The thirty-third "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Wednesday, 22 Teves 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Sefer and Parshas Shemos, Wednesday, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, 22nd of the month, Chapter 106 and Chapter 107.
Tanya: we are in the middle of chapter 12, from the word "ve'af al pi khen" until page 34 at the words "tefillah etc."
Today's daily teaching is very important and fundamental — a saying that the Rebbe repeated over the years dozens of times, perhaps even hundreds, and there are fascinating commentaries in which the Rebbe explains various expressions within it. The content of the saying is that a person must dedicate half an hour each day to think about how one can influence the education of children, so that they follow the path that the Holy One, blessed be He, desires. But let us study and read the teaching as it is.
The opening words are "the declaration of my revered father, my teacher and Rebbe [adoni avi mori verabbi], at one of the farbrengens." This is a sort of quotation from a letter of the Rebbe Rayatz, who tells of a declaration made by his father, the Rebbe Rashab, at one of the farbrengens. This refers to a farbrengen of the Rebbe Rashab on Simchat Torah, apparently in the year 5660, at which he made this declaration. But this was not the first time he had proclaimed it: if one studies the letters of the Rebbe Rashab, one can find a letter he wrote seven years earlier, in 5653 — a letter of condolence to his sister-in-law, who was left alone after her husband passed away — in which he strongly urged her to invest her time and to be both a mother and a father, and to attend to the education of the children. There he opens with the phrase "I have always said," and states the idea that one must set aside time each day for the education of the children. It emerges that this was a declaration the Rebbe Rashab would always repeat on various occasions, but at that Simchat Torah farbrengen it was a public declaration before everyone.
And what does it say? Let us read the wording: "Just as there is a positive commandment from the Torah upon each and every person to lay tefillin every day, and even though it is an easy mitzvah in that it involves no monetary loss, and does not touch upon one's very life, and it is a mitzvah equal for all people, whether the great Torah scholar or the simplest of the simple - so too it is an absolute obligation upon each and every person to think for half an hour every day about the education of the children," and to do all that is within one's ability and beyond one's ability to bring it about that the children go in the way in which they are guided. There is no difference in the mitzvah of laying tefillin every day between a person who is a great Torah scholar and a simple person; every one is obligated in this mitzvah from the Torah. And to the same measure, it is an absolute obligation upon every Jew to think for half an hour every day about the education of the children.
This teaching was stated at times with certain variations, and I will note some of the more interesting ones: there is a letter in which the Rebbe Rayatz says "at least half an hour" — once a day, or even once every two or three days; here it is written "each day half an hour" to think about the education of the children; and there is a place where the Rebbe writes "each day an hour" to speak with the children, to take an interest in their situation and to guide them.
Let us examine several interesting nuances that the Rebbe explained. The Rebbe Rashab compares the obligation to engage in education to the mitzvah of tefillin: just as the mitzvah of tefillin is a mitzvah from the Torah, so too must one set aside time each day for education. But why did the Rebbe Rashab choose specifically the mitzvah of tefillin as an example for education needing to resemble it? Let me put it in my own words: tefillin is not truly a daily mitzvah — if we deduct the Shabbatot, the holidays, and Chol HaMoed, there are dozens of days throughout the year on which one does not put on tefillin; if so, why did he choose specifically the mitzvah of tefillin as a daily mitzvah?
The Rebbe explained, over the years, a number of explanations, which I will note. One explanation: what is unique about the mitzvah of tefillin is that in their placement — one on the arm and one on the head — it is written in halachah that a person must subjugate the mind and the heart to the content within the tefillin, to faith in the Holy One, blessed be He, and to Shema Yisrael. And this is what the Rebbe Rashab came to draw a comparison to: the dedication of attention to chinuch must be done every single day, not merely as a matter of discharging one's obligation, but with a genuine investment of the heart and mind — how to bring the children to the path that the Holy One, blessed be He, desires them to walk in. This is one point that we see in the mitzvah of tefillin.
An additional point: on another occasion the Rebbe spoke about how there is a special quality in the mitzvah of tefillin, about which Chazal say that it is equivalent to the entire Torah in its entirety. Even though tefillin is one of the 613 mitzvot, its power is equivalent to the entire Torah. It is well known that among the ten mivtzaim the Rebbe chose certain mitzvot, and one of them, in which he invested greatly, was putting on tefillin with Jews — a mitzvah equivalent to the entire Torah in its entirety. And the Rebbe Rashab wanted to emphasize this as well: that the day-to-day involvement in the education of children is not a trivial matter, but rather something whose importance is equivalent to the entire Torah in its entirety. The time you spend involved in this is time that has no substitute, and there is nothing more important than it, for it is literally the entire Torah in its entirety.
