And that’s why we begin with little children; we start teaching them these subjects right away. Once a man told me — sixty years ago he told me this — he said he doesn’t understand. His little child goes to a yeshiva school and they’re teaching him Bava Kamma, laws that a lawyer has to know. “My little child has to be a lawyer?” That was his kashe. Why teach them Bava Kamma? A little child of six years old!
And Reb Yisroel Salanter answered that kashe. He said if you don’t start at the earliest age teaching him about somebody else’s body, somebody else’s property, somebody else’s feelings, he’ll grow up without any understanding how serious it is! That has to be the introduction to the Torah. Other people are important! You must start at the earliest age to know that if your cat wanders onto your neighbor’s porch and makes some dirt there, you are responsible! If your dog scratches up some flowers from your neighbor’s lawn, you are responsible!
You say, “I didn’t tell my dog to do it.” That has nothing to do with it. Once you have a dog, you’re responsible!
