Miller's Musings Parshas Emor: The Young Ones

בס''ד

From the moment one becomes a parent, the awesome responsibility of protection, nurturing and educating begins.  There is no parent who is free from this obligation and no time that one does not feel this beautiful burden. Yet Rashi in our Parsha tells us that the double expression “Say to the Kohanim… and you shall say to them”, comes to instruct the Kohanim to convey these teachings to the young amongst them.  But why would the Kohanim have been singled out in this way?  Surely the onus is on all of us to transmit to our young the Torah’s teachings! 

Education is a multifaceted discipline which requires a global approach to ensure the best possible outcome for a child.  Environment is a key component of that and being surrounded by those that share the same values as you is something that enables us to try and ensure the children are encouraged to follow suit.  For a Yisroel or Levi, as long as this is so, the children will see a consistency of behaviour among their peers that falls in line with what we want for them, making it easier for them to behave accordingly.  But, says Reb Boruch Sorotzkin zt’l, for a Kohen this is not quite as simple, as their children will see others seemingly exactly like them, who are not bound by the same strictures as they are.  For children of a Kohen, who need to learn about ritual impurity and suchlike, they will be seeing others who are ostensibly the same as they are, yet do not fall within the same parameters as they do.  This is why the Kohanim particularly must employ all the means at their disposal to ensure the appropriate education of their children.

Parenting and education may today be more difficult than ever.  We may look around the world and question where the moral compass of society currently stands.  Whether our children are more or less sheltered from the pervading culture of almost total permissiveness, commercialism and rights in place of responsibilities, they are sure to be affected by what surrounds them.  Even more confusing is when those who should subscribe to the same standards, seem to display contradictory and hypocritical behaviour.  There is only so much we can do about the external influences, but what we can endeavour to do is ensure that our influence is as powerful as possible.  We can make sure our home is one that reflects the values we hold dear and ensure that we and our home our cherished by our children, so that this is where they will turn to know what is right and what is wrong.

*May Shabbos purify us and all whom we love*

                                                               

לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם 

לעילוי נשמת שרה יעל בת גרשון

לרפואת אלימלך יהושע אהרון בן דבורה רבקה