Why are children associated more with faith in Moshiach to the point that they are called “My anointed ones”? What is the added value to children educated to believe in Moshiach in contrast to those taught to fulfill Torah and mitzvos without any mention of the concept of Moshiach? How do you educate children in a practical way to live Moshiach? For the answer to these and other questions, we turn to Rabbi Sholom Dovber Wolff, mashpia in Yeshivas Chassidei Chabad – Tzfas and author of the seifer “Inyano Shel Moshiach.”
Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry
While more than twenty-two years have passed since the day our King, our Moshiach, was concealed from our physical eyes, the faith and belief in him has neither been harmed nor impaired; it has merely intensified. The anticipation and longing has remained firm and even became stronger. Chassidim gather everywhere to strengthen their faith in the Rebbe’s words on the Redemption and the identity of the Redeemer.
This leads us to the question: What about the children? As parents and educators, how can we instill this fervent and powerful emuna in the words of the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach in our younger flock with a deep inner enthusiasm? How can we manage to translate to our children those intense experiences that we personally lived through in the glorious days before Gimmel Tammuz?
To provide answers to our educational challenges on the subject of Moshiach and the Redemption, we conducted an interview with Rabbi Sholom Dovber Wolff, mashpia and teacher in Yeshivas Chassidei Chabad – Tzfas and author of the seifer Inyano Shel Moshiach.
In his profoundly fundamental seifer, Rabbi Wolff sheds new light and outlines a path on how to live Moshiach in actual deed. The seifer is comprised of six hundred pages of content presenting the Rebbe’s words on the significance of the days of Moshiach, this unique period of time, and the shlichus of our generation – greeting Moshiach Tzidkeinu.
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In many of the Rebbe’s sichos we find that he emphasizes the concept of “the spark of Moshiach,” which belongs specifically to small children. What does that mean?
In general, even before we touch upon the subject of Moshiach, we find that the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach related to Jewish children in a most unique manner, unlike anything seen among the Rebbeim of the previous generations. All this became even more intense in 5741. Together with the Rebbe’s ardent discussions that year on the issue of crying “Ad Masai,” the Rebbe united Jewish children through the “Tzivos Hashem” youth organization, under the slogan of “We Want Moshiach Now!” and the fervent demands for “the Complete Redemption.”
During several sichos that year the Rebbe spoke about the need for educating children in the faith and longing for the coming of Moshiach. By the same token, we can look at the sichos from 5752, when the Rebbe noted several times the special quality of Jewish children in this matter. The main place where we find this is in the sicha from Simchas Torah 5752, when he said that we are on the verge of the Redemption, and a Jew’s avoda must be in a manner resembling the Redemption. Later in this sicha, the Rebbe added the following:
Regarding the aforementioned, there is a special connection to Jewish children, tinokos shel beis rabban, as in the saying of our Sages, of blessed memory, “Do not touch My anointed ones – these are the tinokos shel beis rabban. One of the explanations is that the education of tinokos shel beis rabban must be in a way that the children are totally permeated with the subject and concept of Moshiach. Thus, when we just look at a Jewish child, what do we see? Moshiach! Their whole existence is “Moshiach.”
In another sicha from Shabbos Parshas VaYeira 5752, the Rebbe added to his explanation on this point: It is known that every Jew has a spark from the soul of Moshiach, the level of yechida … and it is typically emphasized among small Jewish children – as in the saying of our Sages, of blessed memory, that the tinokos shel beis rabban are called “My anointed ones.” Furthermore, it can be said that the level of yechida, the spark of Moshiach, is revealed more within children, since their inner strengths are not as revealed (and therefore, their recognition of G-dliness is of His Blessed Essence).
Among adults, whose intellect is more developed, the intellect can conceal a person’s simple faith. Children however, whose intellect is not mature, are able to access more easily the simplicity of the level of ‘yechida’ within them. Thus, they relate more to all matters pertaining to Moshiach.
Even though the level of yechida and the spark of Moshiach exists in every Jew, its main revelation is found specifically within children. Thus, they are given the special title of “My anointed ones.”
On one occasion, the Rebbe spoke about the days of his youth, which were “totally permeated with the subject and concept of Moshiach.” And as he states in his well-known letter: “From the time that I was a child attending cheider, and even before, the vision of the future Redemption began to take form in my imagination – the Redemption of the Jewish People from their final Exile, a redemption of such magnitude and grandeur through which the purpose of the suffering, the harsh decrees and annihilations of Exile will be understood… And all will be in a way that with a complete heart and full understanding it will be said on that day, ‘I will laud You, Hashem, for You have vented Your wrath upon me.’”
For us, this vivid description by the Rebbe can serve as a living example on how a Jewish child’s education should be in these times. We need to give the child a clear picture of the Future Redemption, and this is the issue that should be occupying his thoughts.
It would perhaps be proper to add another point on this subject to reinforce the aforementioned argument. There is the well-known story of the Rebbe Rashab, as a boy of four or five years old, when he went in to his grandfather, the Tzemach Tzedek, and told him what he had learned in Parshas VaYeira, and began to cry as he asked, “Why did G‑d show Himself to Avraham Avinu – but He does not show Himself to us?” The Rebbe elaborated that since this story was told and publicized by our Rebbeim, it comes to instruct us on the matter of education of young children. The Rebbe is telling us that education must be in such a manner that the child will want to see G-d, to the point of making him cry.
These are things that pertain to the level of ‘Rebbe,’ but we are simple people.
The Rebbe already responded to this, explaining that despite the fact that the story deals with a tzaddik and leader in Israel who even in his youth was recognized as a future Torah scholar, since we’re talking about a child under the age of chinuch, all children at this age are halachically on the same level, regardless of their natural skills and abilities. Therefore, the conduct of the Rebbe Rashab at this age represents an example for every other child at that age.
