Sichos in English debuts a new series, The Life of a Jewish Child, providing parents with the messages the Rebbe taught children.
In life, our most important venture is in raising our children. Nothing parallels parents’ investment in the ins and outs of daily life with kids. Parenting tips and educational guidance is a huge industry and parents are inundated by an overload of information while trying to give their kids the best they can.
What Sichos in English is excited to offer is not another parenting book. The market is Baruch Hashem already crowded with Torah-based guidance for every field of education. Instead, The Life of a Jewish Child is a skilled collection of the ideas the Rebbe saw it important to personally teach kids.
The Rebbe dedicated hundreds of hours to addressing children’s gatherings and rallies, offering children full insight to deeply connect with their Yiddishkeit in an age-appropriate manner.
From the earliest days of the Rebbe’s leadership, the Rebbe emphasized the role of the Jewish child. They are not second to the adult world or only valuable as adults-to-be. Instead, the full power of the neshamah, its mission and responsibility, as well as a personal relationship with Hashem, are all fully relevant within their young lives.
A particular example of this approach is the 12 Pesukim and Torah messages the Rebbe introduced to be learned by children. A unique collection of ideas curated specifically for kids, the Rebbe explained them as the 12 messages that will illuminate the child’s world by providing the general scheme of what it means to be a Yid, clarifying our connection with Hashem, and providing the strategy to be successful in living as we should.
More than just memorizing the pesukim, the Rebbe instructed that children be taught their meaning in a relatable manner. Indeed, following their initial introduction in 5736 (1976), the Rebbe delivered insightful messages based on these 12 pesukim and maamarei Chazal in nearly every sichah to children.
A further milestone in the Rebbe’s revolutionary campaign to enhance the Yiddishkeit of Jewish children was the launching of Tzivos Hashem in 5741 (1980). Drafting all Jewish children into the “Army of Hashem,” the Rebbe empowered them to be full-fledged, dedicated soldiers of the Commander-in-Chief, Hashem. Assigning them specific missions and guidance tailored to the time of year, he guided them in strengthening their fulfillment of Torah and mitzvos and winning the battle against the yetzer hara.
Here again, the Rebbe consistently delivered to kids an encompassing approach for what it means to be a Jewish child.
To convey these messages of the Rebbe in a reader-friendly format, Volume One, titled “The Twelve Pesukim: Conversations that Shape Our Children’s World,” is currently being prepared for print. Therein, the Rebbe’s insights and lessons on the pesukim as spoken to children are collected in a cohesive presentation. For the first time, these invaluable insights are made highly accessible for parents by the down-to-earth style of writing, and the practical tips provided will help their child internalize them in their daily lives.
Notably, Volume Two, titled “A Soldier’s Marching Orders,” will focus on the more general role of children as Hashem’s soldiers and the practical “orders of the day” meant to be applied throughout the year.
The upcoming book series is another collaboration of Rabbi Nissan Dovid Dubov and Rabbi Naftoli Hertz Pewzner, authors of the best-selling The Basics of Chassidus.
Relevantly, this Shabbos is 28 Sivan, exactly 82 years since the Rebbe and Rebbetzin arrived in New York from war-torn Europe. Beyond the celebration of their miraculous rescue, this day marks the beginning of the Rebbe’s broad activities in America, including a wide variety of initiatives directly engaging Jewish children in an unprecedented manner.
Corresponding with this auspicious day, Sichos in English is pleased to release an excerpt from this upcoming series, featuring the pasuk of “Ve’ahavta,” from Volume One of The Life of a Jewish Child.
Providing a taste of this unique anthology of the Rebbe’s messages to kids, this chapter explores how to successfully inculcate ahavas Yisrael in our children. This publication’s layout follows the general model of the Basics of Chassidus series, with some accommodations made to be more accessible to parents as they seek to convey these messages to their children. The power of a Jewish child to affect their surroundings by sharing their knowledge is emphasized, along with other practical applications given by the Rebbe to children. B’ezras Hashem, we look forward to sharing more of this invaluable resource in the near future, contributing to the greater enhancement of chinuch for children of all ages.
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