CHINUCH ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION

Mechanchim discuss “our children will be our guarantors” from the perspective of Yemos HaMoshiach and the imminent Geula. * Part 2 of 2.

Chazal say on the verse, “do not touch My anointed ones,” that these are the tinokos shel beis rabban. Why are schoolchildren the anointed ones? What is unique about them over rabbanim and others who work day and night to prepare the world to greet Moshiach, the T’mimim – the chayolei beis Dovid, who fight those who scorn the footsteps of Your anointed one, the righteous women in whose merit the Jewish people were redeemed, and working people who redeem their place of work and personal space as a dwelling for Hashem?

R’ Cheruti: In the Rebbe’s sicha about the material wonders that were promised to take place in Yemos HaMoshiach, he explains that it is when G-dliness truly penetrates the physicality of the world to the point that it manifests in the form of material plenty, that demonstrates openly that G-dliness has spread so far that it has even penetrated the physicality of the world.

I see this every day during recess, where even the children’s games have Geula themes. In the sandbox they build the Beis HaMikdash, they make the Kohen Gadol’s garments out of pieces of paper and material, etc. These are Lubavitcher children who imbibed concepts of Moshiach and Geula along with their mothers’ milk.

By adults, it is the wonderful qualities, which find expression in the revealed faculties of the soul, that conceal the yechida of the nefesh, the aspect of Moshiach within us. While in children who are pure, the aspect of Moshiach, the essence of the soul, the yechida of the nefesh, openly shines. This is why they are called “My anointed ones.” This is why we see that deep topics in emuna, that might elicit a smile from an adult who sees himself as an “intellectual,” are accepted by children in all innocence.

R’ Pizem: We can explain it based on what the Rebbe says in the HaYom Yom for 5 Teves, “With the coming of Moshiach, we will appreciate the distinctive quality of hodaa [i.e., acknowledgment of G‑d and belief in Him] and t’mimus — artless sincerity, the pure faith with which all [Jews] believe in G-d, His Torah, and His mitzvos. When it comes to study, even the highest levels of understanding have their limits. Hodaa, by contrast, is a feeling that has no boundaries. Melech HaMoshiach will endow us with an understanding of the superior worth, as expressed in action, of sincere, heartfelt, and earnest Divine service.”

It is Moshiach who will reveal the advantage of t’mimus and emuna (which children have naturally), or as a certain great person said, “I pray to what this little child has in mind.” It is because of their sincerity that they are connected directly to the essence, to Moshiach.

R’ Friedman: I am not sure the following example is appropriate, but to me, it demonstrates what “My anointed ones” is about. A long time ago, two of my children who were under the age of three were sitting on musical potties. The music player in one of the chairs malfunctioned and the one sitting on it began to cry. To my surprise, I heard the other one say to him, “Don’t cry, Moshiach is coming right away and everything will be all right.”

In the sicha of Simchas Torah 5752, the Rebbe uses an unusual expression, “The chinuch of Jewish children needs to be such that the children become permeated with the subject of Moshiach so that when you just glance at a Jewish child, what do you see? Moshiach!

Can you, who work with children all day, explain what this means. How can a child look “Moshiach-like,” and how can we make this happen?

R’ Cheruti: The Rebbe says, in the sicha of Tazria-Metzora 5751, that the direct, easiest and quickest way among all Torah approaches to bringing the Geula, is by learning inyanei Moshiach and Geula. The Rebbe goes on to say that this enables us to open our eyes and it changes a person’s nature to a Geula state. If learning about Moshiach and Geula can change our nature, then with children, where there is no need to change their nature, but to reveal their true nature, all the more are inyanei Moshiach and Geula going to make children appear “Moshiach-like.”

I remember that for a long time after publishing a certain Geula-oriented book for children, I got many requests from children who asked when the next volume is coming out. To me, this proved that the messages got through to them, and kids considered the book, which was about a group children whose goal it was to bring Moshiach, to be worthy of emulation. In the book, the children’s lives, including their games, food, trips and adventures, revolve around Geula.

R’ Friedman: When we flip this switch in our heads, when we lock onto the target, the Geula, the end-goal of everything we do, and we know that every positive action hastens it, and any resistance puts the brakes on, we can convey the message to a child in the best possible way.

