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Chinuch: Difference between revisions
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# Just as a woman is not obligated to learn torah, kids are not required to do mitzvot. However, if a woman is to help her husband learn she must be involved as if she was required to learn. This is because her husband's mitzvah is relying on her learning in a certain manner. This is parallel to Chinuch because even though the child is not required to do the mitzvot, his father's obligation is reliant on his son performing the mitzvah adequately. <ref>S’dei Chemed, Klallim, Maareches Ches, Klal 60</ref> | # Just as a woman is not obligated to learn torah, kids are not required to do mitzvot. However, if a woman is to help her husband learn she must be involved as if she was required to learn. This is because her husband's mitzvah is relying on her learning in a certain manner. This is parallel to Chinuch because even though the child is not required to do the mitzvot, his father's obligation is reliant on his son performing the mitzvah adequately. <ref>S’dei Chemed, Klallim, Maareches Ches, Klal 60</ref> | ||
# In Devarim, the pasuk says (וְשִׁנַּנְתָּם לְבָנֶיךָ, וְדִבַּרְתָּ בָּם, בְּשִׁבְתְּךָ בְּבֵיתֶךָ וּבְלֶכְתְּךָ בַדֶּרֶךְ, וּבְשָׁכְבְּךָ וּבְקוּמֶךָ) that one must teach their child dilegently and at all times. From this, we can infer that chinuch is so important that the father must make sure his son is fully ready to fulfill the mitzvah. This is so necessary that the father must teach his child at all times. <ref>Devarim 6:7</ref> | # In Devarim, the pasuk says (וְשִׁנַּנְתָּם לְבָנֶיךָ, וְדִבַּרְתָּ בָּם, בְּשִׁבְתְּךָ בְּבֵיתֶךָ וּבְלֶכְתְּךָ בַדֶּרֶךְ, וּבְשָׁכְבְּךָ וּבְקוּמֶךָ) that one must teach their child dilegently and at all times. From this, we can infer that chinuch is so important that the father must make sure his son is fully ready to fulfill the mitzvah. This is so necessary that the father must teach his child at all times. <ref>Devarim 6:7</ref> | ||
# Others say, the requirement of a father to train his son in the performance of mitzvot, before he is bar mitzvah, is called chinuch. | # Others say, the requirement of a father to train his son in the performance of mitzvot, before he is bar mitzvah, is called chinuch. The term chinuch means training. From this we can infer that the child does not need to perfect the mitzvah, or even complete it, for the father's obligation to be fulfilled. <ref>"The Responsibility for Chinuch." Chabad.org. TheRebbe.org, n.d. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.</ref> | ||
# A Psychologist's viewpoint of chinuch is very different. Since there is no concrete explanation of what you must do to | # A Psychologist's viewpoint of chinuch is very different. Since there is no concrete explanation of what you must do to fulfill chinuch, when trying to find how to fulfill chinuch a lot of parents seem to make simple mistakes. There are cases where children don't obtain any information on negative mitzvot because the father is so set on teaching mitzvot such as tzitzit or tefillin. From this we can see that the father can fulfill chinuch by being confident that his child will be a well rounded torah observer. An example would be a situation on pesach. Rather than scolding your child on how big the matzah must be in order to be kosher, instead you should be teaching your child the story of pesach and how to appreciate it.<ref>Shalem, Baruch, Ph.D, and David Koenigsberg, Ph.D. "Chinuch." Chinuch. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.</ref> | ||
# Some examples of cases of chinuch are with a lulav and with tzitzit. While the obligation of chinuch is only fulfilled if you give your child a perfectly kosher lulav and pair of tzitzit, you don’t have to give your child lulav hadar. In addition, you also don’t have to teach your child to have kavanah while performing the mitzvah. From this, we can infer that while it is important to teach your child to not perform the mitzvah in a non-kosher way, it is also not necessary to make your child fully enthralled in all aspects of the mitzvah.<ref>Fine, D. "The Mitzvah of Chinuch Explored." Shortvort. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2016.</ref> | # Some examples of cases of chinuch are with a lulav and with tzitzit. While the obligation of chinuch is only fulfilled if you give your child a perfectly kosher lulav and pair of tzitzit, you don’t have to give your child lulav hadar. In addition, you also don’t have to teach your child to have kavanah while performing the mitzvah. From this, we can infer that while it is important to teach your child to not perform the mitzvah in a non-kosher way, it is also not necessary to make your child fully enthralled in all aspects of the mitzvah.<ref>Fine, D. "The Mitzvah of Chinuch Explored." Shortvort. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2016.</ref> | ||
## There is a dispute whether a father fulfills his obligation when letting his child use a borrowed lulav for sukkot.<ref>Mishna Brurah 628:28</ref> This question revolves around whether the nature of the obligation of chinuch was to train the child to do mitzvot when he gets older in which case it would suffice or was it that the rabbis imposed an obligation upon the child to do mitzvot before he becomes Biblically obligated.<ref>Rav Moshe Feinstein in Igrot Moshe YD 1:224. See Ritva (Sukkah 2b s.v. amar rabbi yehuda) who says that a sukkah above 20 amot is invalid for chinuch and concludes that the mitzvah of chinuch has to be fulfilled in a complete fashion.</ref> | |||
== Until When? == | == Until When? == | ||
