TORAH → PARSHAH Issue 809 · May 6, 2020

Royal Robes

The Torah teaches us that there’s an alternative, more positive method of chinuch

Royal Robes

 

“And Hashem to Moshe, “Speak to the Kohanim, the sons of Aharon, and say to them: None of you should become impure for a dead person….” (Vayikra 21:1)

 

Rashi comments on the redundancy in the words, “speak” and “say.” Why were both words used? The extra command, he explains, was directed to the minor children of Kohanim, to ensure they also avoid proximity to the dead.

Rav Yehuda Wagschal of Yeshivas Mir Yerushalayim notes that this is one of the primary examples of the Torah showing us how to educate our children. But this prohibition applies only to Kohanim; how does it teach us a general principle of chinuch? (Rav Ozer Alport, Parsha Potpourri)

Way back in the days when planes were still flying and people actually went visiting, I had a long stopover in England on my way to the States. Coincidentally, President Trump was also in England at the time, and so while seated on a back-numbing plastic bench for hours at my gate, the huge screen above me reviewed every aspect of the President’s stay in minute detail. Despite my disinterest, my boredom and the size of the screen led me to learn several salient facts I’d never have known otherwise.

Rav Wagschal suggests that this specific mitzvah teaches us the proper approach to educating children about negative commandments. Many people adopt the attitude that if Hashem proscribes a particular action, it must be reprehensible. They impress upon their children that if Torah says something’s forbidden, it is deplorable and must be avoided at all costs.

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