Parsha Pearls

שֵׁם הָאֶחָד גֵׁרְ שֹׁם...וְשֵׁם הָאֶחָד אֱלִיעֶזֶר [שמות יח:ג-ד ]

“Name of the one [child] is Gershom...And name of the one [child] is Eliezer” (Shemos 18:3-4)

This is how the Torah refers to Moshe’s sons in this week’s parsha. The obvious question that needs to be asked here is why does the Torah not say “Name of first son is Gershom...And name of the second son is Eliezer”. Rather, for both children, the Torah refers to them with the word “הָאֶחָד” (the one child).

Rav Yosef Tzvi HaLevi Dunner zt”l in his sefer Mikdash HaLevi (Yisro, p. 257) answers that the Torah is teaching us here a fundamental lesson in chinuch: A parent must look at each one of his children as his only child.