Children are pure, “anointed ones,” and our job is to educate them properly, i.e., not to ruin them.

R’ Pizem: I will tell you a story that happened at Nefesh Chaya in Kiryat Shmuel at a seudas Moshiach. Men went to the shuls in the area where they held seudos Moshiach and then they came back to Nefesh Chaya after sunset. The farbrengen lasted until late at night. Each one told how he was warmly received, what he spoke about, and how the crowd reacted. We sang and danced without limits as the hours passed.

Later on, in the middle of the night, after birkas ha’mazon and Maariv, when we went outside, we saw children dancing exuberantly and with childlike innocence, out in public where passing cars honked to encourage them. When we went out, they drew us into the dancing. We said to one another, “This is what it means to see Moshiach on the children.”

There are those who ask, how can we teach abstract ideas, such as hiskashrus, to children, when we don’t see the Rebbe; that our generation is the generation of Geula, despite the terrible concealment and the numerous tzaros; that the Rebbe MH”M is chai v’kayam, when what we see looks exactly the opposite?

R’ Pizem: The first thing that must be emphasized is no answer is good enough, because we need to see the Rebbe!

As to your question about hiskashrus, this is definitely something we can and must do. Each of us has a story or miracle that happened to him, some people have a dollar they got from the Rebbe, or a letter, a kuntres, a Tanya, etc. You need to sit with the children now and then and show them the letters and the dollars that Abba and Ima preserve so carefully, and tell them the stories behind the letter, dollar, etc.

Show them a video of the Rebbe or play recordings in which the Rebbe spoke to children in their language or Lag B’Omer parades. Show your children where you or some family member usually stood at the Rebbe’s farbrengen. Familiarize them with personalities from 770. This makes the children’s connection to the Rebbe something personal, tangible, not spiritual and abstract. Talk about the importance in writing to the Rebbe and explain to them in their language how to prepare to write.

Send them to a camp that instills hiskashrus and love for the Rebbe, chayus and simcha and emuna in what the Rebbe said. Send the children to 770 for Tishrei. As mechanchim, we’ve seen major changes in children who have been to camp or to 770 for Tishrei.

As far as emuna in the Rebbe MH”M, I can tell you the approach at the Talmud Torah in Krayot. We teach the sichos as part of the curriculum. We use the Derech Ha’yeshara – the D’var Malchus for children, and teach the sicha of “Yaakov Avinu Lo Meis,” and other sichos. When the children see what the Rebbe said, that the Nasi Ha’dor is the Moshiach of the Dor, Moshiach Menachem shmo, etc., and the material is taught seriously and in a pleasant atmosphere, the children accept it with emuna and t’mimus.

Obviously, the goal is to implant the emuna in the eternal life of the Rebbe, to learn more seriously and to go on mivtzaim, because the Rebbe will be revealed momentarily and we need to be ready.

R’ Cheruti: I think that we adults have a lot to be envious of the younger generation that grew up in the reality of post-Gimmel Tammuz and whose faith is as strong as a rock. Their hiskashrus and devotion to the Rebbe and his horaos are amazing. Take the trip to the Rebbe, for example. Did so many people go to the Rebbe before Gimmel Tammuz? There used to be a time when for hundreds of T’mimim, the first time they went to the Rebbe was for the year on k’vutza. They had no videos to see the Rebbe and calling New York was a rare occurrence.

Today, children see the Rebbe in videos every week and there are children who travel to the Rebbe and stay for a month. There are children who forgo their bar mitzva celebration and opt to celebrate it in 770. They write to the Rebbe and tell their friends about the importance of writing to the Rebbe, and the list goes on.

Experience has shown that not only can you educate children about the eternal life of the Rebbe, but they accept it in the most sincere way without doubts and questions. I am sure that when the Rebbe is revealed, we will see how it was in the merit of the children.

R’ Friedman: A child accepts everything readily, just like we explain that in the beginning, Hashem created the heavens and the earth, and before that, there was nothing, not even air, or like the Luchos were carved all the way through and the letters did not fall, like the candies that the angel Michoel throws at the hachnasa l’cheder, etc. To a child it is clear that if the Rebbe is the Rebbe, then there are no questions.

It seems that the questions and problems are ours, and if we see that the message is not accepted by the children, then we need to ask ourselves whether it is clear and firm by us.