Q:
Can we have some practical examples of חנוך לנער על פי דרכו – Train a child on his way (Mishlei 22:6)
A:
“Train a youth on his way in life,” means that you should prepare a youth with attitudes that will guide his way in life. I’ll just say one example. Train a youth that he should think every day for at least one half minute about Mattan Torah. You never heard about that? It’s a Rambam. The Rambam says that in his Igeres Teiman.
He brings a possuk that says: השמר לך ושמור נפשך מאד פן תשכח את הדברים אשר ראו עיניך – Be very careful, extreme careful, that you shouldn’t forget what your eyes saw at Har Sinai, יום אשר עמדת לפני השם אלוקיך בחורב והודעתם לבניך ולבני בניך – the day you stood before Hashem at Har Sinai, and you should tell your children and grandchildren about that day (Devarim 4:9)
And the Rambam says, גדלהו על כל גדולה; it means make it greater than anything else. More than anything else that you speak about to your children, speak about Mattan Torah. But speak about it with hispa’alus, with excitement. Oh! What a day that was! A tremendous day that never happened in all of history! We heard the voice of Hashem! השמע עם קול אלקים – Was there ever such a thing that a nation should hear such a sweet and dreadful voice?! (ibid. 4:33). They fainted; they died and had to be revived! It was a tremendous excitement, a unbearable experience; and yet it was the most happy and joyous experience ever. You have to speak about that to your children more than you speak about anything else.
If you can train them to think every day one half minute about Ma’amad Har Sinai, that’s one of the ways of being mechanech the na’ar al pi darko. You’re preparing him for his way in life. You never thought about that? You didn’t know about it? Well, now you know it. And now that you know it, the Rambam says that this is the most important thing to teach your son; גדלהו על כל גדולה – Make it greater in your child’s mind than anything else.
TAPE # E-104
