EDUCATING OUR CHILDREN
It is the way of people to be drawn after the opinions and habits of
his friends and the people close to him (Rambam, Hilchot De'ot, 6:1).
In the past Jewish youth were isolated from their environment because
the gentile environment was generally hostile to Jews. Also, the
differences between the Jews and gentiles was more outstanding. Reality
enforced separation between the Jews and their environment.
However, in our times the openness of the new gentile societies has
opened the gates of the ghetto. Jews can be found just about
everyplace, and they participate in every aspect of life within the
general society. Some form of mass media, whether electronic or printed
newspapers, can be found in almost every Jewish home. The influences
which penetrate through these media are tremendous.
These phenemenon require increased education in order to learn how to
deal with these negative, foreign influences.
Furthermore, we have to deal not only with the foreign influences which
come from the gentiles, but from negative influences which come from
our fellow Jews who have adopted the culture of the gentiles. And this
is worse than combating the gentile influences. Since it comes from
Jews, it is much harder to break our connection with them, and
especially if they are relatives.
Today, we are witness to increasing, negative influence upon children,
even those who have grown up with Torah education. This is the case as
long as they are not in a closed society like a town, or at least a
neighborhood, which is exclusively charedi. We find them making friends
with non-religious children, developing interest in sport, bad games,
secular literature and all the other things which a mixed society
cause. In these areas the task of education is extremely important
because children there cannot be taught to cut themselves off entirely
from their environment.
Instead, the goal must be to teach them to deal with the environment,
as Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch has written extensively in his book
"Yesodot Hachinuch" (Foundations of Education). Those who have tried to
teach total isolation from the surrounding environment have usually
failed and lost all influence over their children who finally go out of
the path into bad ways. This is because they thought that it was enough
to teach the children to keep away from the surrounding environment
without giving them any education or ideas on how to deal with the
problems of the place and age in which we find ourselves. Our approach,
however, is included in the instruction of Chazal: "Be diligent in the
study of Torah; and know how to answer a heretic" (Avot 2).
In contrast, those educating children in such a way that they know
about the problems of the environment, and guiding them how to deal
with these difficulties, have been more successful than those who have
tried to hide from the problems and encouraged isolation. (This is
especially the case in those places where there is a mixed population
of religious and non-religious, or charedim and lukewarm religious.)
Therefore, in our days, one must educate towards awareness! It is not
enough to provide practical guidance on how to observe commandments. In
this way the children will learn to practice Judaism willingly.
Furthermore, this approach is included in the statement of Solomon,
"Educate a child according to his way." When it becomes difficult for a
child to accept straightforward commands, for whatever reason, then it
becomes part of "his way." Then, there is no other choice except to
educate him towards awareness.
(Beshvilai Hachinuch Vehahora"ah)
