True Jewish Education

Every Jewish parent must know that a great mission and a heavy responsibility rest upon his shoulders. Hashem has entrusted him with holy and pure souls, and has placed upon him the responsibility to raise them and educate them in Torah and fear of Heaven. These souls are a sacred trust in his hands; he is not free to do with them as he wishes or according to whatever happens to enter his mind.

The work of education is one of the most difficult tasks entrusted to a person, because it requires great wisdom and deep sensitivity. A parent must understand the child’s soul, enter the depth of his world — the inner chambers of his heart — observe his character, temperament, and qualities, and from there pave the path that is uniquely suited to him, so that he can move forward on the road that ascends to the House of G-d. This is the meaning of “Educate the child according to his way” — his way.

Every child is a world unto himself. Every child has his own strengths and inclinations, and every child has what he is capable of hearing and absorbing. One who wishes to educate his children properly must try to recognize each child’s virtues and weaknesses — to strengthen the virtues and heal the weaknesses.

When a parent relates to his children through the worldview of a thirty- or forty-year-old adult, he wrongs both Heaven and the child.

For this reason, a parent must invest time in studying this field called education.

Let us expand on this matter.

One of the great giants of Chassidut who illuminated the skies of Polish Jewry was the holy Rebbe Kalonymus Kalman Shapira of Piaseczno, author of Chovat HaTalmidim.

Thousands of chassidim and students sheltered in his shade and warmed themselves by his light; and he, in turn, carried them in his mind and upon his heart.

Rabbi Kalonymus invested immense strength in education — both in the education of the young and in the education of adults, both of students and of educators. He invested the essence of his soul in education, together with all the wealth of his spiritual treasures. In this field, he stood apart and rose above the great figures of his generation. There were many tzaddikim and leaders of Chassidut who served the Jewish people in lofty ways — some through Torah and prayer, others through kindness and compassion. But Rabbi Kalonymus was unique in the wondrous work he accomplished in the field of education.

This is how he explains the concept of education in the beginning of Chovat HaTalmidim:

Education does not mean giving orders, instructions, and commands.

Education does not mean merely training the student to perform certain actions.

Education does not mean giving the child information and filling his head with facts about the world and all it contains.

Education is not commands, not drill, and not information.

Education means starting a new beginning. As Rashi explains on the verse, “Who is the man who has built a new house and has not dedicated it?” (Devarim 20:5): “and has not dedicated it” means that he has not yet lived in it. Chinuch, dedication or education, is a term of beginning.

Rashi writes this even more explicitly elsewhere (Bereishit 14:14): “Chinuch means the beginning of a person or object entering the craft or function in which it is destined to remain. So too, ‘Educate the child’; so too, ‘the dedication of the altar’; and so too, ‘the dedication of the house.’”

Accordingly, education is the beginning of the student’s fulfillment of his purpose.

Once a house exists, it is dedicated when people begin to live in it — this is chanukat habayit, the dedication of the home.

Once the altar has been built and begins to function, the beginning of its service as an altar is its dedication — chanukat hamizbe’ach, the dedication of the altar.

The same is true of a person. Once there is a child, we educate him by beginning to bring him into the fulfillment of his personal mission in revealing Hashem’s glory in the world. This is the meaning of “Educate the child.”

When this word — education — is used regarding the education of children, the intent is to raise and develop the child’s nature and capacity, which are present within him only in a small measure, or only in potential and concealment, and to reveal them.

And since within every Jewish person, even in childhood, the spirit of Hashem, the soul of Shaddai, is hidden and concealed, one must raise and educate him in order to bring it out, reveal it, and cause it to blossom, so that he becomes a faithful Jew who serves Hashem, desires His Torah on his own, and will not depart from his path even when he grows old. Regarding this, Shlomo HaMelech commanded: “Educate the child according to his way; even when he grows old, he will not depart from it” (Mishlei 22:6).

“Educate the child” means: educate him, penetrate into his inner being, and reveal the sanctity of the Jewish soul hidden within him. Only then “even when he grows old, he will not depart from it.”

Indeed, this is a great principle: every person has his own unique path in the service of Hashem. For every person, a distinct path has been paved — a path meant only for him. Along that path he must walk and advance, and through it he must reveal Hashem’s glory in the world.

Let us continue further on the subject of education.