As the school bus approaches, parents share their dreams and fears

Project Coordinator: Rachel Bachrach

Rabbi Dov Brezak

To my dearest Moishie,

My love for you is so great that I cannot put it into words. I wish for your success even more than I wish for my own. Tomorrow you are going back to school, and I’d like to give you a short letter, with a tefillah that it help you see much success in this upcoming school year.

Moishie, this has not been a simple year. It’s been a coronavirus year. We’ve been together at home for so long, all of us. We’ve been afraid together, we’ve been upset together, we’ve been fighting, and we’ve gotten on each other’s nerves. We’ve also had fun together, we spent Pesach and Shavuos together, we davened together, and we even tried “going to school” together.

There were phone conferences and classes that we tried to get all of you to listen to, but it wasn’t easy, and it just wasn’t the same as being in school.

Now, b’chasdei Hashem, you’re returning to school for the new year. It’s not a regular new school year though — it’s a post-coronavirus year.

When we don’t have something, we begin to appreciate it more, we begin to understand its value even more. You didn’t have that much school this past half year. You were bored, you were restless, and you were fighting with your siblings a lot.

What were you missing? Moishie, you weren’t growing. That’s what you were missing.

Just like a child grows physically and gets taller and bigger, he grows spiritually, too. But the way he grows spiritually is by going to school. There he learns Chumash, mishnayos, Gemara, halachah… and there he receives the hashkafos that help him attain ahavas Hashem and good middos.

Even though school is hard work and maybe not so much fun, now that you haven’t had it for a while, you know just how much you’ve been missing. You’ve been missing the feeling that you are growing and becoming bigger in Torah. You’ve been missing the feeling that you are growing and becoming bigger in becoming a mensch and in learning skills that will help you throughout life.

But there’s more, and this is the message I want to give you.

Moishie, Chazal say that the Torah of young boys (tinokos shel beis rabban) holds up the world. Your Torah holds up the world! And this past year, when so much of your Torah and the Torah of other young children has been missing, the entire world has suffered so much.

Now you are going back to cheder, but this is not a regular year. You’re going back to hold up the world.

My precious Moishie, hold your head high, and think about what a special thing you are doing! The entire world is waiting for you and your Torah.

But Moishie, knowing this isn’t enough. You realize your learning is important, you know it’s holding up the world, you understand that we need you and we are all waiting for your Torah. But it’s an awesome responsibility, and maybe you aren’t comfortable carrying that responsibility, especially since you’re just a young boy, not even bar mitzvah yet.

So there’s something I think you need to focus on, which will help you to fulfill this special task successfully.

Simchah.

Moishie, not only is your Torah holding up the world — there’s more than that: Hashem chose you to hold up the world.

You should be dancing, singing, and laughing all day long.

“Hashem chose me! Hashem chose me! Me — little Moishie! Hashem chose me to hold up the world. How happy I am, and how wonderful it feels!”

Moishie, sing, dance, laugh, and smile the whole day long, because Hashem chose you to hold up the world!!

You are special in a way that words cannot express.

So when you struggle, or when school might not go so easily, because school can be that way, smile to yourself and say,

“Hashem chose me!”

—Your loving father, who is always so proud of you, and this year more than ever

Rabbi Dov Brezak is the author of Chinuch in Turbulent Times (ArtScroll Mesorah Publications) and founder of Chinuch LifeLines, an organization providing workshops and coaching to parents around the world. He lives in Jerusalem.