Both this week's and last week's parsha, parshas Va'eschanan and parshas Eikev, contain one of the first two chapters of the Shema. In both chapters of the Shema we find the mitzvah of "v'shinantam l'vanecha - you should teach your children". This is the source for the mitzvah of teaching our children the Torah. In parshas Va'eschanan Rashi explains that "l'vanecha to your children" also refers to students. This means that teachers also have a mitzvah to teach their students the Torah.
The Rebbe questions why Rashi interprets "l'vanecha" as students and not its literal meaning of "your sons", referring to children. Also not clear is the purpose of Rashi pointing out this additional aspect of the mitzvah here at all. One of the reasons given is that when a child learns Chumash for the first time it is possible that he will not understand why he and all his friends are in cheder. If the mitzvah is that the father has to teach, why is he not at home studying with his father? Therefore Rashi tells us that students are compared to sons and that teachers are called fathers.
Rashi brings out an additional proof from the pasuk that shows how teachers should view their students like children in the way they teach them. "V'shinantam" means 'sharpness'. Rashi states; "they (the words of the Torah) should be sharp in your mouth to the point that when you are asked about them, you will be able to answer immediately without hesitation". This means that the teacher needs to be involved in teaching each student as a father is with his children, with individual attention. This focus on his development should achieve that each individual student masters his Torah learning.
Where do we find explicitly in the Torah that a teacher is called a father? Rashi comments that it appears in the story of Eliyahu going up to heaven, Elisha shouted, "Father Father, the chariot of Israel.... You are beloved like a father and a mother and your prayers help Klal Yisroel like a chariot and its rider."
The Rebbe explains that this Rashi is an outline for proper education. A teacher must teach his student the subject so well that they well versed in it, and that it be sharp on their tongue. The teacher also needs to give the student the skill to know how to learn on his own. He is obligated to prepare his student so that he have the ability to resolve his own questions or the questions he is asked. Even if the teacher gives the tools and general guidelines, that is not sufficient. Many times the student will not feel secure in using these guidelines. The teacher must guide the student where each rule is used and provide examples. This needs to continue until the student knows how to apply the general rules he learned from the teacher. Only then has the teacher fulfilled his obligation of teaching the child.
In Parshas Eikev it says v'leimadtem osom (11:19). Rashi says this means the father's obligation to teach his child is; "From the time that the son is able to speak". "The first words you teach him are; "Torah ziva lonu Moshe" so that this develops his speech". "When an infant begin to speak, his father should converse with him in Loshon Kodesh and teach him the Torah." The father has to educate his children from their youth and teach them the Torah. We see from this that the education of our children needs to be a team effort. The parents must teach the very young child and as they grow, the teacher needs to continue his education. We have to remember that the teacher doesn't alleviate the parents from their responsibility. It needs to be a combined effort. And only then can we can daven to Hashem that our efforts are fruitful and that we have nachas from our children. The impact that parents and teachers have on children is everlasting.
This week is the third yahrzeit of my mother, Rebbitzen Leah Raichik, of blessed memory. When World War II broke out in September 1939 she was about ten years old. In order to save themselves, her family roamed from place to place during the war. They were in Warsaw and in Pinshuv, where her older brother was the Rov. For two years they were hidden in a barn. My grandmother was a very shrewd lady. She had her diamonds hidden in the fillings in her teeth. From time to time she had one taken out and gave it to the farmer as payment. By night they went out for air, but by day they remained well hidden. Once a group of Germans came into the barn and saw the piles of hay. One said there's no one here. Another said maybe someone is hiding in the hay. They took their pitchforks and their bayonets and went through the hay. The family was hiding on the other side of the barn in a covered trench, but they were safe. My mother experienced severe trauma during the war, and eventually came to America.
When she was eighteen years old, her family began thinking about a suitable shidduch for her. R. Shmuel Zalmanov suggested a shidduch with my father. R. Zalmanov's connection to the family was through his wife Raizel, who was the daughter of the Pinchover Rov (my mother's brother). Although she was a niece of my mother, she was older than her. Shmuel Zalmanov knew both my mother and my father. When the shidduch was under consideration there were those in the family who felt that since they were in America and she needed to get settled, they should look for someone who was a businessman, or knew more English, etc. They felt that taking a Lubavitcher bochur, who goes all day with a long coat and a full beard, and doesn't know a word of English wasn't the best choice for a shidduch. My mother was asked for her opinion. Her response was she felt that her father would want her to marry a chassidishe bochur. Her father had passed away only six months after outbreak of the war. The chinuch that her father gave her by the age of ten helped her to decide what type of a life she wanted.
Six weeks after their wedding the Previous Rebbe sent my parents to Los Angeles. Los Angeles is the last stop on the train before the Pacific Ocean. My mother left her mother, her sister and her cousins and their families behind in New York. She went to Los Angeles, a place where she did not know anyone, with a husband who wouldn't be home six to eight months of the year. She was asked once how it feels to be the first shlucha to California of the Previous Rebbe. She replied, "The Rebbe said to go, so we went." That emunas tzadikim surely came from the education she received from her parents. Her father was a Gerrer Chossid. One of my mother's cousins's married a child of the Bais Yisroel (tragically they perished during the war). The concept of the Rebbe-Chossid relationship was alive in her childhood home. Even though my mother did not learn in Bais Rivka or about Lubavitch, she made this connection in America through her niece, Raizel Zalmanov. R. Shmuel and Mrs. Raizel Zalmanov were very close to the households of Previous Rebbe and the Rebbe. My mother left New York by the word of the Rebbe. Because the Rebbe told her to go, she went without question. In terms of Jewish life at the time, Los Angeles was very provincial. There was no kosher bakery or kosher supermarket. She brought live chickens to the shochet and then kashered them herself. She did this for one reason: because when the Rebbe said to go, you go.