8 minute read
Parenting Pearls
Parenting Pearls The Megillah and Nach
By Sara Rayvych, MSEd
Iwas talking to a sweet young man and asked him if he was learning Navi. He laughed and told me that Navi was for little kids. I was a bit surprised but not shocked. With so much to learn, Nach doesn’t get the same attention.
I recall learning that we actually had far more neviim and nevuos than those recorded. Additionally, only a select number of texts made it into Nach. Those that made the cut were ones that were seen as being relevant for generations to come, including our own.
There are two problems with leaving Nach exclusively to the little ones. The first problem is that, in general, we tend to have too simplistic a view of Tanach, especially Nach, when we don’t delve into it after childhood. The second issue is that we miss out on so many lessons that can be gleaned from these holy seforim. These lessons can be used in our day-to-day lives to educate and inspire both us and our children.
I am not criticizing that Nach gets relegated to “secondary” status among the subjects because there is so much to learn and far too few hours to do it. I remember in high school when the girls complained that the boys didn’t take some of the limudei kodesh subjects we did. I still remember the words of our rebbi when he said that truthfully the boys should be learning those extra subjects but they simply couldn’t cover all of that material and still gain the strong foundation needed in Gemara.
With Purim in the air, Megillas Esther readily comes to mind. We hear the story of the Megillah, carefully hearing each word, and then we step out into the party of Purim. The Purim story is actually rather intense. We tend to focus on the salvation at the end but avoid dwelling on the minute details that got us there. With a finetooth comb reading of the text we realize the magnitude of our ancestors’ situation and the many lessons contained in this ancient text.
While today’s topic can be generalized to a good portion of Nach, I will mostly be using the Megillah for our examples. I’ve seen samples of the series “The Navi Journey” by Rabbi Ilan Ginian. It’s a wonderful resource for parents that want to have an easy way to access the books of Nach.
Childhood Learning
There is so much importance to childhood learning, particularly when inculcating pure children with such holy words. It’s important that children learn Torah from a young age. Whether they enjoy parsha stories or learning about chagim, it’s an important start to their neshama’s journey.
We want their learning to be not only informative but also enjoyable. We’re setting the tone for their future perception of religious learning, and we want that attitude to be a sweet one. Games, skits, and storytelling all bring timeless lessons down to their level in a way they can appreciate and understand. Prizes and stickers are added to create lasting memories, long after they’ve been worn through or lost.
We want to fortify our youth with an appreciation for our mesora to last for decades to come. We want our children to feel inner excitement and joy when they think of Torah and Yiddishkeit. The rest of this article is not intended to diminish this early childhood experience in the least. I want to take this beginning cornerstone of learning to the next level.
More Than Childhood Storytelling
Torah is more than just stories and cutesy tales. While we tell Parsha as animated stories for the littles and put on Purim plays, it’s not meant to end there. Torah is emes, and Tanach wasn’t written to provide merely kosher entertainment.
When young children are taught parsha and the Megillah, the midrashim are mixed in liberally. Midrashim add much to p’shat and there is a reason they’re included, but, what we end up having is teenagers (and adults) that can’t differentiate between the basic scriptural text and the added-in midrashim. It’s cute when children tell you about Vashti’s tail and spots but less so when an older person doesn’t realize the Megillah never mentions them. Many people have been embarrassed when they spoke of midrashim as if they were p’shat. It often takes learning on an adult level to differentiate and recognize the difference between the two.
Children are taught a very limited amount of the material. They don’t go into the full depths of the subject because they are too young to understand it or because the material is too mature. Youngsters are taught that Rachav was simply an innkeeper. Children may not appreciate her level of emunah in Hashem that she risked her life to protect the spies, knowing she faced certain death if discovered. She wasn’t even Jewish, yet she knew Hashem was the Tuth. It takes a more mature mind to appreciate the power of teshuva that, according to some opinions, she could go on to become Yehoshua’s wife (Megilla 14b).
Little kids learn about Haman buying the privilege to destroy the Jews, chas v’shalom. It takes a more mature mind to understand the fact that Achashveiros didn’t actually accept the money. We tell kids that Hashem was hiding throughout the Megillah, which is true. As adults we can additionally recognize the precarious position the Jewish community was in at the time and couldn’t simply write what they wanted. The Megillah was an official document written somewhat contemporaneously and was visible to the Persians who wouldn’t want to see their king described negatively.
Most of the lessons are beyond their tender years but we want to give our children a foundation in what will become lifelong guidance. A foundation isn’t intended to be the end – it’s just the beginning. If we discourage in-depth learning after a certain age, then we deny our children the ability to learn the deeper, more profound lessons contained within.
Lessons for Today
It’s important to learn lessons from the Torah. They shouldn’t remain as simply nice thoughts we’ve heard but then forgotten. These teachings are intended to be incorporated into our hearts, souls, and daily life.
We readily realize the lessons we can learn from the kedoshim of recent generations. As an example, it’s easier for me to handle less-than-ideal circumstances when I remember that
my Bubby Bina was under such horrific circumstances during the Holocaust that she couldn’t even imagine the luxury of a simple pillow. If she couldn’t imagine surviving past the war, I certainly shouldn’t complain about hitting a red light. When my other grandmother mentioned the feelings of starvation brought on by the Great Depression, it made a breakfast of scrambled eggs taste luxurious. Rather than focus on the obvious discomfort, she instead reminisced that she always had the good fortune to have an apple before bed. I can learn gratitude for my own blessings when recalling her attitude.
The people in Nach were real people that experienced difficult and trying circumstances. Many of them are our distant ancestors. They, too, can be a source of insight into what is an appropriate path for us. Just as we are moved by the circumstances of our grandparents, we can also gain that emotion from Torah she’bichsav.
We can be inspired by Mordachai’s unfathomable insistence on doing the right thing, even at risk to his life. It’s easy to be embarrassed by keeping halacha in front of those that may not understand why we act differently from them. When boys are uncom-
fortable when someone stares at their yarmulkes, they can remember that Mordechai was unflinching and acted as a Yid at all times. He willingly wore sackcloth publicly to bring his generation towards teshuva.
Esther was unknown prior to being picked by the king yet she rose to the greatest of heights and became Hashem’s shaliach in our salvation. When a child feels incapable of excelling, they can simply look towards an unlikely heroine to remember that we all have greatness within.
There was a decree calling for death to every Jew, lo aleinu. According to the natural order, we shouldn’t have survived. Despite the odds against everything, our greatest scare became the source of our most joyous day. Our children can learn to never give up hope and that Hashem truly can save us from anything, no matter how dire circumstances look.
Let’s not deny our children the strength of our heritage. We shouldn’t sound preachy, and we shouldn’t put children down for not living up to these high standards; neither of these will work. In fact, they’ll probably have the opposite effect. What we can do is use these stories as real-life examples of where their true potential lies. Our children have this capability, and they should recognize the power within themselves.
Enjoy the infinite depth of our holy scriptures. Appreciate the lessons and let’s pass them on to the next generation. Listen closely as the Megillah is read; there is so much to be learned.
Chag sameach!
Sara Rayvych, MSEd, has her master’s in general and special education. She has been homeschooling for over 10 years in Far Rockaway. She can be contacted at RayvychHomeschool@gmail.com.
JEP of Long Island runs educational programs year around and the candy is a great way to say, "Great job," to the children. Drop off locations in most local yeshivas and the following shuls: White Shul Cong. Shaaray Tefila Young Israel of Lawrence/Cedarhurst Bais Medrash of Cedarhurst Young Israel of Woodmere Bais Tefilah of Inwood Young Israel of North Woodmere
