EDUCATION

On the face of it, education is the training of children and youngsters. It is the child who obviously needs to be taught — to be imparted knowledge, to be aided in the honing of faculties and skills, to be guided in the development of a moral self that distinguishes between right and wrong and never loses sight of its responsibilities towards G‑d and man.

But as the articles you will soon read demonstrate, education is a life-long endeavor. Within our own selves, too, there is the "elder" and the "youngster", our yesterday and our tomorrow, and the former must never cease to guide and instruct the latter. Within our own selves, too, is a perpetual need to learn, develop and grow, to cultivate the seeds and saplings of our present potential into the trees and fruits of future achievement. We talk about the child because in the child the need is evident, the transition visible, and the results tangible. So only by examining how we educate our children can we know how to educate ourselves.

Our Sages tell us that when G‑d came to give the Torah to the children of Israel at Mount Sinai, He demanded a guarantee that that they will not forsake it.

Said the people of Israel: "The heaven and the earth shall be our guarantors."

Said G‑d: "They won't last forever."

Said they: "Our fathers will guarantee it."

Said He: "They are busy."

Said they: "Our children will guarantee it."

Said He: "These are excellent guarantors."

This is the key to the eternity of a people, the guarantee that man's work as "a partner with G‑d in creation" continues: that each generation transmit to the next all that they have learned and achieved towards the realization of our covenant with G‑d — the commitment we made to actualize the divine potential for goodness and perfection imbued by the Creator in creation.

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ESSAYS

Do We Lie to Our Children?
by Yanki Tauber

It would seem that we do. Even if we manage to avoid saying outright untruths, there seems to be something intrinsically dishonest in the process we call education..

 

The View From My Child's Window
by Jay Litvin

As parents we know more than our children. We are older and wiser. We have more experience and this experience often makes us more practical, smarter in the ways of the world...

 

In Pursuit of Ignorance
by Yaakov Brawer

It seems self-evident that ignorance is bad, knowledge is good, and that we must eradicate the former by replacing it with the latter. On close scrutiny, however, the situation is not that simple.

 

Fortysomething
by Susan Handelman

What, further, are the deeper connections between Torah knowledge and the number forty? For though the Torah was given in the forty days Moses was on Mt. Sinai, it took forty years of wandering...

 

Judges and Kindergartens: Government and the idea of education in the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe
by Tzvi Freeman

When talking about the many legacies of the Rebbe, people will often tell you about a vast collection of talks and ideas. This is simply not true. There is no such collection...

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STORIES

A Rebbe's Education
from the writings of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn

When I was four years old, I asked my father: "Why did G‑d make people with two eyes? Why not with one eye, just as they have one nose and one mouth?"

 

The Benefits of Being Stupid When You're Old
by Jay Litvin

First of all I'm not really stupid. And second, you can't really call 53 old. But lately I have been feeling very stupid, and being the oldest in my class makes me feel very old...

 

 

Kosher Marks
by Michael Medved

A few weeks ago, my six-year-old daughter did something that greatly upset one of my professional colleagues. At the same time, it made her father...

 

The 3:00am Audience
told by Tzvi Yair

A family crisis had arisen in the home of one of my relatives, a not-so-distant cousin who lived in South America. Their daughter had met and fallen in love with a young man and the two wished to marry

 

 

Getting Your Way (3203)
by Yaakov Lieder

A mother asked me recently, "If I said 'No' to my child for something they wanted and then changed my mind, would it come across as a weakness on my part?"

 

 

Upsherin

Not long ago, my husband and I planted a tree. We watered it and provided it with light and sustenance. We dreamed of the day ...

 

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MULTIMEDIA

EYE TO EYENever Too Late!

Those in the Ministry of Education, should add in their own education. The treasury should always be full. Although it is always spending, G‑d will reciprocate.

 

 

LIVING TORAH

“Fundamentals in Education”

When educating a child, one must teach him the basics, and that Torah doesn't change. At the same time the child must be encouraged to continuously grow and change!

 

 

LIVING TORAH

A Jewish Leader’s Greatest Calling – Education

The ultimate cause for salvation was the fact that Mordechai gathered 22,000 Jewish children and taught them Torah. The Lesson: The most important thing is to teach Jewish children Torah, regardless of one’s lofty position or community involvement.


 

LIVING TORAH

Foundations In Education
Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, The Lubavitcher Rebbe
The Rebbe speaks on the foundations of education (September 13, 1983)

 

 

EYE TO EYEJewish Education Daily

Jewish children must study Torah every single day, not less often than secular topics. Their studies must be objective, not subjective.