The third point the Rebbe spoke about: the mitzvah of tefillin is called "a mitzvah involving one's body." That is, you cannot send another person and tell him to put on tefillin today in your place. There are mitzvos where you can send an agent to perform them in your stead, and it is considered as though you did them yourself — like blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashanah, where, if you did not blow yourself, you can fulfill your obligation through someone who blows on your behalf; but with tefillin it is impossible to tell another person to put them on and have you in mind, and have it be considered as though you put them on yourself, for this is a mitzvah involving one's body. The same applies to being engaged in the education of one's children: this is not something a person can ask someone else to do — to occupy himself with educating his children and to devote time to them; it is a personal obligation of every individual, an obligation involving one's body, in which every person must invest of his own time. And this is a further point that the Rebbe wished to compare specifically to tefillin.
A fourth point: in the tefillin is written the passage "Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad ve'ahavta," in which it says "with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might" — that is, to attain love of Hashem at the very highest level. And when a person considers to what goals he must lead the children and educate them, and what is the limit and the ultimate purpose — he is told that the matter must reach the state of "and you shall love Hashem your G-d with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might," meaning to lead them to the highest level. In other words, as long as you have not reached this maximum, you have not yet completed your task in this regard. We see, then, how many wondrous hints the Rebbe intended in this comparison specifically to tefillin.
Another interesting point in this saying: just as there is a mitzvah from the Torah to put on tefillin every day, he concludes by saying that there is a "complete obligation" upon every Jew to think each day on behalf of the children. What is meant by the expression "complete obligation"? If it is an obligation, it would seemingly have to be written in our book of obligations — the Shulchan Aruch. Is there a clause in the Shulchan Aruch that establishes an obligation upon every Jew to think each day for half an hour about his children's education? We will not find this written in any halachah in the Shulchan Aruch. If so, why did the Rebbe express that this is a "complete obligation"? "Complete obligation" means that there is no possibility of escaping it.
The Rebbe explained on one occasion, on the festival of Shavuos 5647, that there are obligations in Judaism which are not of the sort written down in a book, but rather deeply human obligations rooted very profoundly in the soul, far more so than what is written in a book. There are obligations for which you need only "check a box" that you have fulfilled them, and there are obligations greater than that. As an example, the Rebbe brings the obligation of parents to feed their children: the halachah, as the Rambam brings in Hilchos Ishus, states that parents are obligated to feed their children until the age of six, and after the age of six there is no obligation. However, the Rambam continues and brings from the Gemara that if parents neglect their children after the age of six and do not give them food — on the claim that there is no obligation, since the obligation is only until the age of six — it is publicly proclaimed of them how cruel they are, that they are worse even than impure birds; for even an impure bird by its nature takes care to bring food to its chicks, so how could it be that a father would not take care to provide food for his children?
The Rebbe brings this as an example of the fact that there is certainly an obligation to see to the food of one's children even after the age of six. But what is the difference? Until the age of six it is an obligation written in the Shulchan Aruch and in the Gemara, and after the age of six it is a human duty — that if you do not fulfill it, something is lacking in your humanity. In this vein, when the Rebbe Rashab said that there is an absolute obligation to invest every day in the education of one's children, this is of the type of obligations that one should not go searching for where they are written in a book; they must be written upon the tablet of your heart and within your very personality, to the point that it is inconceivable that a day would pass without your thinking about your children's education.
Let us examine the conclusion of the teaching. It says: "to do everything within his power and to influence the children to follow the path they are shown," and even to do beyond one's capacity — to see how you can influence the children to follow the path along which they are being guided, to lead them and direct them in the way one wishes to guide them. In one of his letters, the Rebbe Rayatz describes a chassidic home in which the parents — the fathers and mothers — invest in the chassidic education of the children; one must see and invest a great deal of thought into how this path continues and carries on further with the children as well, and remains in an eternal manner. This is the wondrous teaching, and indeed it is an absolute obligation upon each and every one to live with this matter.