כ״ב אלול ה׳תשפ״ו | September 4, 2026
Chinuch Begins at Home
When Rebbetzin Sima Ashkenazi began telling the Rebbe about a tense meeting between parents and the seminary hanhala, she got only as far as the word “parents” before the Rebbe interrupted her.
Rebbetzin Sima Ashkenazi, wife of Kfar Chabad rov, Harav Mordechai Shmuel Ashkenazi a”h, related:
During a yechidus in Tishrei 5729 (1968), the Rebbe suddenly asked me, “What happened at the meeting with Harav Chefer?”
At the time, I was working at the seminary in Kfar Chabad. Reb Shmuel Chefer had called a meeting with the mothers after hearing many complaints about the girls. He told them that if they spoke more positively about the school and the hanhala, the girls would hear it and behave differently. Naturally, the parents felt that the school was responsible for the situation.
I explained to the Rebbe what Harav Chefer had told the parents, and then began to say that the parents… I wanted to say that they had blamed the school.
I had only said the word “parents” when the Rebbe looked up and interrupted me: “Certainly they are at fault! Certainly they are at fault!”
The Rebbe wished to emphasize the tremendous responsibility parents have and how much their words and attitudes can positively shape their children’s chinuch.
(As heard from Mrs. Sima Ashkenazi)
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