Vayelekh
Deuteronomy 31:1-30
Hosea 14:2-10
Joel 2:15-27
Micah 7:18-20
These words of Torah are dedicated to the memory of my beloved father of blessed memory who passed away only three weeks ago. His life was one of quiet dignity. May his descendants be worthy of the wonderful example he set for us.
Moses commanded the Jewish people, saying, “At the end of seven years at the time of the Sabbatical year during the Succot festival when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your G-d in the place that He will choose, you shall read this Torah before all Israel, in their ears. Gather together the people — the men, the women and small children — so that they will hear and so that they will learn and they shall fear the Lord your G-d and be careful to perform all the words of the Torah” (Deuteronomy 31:10 – 12).
Why should the Jews be commanded to bring their infants and small children to the Temple in Jerusalem from all over the country to hear the Torah being read when they couldn’t possibly understand it? Rabbi Elazar Ben Azariah offers the explanation that small children were to be brought in order to earn reward to those who “shlepped” them.
Still if that was all there was to it, the Jews could have carried sacks of stones to gain reward. The Sfas Emes explains that the reward of those who brought their small children was that in so doing their children were brought closer to Torah. It is a fine example of a mitzvah being its own reward.
The Akeidah and Abarbanel echo this concept by explaining that the reward of those who brought their children was that it would be easier to educate them, as the children have already become accustomed to hearing the words of the Almighty.
The Chasam Sofer says that the Temple had the potential to implant purity in one’s heart so that when the tots grew up they would themselves follow in the ways of Torah.
In Chagigah 3, Rabbi Yehoshuah, upon hearing this interpretation of the children being brought to the Temple to earn reward for those who took them, called it “a beautiful precious stone.” He was recalling that his own mother used to bring him in his cradle to the study hall so that his ears should cleave to the words of Torah. He understood the interpretation on a personal level. Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkov in fact said of Rabbi Yehoshuah, “Happy and praiseworthy is she who bore him” (Avos 2:11).
The Torah teaches us that even if small children hear without comprehending, the words of Torah will leave an impression on their soul and an impact upon their psyche.
This concept certainly runs contrary to those who would have us believe that the constant exposure of our children to sex and violence in the media at a tender age has a little impact on their impressionable young minds.
The Torah clearly tells us that exposure to things coarse and vulgar will indeed demean the spirit of our children, while exposure to things lofty and spiritual will certainly ennoble them even at a very young age.
As parents we must be ever vigilant and persistent in protecting our children from harmful stimuli and in surrounding them with the exalted. Our reward will surely be great.
Shabbat Shalom