“If we really care about the chinuch of our children we must focus less on those whose actions we cannot control”
I haven’t been following the Growth Curve serial, but I very much enjoyed Rabbi Kahane’s main point in last week’s Inbox. As a good friend of Rabbi Kahane, however, I feel that one point was not fully clarified, and I hope he will allow me to clarify it.
Eretz Yisrael in general, and Yerushalayim specifically, is different because it is the “Palace of the King.” A couple looking to party away the year at the expense of parents should indeed not defile the palace.
But the Chovos Halevavos, among other Rishonim, explains the metaphor of the “Palace of the King.” Everybody, he says, wants to be close to the king, and everybody tries to get into the palace. Most people can get into the outermost chamber, and perhaps catch a glimpse of the king — or join a party that the king makes for his subjects. Some people merit the privilege of an audience with the king in his throne room, further inside. Only the closest of the close merit Heviani haMelech chadarav, when they can join the king for a private audience in his innermost chambers.
[Until this very day, palaces — at least Western European palaces — follow this blueprint, going from outer, public chambers, through a throne room, and to private inner chambers. Some guides or explanatory signs actually use variations of the explanation of the Chovos Halevavos — of course without attribution.]
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