Shavuos this year marks 250 years since the passing of the Baal Shem Tov. There is a Torah of the Baal Shem Tov that the Rebbe has constantly stressed, that everything a Jew sees and hears teaches something in his or her service of Hashem. This is because everything that occurs is by hashgocha protis, so if a Jew heard about something or saw something, that means there is a lesson to be learned.
Certain things happened lately which are shaking America and the world. What do these events teach us? Last week, in a matter of minutes, the stock market crashed almost 1000 points. Experts said it happened because of a computer glitch, instead of entering an “M” there was a “B” changing "million" to "billion" - and the value of stocks fell dramatically. What can we learn from this? The Rebbe constantly stresses the statement of the Rambam that with one action or one word a person can change the entire world and bring salvation. We always hear it, think it, believe it, but the stock market drama illustrates it. One mistake on a keyboard shook the entire world. Hashem is showing us that with one good act we can shake the entire world and bring redemption and Moshiach!!
Greece has major financial problems, accompanied by riots. In the Gulf of Mexico there is now a massive oil spill that has turned into an environmental and financial fiasco. The situation in Greece didn't happen overnight, but was brought about to a great extent by government leaders who ignored warning signs but decided not to face the problem. The attitude was “let my successor take care of it.” Similarly, during the eight days before the oil hit the Gulf Coast, people turned a blind eye, assuming someone else would care for the oil spill.
What do we learn from these markedly different issues? If someone has a problem, don't ignore it!
For example, rabbonim get calls about sholom bayis issues. Many times, instead of reaching out when there is only a "hint" of a problem, a couple might come to the rav when everything has grown into a major crisis. Just like governments, people might live in denial; instead, the right way to handle things is to take early action and solve the problem before it blows up out of proportion.
Right now it is before Shavuos. By Matan Torah, Hashem demanded guarantors that the Jews would keep the Torah. The Bnai Yisroel promised that their children would be their guarantors. Hashem accepted these guarantors, and we received the Torah.
We must take a lesson from the above situation with regard to educating our children. Sad to say, many children are lacking certain basic skills. Sometimes, even after eight years of elementary school, problems have not been identified or addressed. There may be a reading problem. The student reaches high school and cannot translate a possuk of Chumash or understand basic Gemorah. Such a child may not have had behavior problems in class (which might have brought some sort of attention), but now that vital skills are lacking, the child’s parents want to know why their son or daughter cannot attend the school of their choice. Unfortunately, the child might end up with a life-long handicap. Such children end up in the educational system, but because their problems were not addressed early on, they beccome not interested in learning. I am not laying blame in any one quarter, as this is an issue which is the responsibility of both the parents and the schools. If there is no effort by all parties concerned, at the end of the day it is the child who is left to suffer the consequences.
When people come with their problems and everyone points a finger at someone else, it doesn't mean that one side is wrong and one is right. There is some truth to what everyone is saying. The schools are screaming that the kids are on the Internet, seeing what is not permitted, and they are right. Parents are saying that the schools should not be assigning reports that require research to be done on the Internet. And the schools scream that the parents have to supervise. With one click of a button, a child can go from one place to another and a parent cannot spend his entire time as a policeman. We don't know who our children communicate with on Facebook, etc. What our children pick up on the way is unknown, and to undo those negative things requires much strenuous work. To avoid it in the first place would be the best solution.
Giving permission to a teen to complete a report on the Internet is the same as giving a young child a sharp knife to cut with. It is dangerous. The Internet and email have become part of our life. But for a teen they are not suitable. Even todays phones are so sophisticated! Why should a child have a phone? We are distracting our children from learning! Instead of listening in class the children are texting one another – in both girls and boys schools! I managed my teen years – far away from home without a telephone, but maybe that's why I learned – because there was nothing else for me to do!
Today, everyone has to know what has happened in the world – if someone sneezes it is news. This is not learning. We must have learning... How do we expect a child who knows what's going on all around the world to immerse himself or herself in learning? We must take a lesson from Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, who sat and learned in a cave, and remove our children from those things which are distractions.
In all of the above, I am speaking not as an educator, but as a parent of children.
The Rebbe stresses that a child’s education starts right when he or she is born. Just as the Bnai Yisroel entered Eretz Yisroel knowing that the ultimate goal was shmita, so too, in our times, when a couple gets married, they must know that the goal is to create a Yiddishe, chassidishe home. When a child is born, the parents must visualize the sort of chinuch they will give him or her.
Rabbi Gershon Schusterman has related the following story many times. His mashpia, Rabbi Sholom Morozov, made a Kiddush one Shabbos in his house after the birth of a daughter. At the Farbrengen Rabbi Morozov said that he hoped that the girl should want to wed a chassidishe Bochur and that he should have a chassidishe son-in-law. He was asked, ”Reb Sholom, the baby isn’t even 24 hours old, why are you speaking about shidduchim?” R Sholom responded, “it’s not to early to start.” The lesson learned is that right when the baby is born, the parents must raise the child to build a chassidishe home in the future.
Why do we expect a child to attend an elementary school for eight years and wait until high school to start learning about Chassidus! Or to attend other schools through high school and expect the seminary or beis medrash to suddenly give the child the warmth and feeling that Lubavitcher teens should have? If we want to give our children a Chabad chinuch, it needs to exist from the start.
ב"ה