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3 AdarI 5760 - February 9, 2000 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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News
Rabbi Gafni Proposes "Education and Love Of Children Law"

by E. Rauchberger

MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni proposed last week the enactment of an "Education and Love of Children Law." The purpose of the law is to determine parameters for raising children --- including punishment -- within the family framework.

Rabbi Gafni notes that the law has become essential due to the recent ruling of the High Court denying parents the right to punish their own children. He explains that the ruling is a vestige of a defunct socio-educational concept.

In the proposal's first paragraph, Rabbi Gafni states that the purpose of the law is to stress the principle that a child should be educated by his parents. They should be in control of his upbringing, not outside bodies. An additional section determines that parents must educate their children with love.

Section 3 says: "Parents have the right to determine the manner of educating their children, except in instances in which the method of punishment is neither judicious nor administered without any educational purpose."

The proposed law states: "A parent who sends his children to educational institutions is not thereby exempt from educating them himself. The parent must inform the institution responsible for his child about any problems which may arise. The State will not impose educational methods upon a child nor prevent a parent from educating his children as he sees fit, according to any acceptable custom he chooses."

Rabbi Gafni stresses that he has no intention of permitting abuse or unsuitable corporal punishment, but rather he wants to enable parents to raise their children in age-old, acceptable ways. "The recent intervention of the establishment [in outlawing corporal punishment] is liable to result in children rebelling against their parents and shedding every educational framework," he stressed.


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