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Or
Hachayim & Meshekh Chokhma on Vayeilach
Hagaon
Rav Chayim ben Atar zt”l and Hagaon Rav Meir Simcha
of Dvinsk on Parshat Vayeilech
(from
Or Hachayim on Devarim 31:13 and Meshech Chokhma
on Devarim 31:12)
Educating Infants
Print Version
All of Israel, even children, even infants, are
included in the mitzva of “Hakhel”, gathering all
of Israel for a public Torah reading in Jerusalem
on the Sukkot following the Shemitta year. The Torah’s
command opens, “Gather together the nation, men,
women, and children . . . ,” and it uses the word
“taf”, that even includes infants. Why include children
and infants?
The Or Hachayim answers by pointing out a difference
between two verses in the Hakhel passage. At first
(31:12) the Torah says that the purpose of Hakhel
is, “So they should hear, and learn, and fear Hashem
your G-d . . .” In the next verse (31:13) it focuses
on the children, and says, “Your children that did
not know should listen and learn to fear Hashem
your G-d . . .” The expression in the first verse,
“yilmidu v’yaru” – learn and fear – (referring to
adults) separates the two. To learn and to fear
G-d are two separate items. In the second verse
(referring to children) they are combined as one
expression, “v’lamdu l’yira” – they should learn
to fear. The goal of their coming to Hakhel is exclusively
to learn fear of G-d, “Yirat Hashem”.
Says the Or Hachayim, “When children are educated
to fear G-d from their very foundations, it sticks
with them for their whole lives.”
The Gemara (Chagiga 3) also discusses why children
are brought and answers, “to merit those who bring
them.” That, says the Or Hachayim, refers to infants
who cannot understand anything themselves. The Gemara
brings this explanation in the context of an anecdote.
Rabbi Yochanan son of Broka and Rabbi Elazar son
of Chisma went to Pekiin to visit their teacher,
the great Rabbi Yehoshua. He inquired what new teachings
they heard in the Beit Midrash. They reply, “We
are your students and drink of your waters,” to
which he replies, “Something new is always taught
in the Beit Hamidrash.” The item they give over
is an explanation of why children are brought to
Hakhel: “If men come to learn, and women to listen,
why do the infants come? To bring merit those who
bring them.”
Rabbi Yehoshua heard this and said, “You had such
a wonderful pearl and you wanted me to lose it?”
The Meshech Chokhma explains Rabbi Yehoshua’s special
connection with this particular teaching. The Yerushalmi
at the end of the first chapter of Yevamot tells
us that the sages visited the elderly Rabbi Dosa
son of Hyrkanos to ask about a certain halakha.
At the end of their meeting, Rabbi Dosa, who had
problems seeing, prays (according to one of the
commentaries on the Yerushalmi) to be able to look
at the faces of the sages. When he looks at Rabbi
Yehoshua’s face he says the verse, “Who will teach
knowledge,” and says, “I remember that when he was
a baby his mother used to take him to synagogues
so that the Torah would cling to him.”
The mitzva of bringing babies to Hakhel in order
to teach them Yirat Hashem and develop a connection
with Torah from birth, was something that Rabbi
Yehoshua's mother had deeply understood. Rabbi Yehoshua
said to his students. “How could you have withheld
that wonderful pearl from me?" – for that was my
mother’s secret in my education, exposing me to
Torah as soon as possible.
[Note: In the second chapter of Avot (2:8), when
Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai describes his students,
he says of Rabbi Yehoshua, “Ashrei yoladto,” (Fortunate
is the one who gave birth to him). Perhaps the expression
“ashrei” was chosen because of “Ashrei yoshvei veitekha”
(Fortunate are those who dwell in Your house.).]
[prepared
by Eliezer Kwass] |
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