[Avodah] RSRH on How to Raise Children

[Prof. Levine]

 From the new translation of RSRH's commentary on the Chumash.

Bereishis 25:27  When the lads grew up, Esav was 
a man who understood hunting, a man of the field, 
and Ya’akov was a totally dedicated man, living in tents.

Each child should be guided in accordance with the path intended
especially for him, the path that suits the qualities and tendencies latent
in the depths of his personality, and thus he should be educated, both
as a man and as a Jew. The great Jewish task is basically one, but the
ways of its fulfillment are manifold and diverse, as human character
traits and paths of life are manifold and diverse.

When the sons of Ya’akov gathered to hear their father’s blessing,
and he visualized in them the future tribes of Israel, he saw not only
Kohanim and teachers of the Law. Standing around him were the tribe
of Levi’im , the tribe of kingship, the tribe of merchants, the tribe of
farmers, the tribe of warriors. Standing before his eyes was the whole
nation, with all its manifold characteristics and diverse ways of development.
And he blessed all of them, Ish asher k'birkaso, beirach osom (below,
49:28), each according to his own special qualities. For the covenant
that God established with Avraham is intended for a healthy, whole,
and vital nation. The purpose of the covenant is to build a complete
national life with all its manifold forms, all for the one great task, leshmor
derech  Hashem la'asos tzedakah umishpot. There, 
strength and courage, no less than
thought and emotion, are to have their champions in the service of
God, and all the people, in various callings, are to fulfill the one great
common task.

Precisely for this reason, each child must be brought up al pi darko;
educate him to the one great goal, according to his own unique way,
in keeping with his potential. To attempt to educate a Ya’akov and an
Esav together in the same classroom, in the same routines and in the
same manner, to raise both of them for a life of study and contemplation,
will inevitably mean to ruin one of the two. A Ya’akov will draw
from the well of wisdom with ever-increasing interest and desire,
whereas an Esav will hardly be able to wait for the day when he can
throw away the old books and, together with them, a great life-mission,
of which he was taught in a one-sided manner, totally unappealing to
his nature.

Had Yitzchak and Rivkah delved deeply into Esav’s nature; had they
asked themselves at an early stage how even an Esav — with the strength,
skills, and courage latent within him — could be harnessed for God’s
service, then the future gibor would not have become a gibor tziyid but a
true gibor lifnei Hashem. Ya’akov and Esav, 
despite their different natures, would
have remained twin brothers in spirit and in way of life. Early on, the
sword of Esav would have entered into a covenant with the spirit of
Ya’akov, and who knows what turn world history would have taken!

To see Rav Hirsch's complete commentary of this Pasuk, please go to
http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/25_27_28_bereishis.pdf

Yitzchok Levine
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