A man in Toronto once wanted to make a pidyon ha-ben for his newborn son. Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky ztz"l who was the Rav there, politely suggested to him that since he was a Levi it was not necessary to do the pidyon.
"No way Rabbi, I made a pidyon ha-ben for my first son, I made a pidyon ha-ben for my second son and I am NOT going to skip the pidyon ha-ben for my third son!"
The Rebbe ztz"l in his Chovas Hatalmidim stresses that every child is different. This seems obvious but unfortunately our educational system generally does not abide by this teaching. It is very difficult to do when you have fifty students in a classroom. The ideal according to the Torah is home-schooling [see the seminal essay of Maran HaRav Hutner ztz"l on the topic in the Pachad Yitzchak-Shavuos]!
So if you are fortunate enough to have children or to be an educator, remember to try to identify the uniqueness of each child and treat him him accordingly. And don't forget the most important child.
Yourself.
Love and blessings:)!!
Indeed, Reb Kalonymos Kalman stressed the need to recruit the child into his own education - and the way he talks to the student learning his seforim...! You get the feeling that he is talking to each one as an individual.
ReplyDeletehmmm... home schooling. sounds interesting, no shmuel? :)
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