When and how should a child be introduced to Torah study?

From the pasuk v’limaditem osam es bneichem, Chazal learn that a father is obligated to teach his child Torah.¹ The Alter Rebbe emphasizes that, unlike most mitzvos, where chinuch is only miderabanan, the obligation to teach Torah to one’s son is mide’oraisa, and rests on the father himself.

Chinuch begins the moment a child can speak. The father begins by teaching him two pesukim: Torah tziva lanu Moshe, planting in his heart that the Torah was given min hashamayim and is eternal; and the first pasuk of Shema Yisroel, instilling the emunah that Hashem is One. After this, they gradually continue learning additional pesukim by heart.²

When the child turns three, the father teaches him the alef beis. That year, he teaches him to read, so that by age four, he can begin reading pesukim in the Chumash. Poskim debate whether ben chamesh shanim l’mikra means when the child turns five or at the start of his fifth year, i.e., at age four. The Alter Rebbe takes the second approach.³

The child’s reading is very precious to Hashem, as Dovid Hamelech said, mipi olelim v’yonkim yisadta oz, from the mouths of young Hashem established strength. Even when the child stumbles and skips letters or words, Hashem sees them as an expression of love. ⁴

The father should teach pesukim slowly but steadily, learning also at night to fulfill the passuk v’hagisa bo yomam valailah.⁵ The minhag is to begin Chumash with Sefer Vayikra, as Chazal say, “let the pure ones come and engage with the laws of purity.”⁶

The Rebbe highlights how even once the child begins cheder, the chinuch at home remains important. When the child comes home, he should only see things that reinforce what he is taught at cheder. V’dibarta bam b’shivtecha b’veisecha means the child should be able to come to his father and mother and talk Torah with them.⁷

Moreover, the Rebbe points out, the strongest tool in this is the father’s own example. When the child sees his father setting aside business, foregoing a few more dollars he could earn, to sit and learn Torah, this example is engraved in the child for life. The aim is for the child to feel the value and importance of Torah, with real geshmak in learning, so he’s excited to learn another pasuk of Torah.⁸

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