LEARNING FROM CHILDREN

Dear Family,

I hope everyone is well.

Mazal Tov Zelda on your birthday tomorrow. I hope you are well. So nice to be in touch again. Wishing you a wonderful year in good health!

Mazal Tov to Chaya Mussia whose birthday is this week. Wishing you to grow up to be a fine girl and bring your parents much nachas!

One of the points discussed in this week's Sedra, Ki Tetze, is about the REBELLIOUS SON.

In relation to this I saw an interesting article from 'Hebrew Word of the Week' on the word NAAR - YOUTH (From the Book - People of the Word)

Judaism highly values YOUTH for both their

• Tremendous physical energy, and
• Their unique spiritual energy

In 2017, the Oxford Dictionary chose their word of the year as YOUTHQUAKE - a significant cultural, political, or social change arising from the actions or influence of young people.

The Rebbe said 'The rebelliousness of young people is not a crime. On the contrary, it is the fire of the soul that refuses to conform, that is dissatisfied with the status quo, that cries out that it wants to change the world, and is frustrated with not knowing how.'

The Hebrew word naar reflects both the above aspects of youth.

• In the mystical Lecha dodi that we sing on Friday night we find the passage, hisnaari meafar kumi, meaning shake off the dust, and arise. Ie the revolutionary energy of youth.
• The word uri, means to wake up, and refers to the special spiritual sensitivity found in children in their quest for truth.

Many illustrations in Torah show this spiritual sensitivity of children.

Torah teaches us how we can also stay young in spirit.

The terminology used to describe the aging of Avraham and Sarah, is baim beyamim, which means they entered their days. This teaches us that they not only reached a certain number of years quantitatively, but, qualitatively, they entered each day fully with curiosity and openness, never thinking that they had it all figured out, or holding onto expectations of how things are supposed to be.

Gut Shabbos , and wishing everyone a kesivah vechasimah tovah for a Good and Sweet New Year