The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is
exceedingly
sick -- who can know it? I, Hashem, examine the heart and
search
the kidneys, to give every man according to his ways
according to
the fruit of his doings (Yirmiyohu 17:9- 10).
Man is composed of major and subordinate powers. Some fill
only a
secondary function during his life, while others are more
decisive
and serve him constantly. Above these are powers that form
man's very
essence and are the primary forces in his actions and
thoughts. These
principal powers mold his personality and model his image and
appearance.
One of these main forces is desire.
The Sha'arei Teshuvah of Rabbeinu Yonah writes most
clearly
that, "Desire is situated in man's heart and is the root of
all
his doings." Acts sprout from this root -- from desire. The
body operates only as a servant who carries out commands and
missions
laid upon it by a supreme, absolute power. Desire, with its
many assistants,
rules over man.
This is man's actual condition. There is no mortal in the
whole world
who is born with a pure and clean heart, void of desire. This
is man:
already at birth, as he stirs from his mother's womb, this
key power
binds itself to him and it accompanies him until death.
There is only one counterbalance against this destructive
power: constant
abstinence from physical lusts.
Now we are approaching the primary deficiency of educational
systems
in general, and of the Israeli one in particular. This
cardinal failing,
found exclusively in those systems not built entirely upon
the foundations
of Torah, in the end spells ruin for these systems.
We can explain it as follows: our Holy Torah, a Toras
Chaim,
paints desire as a destructive power that causes results
approaching
complete havoc. In education and in general, the Torah
concerns itself
primarily with subduing this power and turning it into
Hashem's servant
and that of man's intelligence. Our Holy Torah sees the
reformation
of this power as our prime objective and only through control
of it
does man have his basic guarantee that enables him to choose
good.
Rabbeinu Yonah continues, "If he refines desire, then instead
of his body serving it he will draw it after his
intelligence, and
it will accompany and serve his intelligence. All his acts
will be
bettered." By succeeding in crushing and taming his desire,
and
by making his intelligence rule over it, "all his acts will
be
bettered." Such control over desire insures that one will do
righteous
acts, "as is written, `as for the pure one, his work is
righteousness'
(Mishlei 21:8). A person who is purified of his
desires acts
uprightly, too."
The Holy Torah is especially concerned about the development
of desire
during childhood and adolescence. These are periods of
intensive body
and character development. Any deviation, any corruption in
this sensitive
period, is like a flaw in a building's foundation. Even a
slight deviation
eventually results in chaos.
The Rambam (in the Sefer Hamitzvos) warns against a
person
indulging himself in excessive eating and drinking during
childhood,
according to the conditions specified in the halocho
of the
ben sorer umoreh. Here the Torah warns us against
habitual
excessive eating and drinking during youth, and punishes it
with the
harshest penalty -- death -- so as to frighten others away
from
copying such behavior.
Desire destroys the image of humanity within man and allows
destructive,
untamed forces to gain control of him. His adoption of
animalistic
characteristics is the most certain and all-inclusive ruin
that could
be. Animalistic behavior means an eternal, incurable split
with true
humanity.
The Vilna Gaon writes in Even Sheleimo: "Every person
who
passes through Nehar Dinur (Gehennom) is judged
according to
the way he acted (on earth). Tzaddikim receive only a
cooled-off
judgment there, while reshoim are judged with fire . .
. and
those who follow their animal nefesh are destroyed,
since broken
earthenware cannot be fixed." These are the terrible and
awesome
results of developing animal lust.
We must fully realize that even when a young boy has
developed this
destructive power within him the Holy Torah rules, "Let him
die
while still innocent and not full of sin" (Sanhedrin
71b).
This power, that has begun to develop while he is young, will
certainly
cause him to deteriorate further. He will follow one desire
after
another until he commits theft, robbery, and even murder. For
his
own good and that of the public, "Let him die while still
innocent
and not full of sin."
This is the crossroads for an educational system. Modern non-
Jewish
education, upon which secular education in Eretz Yisroel is
based,
cannot control these powers. Furthermore, it lacks any
techniques
for curbing them, for the simple reason that their mentors in
the
fields of education and character are totally baffled in this
area.
The truth is that they have no basic knowledge of children's
kochos
hanefesh, and what is worse, partly out of sheer
helplessness and
partly for their convenience, they have created a warped new
system.
This system contradicts reality and dictates, among other
things,
"Do not punish your child! Do not restrict or restrain him!
