Parsha Pearls

וּבְנֵיהֶם אֲשֶׁר לֹא יָדְעוּ יִשְׁמְעוּ וְלָמְדוּ לְיִרְאָה אֶת ה' אֱלֹהֵיכֶם כָּל הַיָּמִים אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם חַיִּים עַל הָאֲדָמָה

And their children, who did not know, will hear, and they will learn to have awe of Hashem, your G-d, for all the days that you are living on the land...[Devorim 31:11]

Commenting on this verse, the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh zt'l explains that the Torah is teaching us here a fundamental lesson in chinuch of our children:

ולמדו ליראה פירוש שבזה ילמדו יראת שמים, ואומרו כל הימים כי כשהקטנים מתחנכים מתחלתם ליראה יתיסד בהם יראת ה' כל ימיהם.

“and they will learn to have awe” - the meaning of these words is as following: Through this, they will learn [to acquire] [the midda of] Yiras Shamayim. And by saying: “for all the days", [the Torah is teaching us] that when young children are trained from a young age to have the [the midda of] Yiras Shamayim, then Yiras Shamayim will be inside of them throughout their entire lives.

כִּי הַמִּצְוָה הַזֹּאת אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוּךְ הַיּוֹם לֹא נִפְלֵאת הִוא מִמְּךָ וְלֹא רְחֹקָה הִוא...לֹא בַשָּׁמַיִם הִוא...וְלֹא מֵעֵבֶר לַיָּם הִוא...כִּי קָרוֹב אֵלֶיךְ הַדָּבָר מְאֹד בְּפִיךָ וּבִלְבָבְךָ לַעֲשׂתוֹ.

Because this mitzva that I am commanding you today, it is not hidden from you and it is not distant from you,...it is not in Heavens;... it is not across the sea,..Because this matter is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart to perform. (Devorim 30:11-14)

The Seforno explains that from the context of these verses we understand that the "the mitzva” that these verses are referring to is teshuva.

How can we apply this lesson to our lives? Hashem is promising us that if a person engages his mouth (tefilla and Torah) and his heart (sincere determination) to achieve teshuva - whether it being a complete teshuva or fixing a specific area - then he will be successful.