Sweet Memories
matisyahu's menorah
7th night of chanukah
music hall of williamsburg
7th night of chanukah
music hall of williamsburg
because my soul is not a raisin
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Illuminating our Homes
MEVASER TOV: CHANUKAH
(From the eighth night of Chanukah, 5769)
(From the eighth night of Chanukah, 5769)
The light of the menorah represents the message of (education) that is integral to Chanukah.
Chinuch today depends on setting a good example. We cannot preach to our children about the values they should have, if we do not exemplify those values through our own behavior. Children can easily see through this hypocrisy, and will not be impressed by it in the least.
Our Sages tell us that everything Avraham Avinu did to personally care for his guests was repaid to his descendants in generations to come, when Hashem personally cared for their needs. However, that which Avraham bade Yishmael to do for the guests was repaid to his children through an intermediary. Avraham brought them food, and Hashem personally provided manna for Bnei Yisrael in the desert. Avraham sent Yishmael to fetch water for the guests, and Hashem provided his descendants with water through a stone.
Although we cannot fathom the depth of Avraham's holiness, and dare not censure him, there is still a lesson here to be learned. Rashi explains that Avraham sent Yishmael to fetch water, to educate him in the mitzva of welcoming guests. Why then was Avraham's reward diminished? Clearly this is because the best way to educate a child is not by telling him to do a mitzva, but by doing it oneself, to provide a role model for Torah values.
This is an important lesson for us in the chinuch of our children. Telling our children about the importance of Torah study is not good enough. Our children must see that we also value Torah, and set fixed times for its study. The same is true regarding other mitzvos. We cannot give our children one message through our speech, and a different message through our actions.
The same applies to middos tovos. Some people are polite and friendly to the outside world, but tense and hostile in the home. This is no way to educate children. A parent's obligation is to foster a gentle, pleasant atmosphere in the home. Only then can one hope to improve one's spouse and children. Of this we say in davening, "Let man always be Gd fearing in private and in public. When a person presents himself to the public as a pleasant, religious person, but acts differently in the privacy of his own home, his children sense his hypocrisy and resent him for it.
Rebbe Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev said that a Jewish home is even holier than a shul, since a shul is made for Rabbinic commandments, such as prayer, while a home is made for Biblical commandments, such as raising children. However, the holiness of the Jewish home depends on us to protect it from the influence of the street, and foster a warm, pleasant atmosphere within it.
May Hashem help us stand strong in all our moral conflicts, in order that we may support our families with kosher money, and educate our children in holiness and purity. May we merit to see the light of Moshiach, with the coming of the Righteous Redeemer, soon and in our days, Amen.
excerpt from a talk given by the Biala Rebbe, shlita
translated by Rabbi D. Worenklein
old pictures of Rav Tzvi Meir blazing a new path
taken six years ago, 5764, at the Boston shul in Har Nof