Let
him develop `naturally' and `normally.' "
Not only do they not try to place limitations on children, to
define
correct behavior for them, but intentionally (or perhaps
unintentionally)
they promote the growth of desire within them. They intensify
the
children's power of desire. From their very childhood they
implant
the forty-nine gates of tumah within their previously
pure
soul. These secular educators manufacture wholesale the
animal feeling
that is widespread in this spiritually impoverished
generation. Why
have they established houses of avoda zorah for the
idol of
desire? Why are there establishments with modern academic
titles that
disseminate immoral pictures? Is this not an insane plea for
the development
of man's animalistic feelings? (Note that we are talking here
about
fundamental physical desires and not matters of ideology.)
Is it any wonder that pure souls who breath this poisoned
air, souls
brought up on excessive pleasures of every sort, are left
without
any guidelines of good or evil? The explicit aim of achieving
one's
desire permits everything.
So-called serious secular journalism is alarmed when it
discovers
violence among high school children from well-to-do families.
Many
ask in alarm, "How could this happen? What is the reason? Who
is at fault?"
We are amazed at their questions. Why are they so startled?
Have they
never learned the alef-beis of elementary education?
Do they
not understand that if they encourage children to attain
their desires,
the end result is violence?
Let them open up the Book of Books, our Holy Torah, where
every letter
points at this pivotal principle.
Torah education is based upon what Shlomo Hamelech, the
wisest of
men, wrote: "The rod and reproof give wisdom; but a child
left
to himself causes shame to his mother" (Mishlei 29:15;
see Rashi). This candid advice reprimands all the various
modern experts,
and guides us in the proper way of education.
Education that lets its students do what they please will
eventually
end up with these students putting their teachers to shame.
Only "Reprimand
your son and he will give you rest, he will give delight to
your soul"
(ibid., v. 17). Only Torah chinuch, an
education that
restrains impulses and guides the child towards breaking his
wild
lust, an education that shows students the bounds and limits,
has
any chance of succeeding in implanting in their hearts good
character
traits, righteousness, and a yearning to improve
themselves.
"He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him
rebukes
him" (Mishlei 13:24). The Midrash Tanchuma
writes:
"This teaches us that someone who refrains from rebuking his
son
causes his eventual spiritual deterioration. We find this in
Yishmoel:
Avrohom, his father, loved him and did not punish him.
Yishmoel afterwards
deteriorated, and then Avrohom hated him.
"Similarly, `Yitzchok loved Esav' (Bereishis 25:28),
and
therefore Esav degenerated, because Yitzchok did not punish
him .
. . [in the case of] Dovid, too, when he did not admonish and
punish
Avsholom, Avsholom degenerated and attempted to kill Dovid .
. . and
caused the deaths of several thousand people . . . Likewise
Dovid
did not punish or scold Adoniyahu, and therefore Adoniyahu
became
corrupt.
"`But he who loves him rebukes him' -- that is Avrohom, who
rebuked and taught [Yitzchok] Torah and guided him in his
ways . .
. Similarly, Yitzchok taught Yaakov, his son, Torah and
reprimanded
him . . . Yaakov Ovinu also rebuked his children and
reprimanded them
and taught them his ways, so they would not have any
impurity.
"Likewise Bas Sheva, the tzadekes, reprimanded her
son Shlomo, as is written, `The words of King Lemuel, the
burden wherewith
his mother reprimanded him' (Mishlei 31:1). This
teaches that
Bas Sheva tied him to a pole and hit him with a rod; thus she
scolded
him. And what would she say to him? . . . `Do not visit kings
and
drink wine and become intoxicated' . . . and,' [said Bas
Sheva,]
`because I rebuked him he became the wisest of all men.'"
What Chazal teach us here does not need any additional
interpretation.
Chazal attach maximal significance to an education opposing
man's
natural inclinations. They declare that educating a person to
swim
against the current of desires allows that person to become
"the
wisest of all men."
Education that allows a person to do what he wishes, that
lets bad
inclinations develop without restraint, reprimand, or limits,
causes
a child to degenerate stage after stage to the worst possible
sins.
According to this approach we have the key to the present
day's educational
difficulties. Although just one or two generations ago a
student was
limited in achieving his desires and entirely under the
educational
yoke, in the present period, because of the influence of
foreign methods,
even our own wall of education has been somewhat breached,
and our
dear children are allowed more leniency. Behavior that we
feel is
permitted we allow without limit and, as a result the
children's power
of desire strengthens and widens. This causes the powers of
intellectual
analysis to be pushed aside and the students' heart and mind
to become
dense.
Difficulties and indecision about choosing the correct way of
behavior
flourish in such a condition. Reality obliges us to criticize
our
acts, to check every corner, to analyze every educational
approach.
We must banish any chometz from our educational
system, and
any opinion or approach not based on the Torah and Chazal
should be
eliminated.
We must distrust any new system in the secular educational
system,
even if it superficially appears beneficial. There is no
truth like
the Torah's, and no real understanding can emerge without
deeply studying
and toiling over our Holy Torah. Only by its light will we
go, and
in that way we will succeed.