The Rebbe then quoted what the Rambam writes that to educate a child, you first have to promise him candies, and afterward, when he grows older, you promise him nice clothes, money, and honor, and eventually he will come to the true recognition that he has to learn Torah and fulfill mitzvos because it is the absolute truth. Nevertheless, the nature of things has changed since then, and a new channel has been opened which makes education possible from the very outset in a way that the concept of ‘And G-d appeared before him’ will genuinely touch the child.
The same thing can be said regarding the story that the Rebbe told about his own childhood. Since this story was publicized, printed, and distributed among the entire Jewish People, it represents an instruction for all Jews on the education of young children, such that they will be “totally permeated with the subject and concept of Moshiach.” As I just mentioned, we’re talking about a tzaddik and leader of Israel who even in his youth was prepared for the Redemption. Nevertheless, since he was under the age of chinuch at the time, all children at this age are halachically on the same level, regardless of their natural skills and abilities. Therefore, his conduct at this age represents an example for any other child at a similar age. Through his own personal conduct, the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach opened a new route that has changed the nature of things, and today it’s possible to educate small children to envision the Redemption in their own minds.
TEACHING ABOUT MOSHIACH IS A NECESSITY, NOT A BONUS
What is the added value to children educated to believe in Moshiach in contrast to those taught to fulfill Torah and mitzvos without any mention of the concept of Moshiach?
One of the most important challenges for every educator is to instill values that will direct the student to the straight and narrow path even when he is not near his teacher. An educator who wishes to teach a child does not have an easy task before him. In today’s world, there are many ways to attract a child’s attention. He looks right and left, and he sees evil people happy and successful. This is a most difficult trial.
Faced by this challenge, it can safely be said that for a child educated by the faith in and anticipation for the coming of Moshiach, the trial is much easier. It’s clear to him that all the successes on the side of klipa are merely temporary, paving the way for Moshiach’s coming. It’s clear to him that all his efforts to deal with this conflict hasten the Redemption, and as a result, he’s ready to set out in pursuit of the final objective, not just aimlessly groping in the dark.
Educating children to await and anticipate Moshiach’s coming is not an optional bonus; it is an indispensable weapon in protecting them against the evil and seductive winds blowing outside.
THE PRACTICAL WAY TO TEACH CHILDREN ABOUT MOSHIACH
How do you educate children in our generation to live Moshiach?
The more we speak about something, the more aware we become of its existence. When parents connect everything at home to Moshiach, the child will naturally do so as well. Furthermore, the Rebbe says that the best way to live Moshiach is by learning about Moshiach and the Redemption, as studying the subject makes one more connected to the whole concept. Therefore, while it’s very good and important to speak about something, we also have to learn about it.
What is the ideal age that a parent should begin discussing Moshiach with his or her children?
It’s clear that there is an age when the parent should bring the child from a superficial understanding of the subject of Redemption to an inner and more profound one, achieved through greater study. However, there is also another approach in the Rebbe’s sichos that we have already noted: a Jewish child already lives Moshiach and desires G-dliness, and our main obligation is not to get in the way.
Recently, I paid a house visit on a kibbutz somewhere in northern Eretz Yisroel, and I sat and chatted with the members of the family. Among them was a seven-year old boy who listened most attentively to the conversation developing between us and his parents. At a lull in the conversation, the boy spoke up and said, “What will happen when Moshiach comes?” After giving him a brief explanation, I then asked him if he had a special request that he wanted to see fulfilled. I thought to myself that it didn’t matter how he replied – if it was a positive request, I would tell him that Moshiach would fulfill it. The child surprised, even stunned me, when he replied: My desire is to see the Creator…
The Rebbe wants the subject of Moshiach to permeate everything. How do we do this with children in a practical way?
The explanation that everything should be permeated with the concept of Moshiach does not mean that now I have to try and search under the table how everything is connected to Moshiach. From the very outset, we must understand that the fulfillment of everything in this world will be attained when Moshiach comes. Thus, we don’t have to invent the wheel, but we do have to find it. We must educate our children that as they live, all things that come their way must be directed towards their ultimate fulfillment.
In the sichos of ‘D’var Malchus’ the Rebbe teaches us that we must understand how Moshiach is “the central bolt” in everything happening around us. When the child constantly hears this dictum from his parents, he will make the connection on his own as well.
THE TRIALS WILL SOON BE AT AN END
To our great regret, we are now more than twenty-two years after Gimmel Tammuz, yet Moshiach still hasn’t come. How do we explain this delay to a child?
A few years ago, as I waited for an appointment at the United States embassy in Tel Aviv, I met a young avreich from Kfar Chabad. He told me that there were rabbanim and mashpiim in Chabad who speak one way or another on the subject of ‘chai v’kayam,’ but it had no effect upon him. Why? He had been in 770 in 5753 and he was privileged to pass by the Rebbe for dollars distribution. A child who passed by the Rebbe before him proclaimed ‘Yechi Adoneinu’ and he saw that the Rebbe was with the child. Since this is something that he had seen with his own eyes, it made no difference how many years had passed or how many opinions he would hear – no one could take this away from him.
Since not everyone has seen this with their own eyes, the best explanation in the subsequent years comes through learning and strengthening one’s faith. I don’t believe because I heard something or because I’m among a group of believers. I have to believe because I learned it for myself and I have understood the point with a little help from Heaven. As a result, while the trial is long, exhausting, and difficult, nevertheless, we have a deep faith that it couldn’t be otherwise. In order to reach this level of understanding and internalization, we have to open the s’farim and learn the Rebbe’s sichos, particularly from the latter years.