Educating Children
חינוך הילדים
As is known, the obligation of all the mitzvot of the Torah begins from the time a child reaches the age of mitzvot; before that he is still a minor, and the Torah does not obligate him in mitzvot. But the Sages established a rabbinic mitzva that parents educate their children to observe mitzvot from the time the child reaches the age of ḥinukh (education), that is, from the time he is able to understand the mitzva and the ways of fulfilling it. Only one mitzva is distinguished from all the mitzvot, and that is the mitzva to teach one’s son Torah, whose obligation has its source in the Written Torah, as it is stated (Devarim 11:19): “You shall teach them to your children”; and together with it, the mitzva to tell of the Exodus from Egypt on the night of the Seder, as it is stated (Shemot 13:8): “You shall tell your son.” It is clear, then, that the most important foundation of Jewish education is teaching children Torah (Shulḥan Arukh Ha-Rav, Talmud Torah 1:1).
It is an interesting fact that, from the outset, the Torah commands every father to teach his son Torah. Unlike other cultures, in which wisdom belongs to a closed circle of intellectuals, among Israel the Torah belongs to all, as it is stated (Devarim 33:4): “Moshe commanded us the Torah, an inheritance of the congregation of Ya’akov” – all the descendants of Ya’akov our forefather belong to the Torah. Therefore, every father must know Torah so as to be fit to teach his son, and every Jewish son must learn Torah from his father.
Torah study is not the study of abstract wisdom detached from reality; rather, it is a Torah of life, which directs and straightens a person’s path in all levels of his life. Therefore it is called “Torah,” from the word hora’ah (instruction). Hence, it is fitting that the parents who gave their son life in the physical sense – who bore him and gave him food, clothing, and love – also give him the spiritual and moral meaning of life, and transmit to him the divine Torah, which is the good gift that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave to Israel.
In practice, due to the pressures of earning a living, most parents fulfill the essence of the mitzva by sending their sons to schools and Talmud Torah institutions and paying tuition for them. Even so, every father should make an effort to teach his son Torah himself, each father according to his ability and level of Torah understanding. One who is able should study Mikra, Gemara, and halakha with his son, and one who has not reached that level should study with him at least the weekly Torah portion. Thereby he will merit to be a personal partner in transmitting the Torah tradition to his son.