Berlin, he was thrown out of class. Rabbi Freifeld, the menahel
of the Yeshiva, saw him in the hall and asked him, “Chanina, do you want to go
for a cup of coffee and a danish?” They went together to a bakery near the
Yeshiva and schmoozed.
Rabbi
Herzberg would muse that Rabbi Freifeld became his lifelong and foremost rebbe
with a coffee and a danish.
I
have the great fortune to have a close relationship with Rabbi Mordechai
Finkelman, the Mashgiach of Ohr HaChaim in Queens and a beloved mechanech, from
the years he spent in Camp Dora Golding. Anyone who came to speak with him in
his camp office cannot forget the poignant words on the sign hanging behind his
desk: “Children need our love most when they least deserve it.”
As
Torah observant Jews we invest incredible amounts of money, resources and
effort upon the education of our children. We prioritize it almost above all
else. That has been the secret of our continuity and remains the source of our
eternity. But Torah education can never be fully accomplished institutionally.
It must be individualized and tailored to the unique personality and soul of
every child. Sometimes a bowl of chocolate pudding or a visit to a bakery can
accomplish more than hours of lectures. True chinuch requires patience, love,
and a vision beyond the behaviors being displayed in the moment.
We
were liberated from Egyptian tyranny so we can be free to educate and guide our
children to follow the path of Torah. Such freedom is challenging and
demanding. But the returns are eternal.
Shabbat Shalom
& Good Shabbos,
R’ Dani and Chani Staum