# Although the primary purpose of Chinuch is to train children when they are young so that they continue to perform the Mitzvot during adulthood, the parents' obligations does not end when a child reaches bar or bat mitzvah. A parent must make sure that the child continues to adhere to all biblical or rabbinic laws even after maturity. <ref> Children in Halacha pg. 8 </ref> | # Although the primary purpose of Chinuch is to train children when they are young so that they continue to perform the Mitzvot during adulthood, the parents' obligations does not end when a child reaches bar or bat mitzvah. A parent must make sure that the child continues to adhere to all biblical or rabbinic laws even after maturity. <ref> Children in Halacha pg. 8 </ref> | ||
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# A parent and/or teacher should generally be careful not to be excessively forceful. There are several cases where Talmudic personalities praised their behavior of not being "makpid"(strict) in their home over their wives and children even though they lived a life filled with mitzvot.<ref>Gitin 7a</ref> | # A parent and/or teacher should generally be careful not to be excessively forceful. There are several cases where Talmudic personalities praised their behavior of not being "makpid"(strict) in their home over their wives and children even though they lived a life filled with mitzvot.<ref>Gitin 7a</ref> | ||
# An important lesson about chinuch in general can be learned from a story about trying to teach one’s son to wash before eating. It talks about a little kid who did not wash before eating bread. This infuriated his dad so he went to get something to hit him with. When he wound up to hit his son, his wife immediately stopped him and reminded him that he does not wash before eating bread either, thus he should be the one that is hit. The lesson is that if you want to successfully teach your children mitzvot, you have to take ownership and do the mitzvah as well. <ref> "חינוך לדורות - חינוך במעשים." Raktora. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Feb. 2016. <http://raktora.50webs.com/hinuh1.htm>.</ref> | # An important lesson about chinuch in general can be learned from a story about trying to teach one’s son to wash before eating. It talks about a little kid who did not wash before eating bread. This infuriated his dad so he went to get something to hit him with. When he wound up to hit his son, his wife immediately stopped him and reminded him that he does not wash before eating bread either, thus he should be the one that is hit. The lesson is that if you want to successfully teach your children mitzvot, you have to take ownership and do the mitzvah as well. <ref> "חינוך לדורות - חינוך במעשים." Raktora. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Feb. 2016. <http://raktora.50webs.com/hinuh1.htm>.</ref> | ||
## The gedolim have all agreed that hitting children in the name of chinuch is forbidden.<ref>Rav Wolbe in Biyan Uzeriya Bechinuch. Rav Kook in Ayin Ayah Brachot 7a:70</ref> | |||
==Feeding a Child Something Forbidden== | |||
# It is forbidden to feed a child something that is forbidden whether it is forbidden from the Torah or rabbinically.<ref>The Rambam Machalot Asurot 17:27 holds that it is forbidden to feed a child something forbidden whether that prohibition is from the Torah or rabbinic. The Rashba responsa 1:92 argues that it is permitted as long as it is only rabbinic yet he cautioned that he didn't rule like that in practice. Ran Yoma 1a quotes the Rashba. The Shulchan Aruch 343:1 holds like the Rambam.</ref> | |||
# It is permitted to feed a baby milk an hour after they finished eating meat even though the minhag is to not to have milk after meat for several hours.<ref>Chelkat Yakov YD 1:16 is lenient to permit a baby to drink milk after eating meat since it is only a minhag and since a minhag is based on a vow it a child's vows aren't effective. However, he limits this leniency to this context and only permits in conjunction with the fact that a baby is considered like a choleh shein bo sakana if they need to drink milk for health. Yabia Omer YD 1:4 is lenient after an hour but adds that perhaps there's no prohibition of feeding a child something forbidden if it is only an external prohibition and now a prohibition of the food itself.</ref> | |||
# Many poskim are lenient even for Ashkenazim to feed a child who needs to eat kitniyot on Pesach for health reasons since it is only a minhag.<ref>Shem Aryeh EH 95 writes that there's no issue with feeding a child below chinuch something (latfiso byadayim) that is only a chumra and not even a rabbinic prohibition. He is writing about not eating dried fruits on Pesach which was a certain minhag. The Sdei Chemed Chametz Umatzah 6:6 quotes it regarding Kitniyot. Siach Yitzchak responsa 210 agrees. Yachava Daat 1:9 agrees. He quotes Kol Mevaser 778, Agudat Ezov 12 who also agree that there's no prohibition of feeding a child something that's only a minhag. Agudat Ezov is lenient even with bishul akum. Sdei Chemed Asifat Zekenim Bishul Goyim 15 quotes that.</ref> | |||
# Putting a diaper on a baby on Shabbat that has a color strip which changes colors when the baby goes to the bathroom is permitted.<ref>Rav Nissim Karelitz in Chut Shani Shabbat v. 4 p. 287 writes that it is permitted to put a diaper on a baby that is going to change colors when the baby goes to the bathroom and it isn't considered causing your baby to do a melacha of coloring on Shabbat. The reason is that when the diaper is put on there's no change and when the baby goes to the bathroom he is mitasek and there's no issue of causing your child to do a melacha as a mitasek.</ref> | |||
# Feeding your child a cookie with letters on it on Shabbat is permitted.<ref>Mishna Brurah on 340:3 writes that it is permitted to give your child a cookie with letters on it even though for an adult it is forbidden to eat it since it will erase the letters. Chut Shani Shabbat v. 4 p. 293 explains that it is permitted since erasing the letters is at worst derabbanan and also some poskim permit it altogether. Also, there's no problem of causing your child to do something forbidden if it is a pesik reisha unless the child realizes that he's doing it for the benefit of the child.</ref> | |||
== Sources == | == Sources == | ||
<references/> | <references/> | ||
[[Category:Lifecycles]] | [[Category:Lifecycles]] | ||
