Parshas Yisro 5777
QUESTION:
What's the importance of teaching a child, Torah tzivah lanu Moshe, this passuk that Moshe gave us a Torah that Hakadosh Baruch Hu handed over to him?
ANSWER:
There's a sefer written many years ago by an Italian man, he wasn't a big Torah chochom, he was a maskil. However he wrote something, I won't mention his name because he wasn't a big chochom Torah, but he says an important point. He says, we have to teach a child from the beginning the Rashi on the Chumash, from the beginning. If you can't teach it inside, teach it baal peh; because once a child gets accustomed to the p'shutei hamikrah, the plain meaning, that gets first base in his mind, then later the attitudes that Chazal want us to see in the Torah are going to be difficult to introduce into his mind.
Which means, we have to get there first with the child, before we tell him Jack and Jill went up a hill to fetch a pail of water, or other Mother Goose rhymes, first thing has to be, Torah tzivah lanu Moshe. That's the first thing a child has to hear. A child opens his eyes - he's asleep, he comes out of the darkness, suddenly he starts talking, the first thing is, Torah! That's the first idea, Torah, a Jew has to know there's such a thing. That's what we are, we are people of Torah, and tziva lanu Moshe, our great teacher gave us the Torah. Moroshah, it is an inheritance, k'hilas Yaakov, for the whole congregation of Yaakov. That's our inheritance, that's our wealth, that's our heritage forever, that's how to get to first base in a child's mind, and no time should be lost.
A child from the outset must be taught about the Borei. From the beginning you have to talk about Gan Eden and Gehinnom; both! You have to talk schar v'onesh, from the beginning, and in his mind these fundamentals get settled. Otherwise, Mickey Mouse gets there first, or worse. Once they get in, it's difficult to introduce Moshe Rabbeinu and Har Sinai.
Good Shabbos To All
This is transcribed from questions that were posed to Harav Miller by the audience at the Thursday night lectures.
To listen to the audio of this Q & A please dial: 201-676-3210
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Important Numbers
