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The Sweetest Gift a Parent Can Give
Throughout my time in Mesivta, Zal, and Shlichus, I heard the same thing from dozens of bochurim, chavrusas, friends, and others: "I don't know why my parents didn't speak to me in Yiddish." Some have even added, "They don't either know why. They regret it too..."
Anyone who has ever listened to a farbrengen of the Rebbe, especially regularly, knows it is the sweetest thing in the world. Why would I deprive my children of that? It would be almost as unthinkable as not telling them about the Rebbe at all, chas v'shalom. How could they ever know what the Rebbe has to say if accessing it requires hard work?
Where am I going with this?
It is well known that the Rabbeim spoke in Yiddish specifically so that every Yid, even the simplest, could understand. Certainly, one should not have to struggle just to grasp the basic point of the Rebbe’s words.
Throughout my years in Mesivta, Zal, and on Shlichus, I heard the same line again and again from dozens of bochurim, chavrusas, and friends: “I do not know why my parents did not speak to me in Yiddish.” Many added, “They do not know either. They regret it too...”
Young parents: do not lose this opportunity before it is too late. Even if you do not speak Yiddish well, start with the basics, words every child can learn, like שלאפן, עסן, numbers, and simple phrases. Your child will one day thank you. The smallest effort makes the biggest difference.
Any father who had to teach himself Yiddish as a bochur (mighty less than today, and for a better reason,) will agree.
I am not sending my child to a language class to struggle through a new language. To be blunt, if by the end of Mesivta your son comes home able to understand someone speaking Yiddish to him, that is already a tremendous achievement, forget the learning he did in this new language. Now he can actually begin learning in Zal...!
No one suddenly becomes interested in learning the Rebbe’s sichos at 18 if he was never shown the beauty of the Rebbe’s Torah when he was young.
This is not Chassidishkeit. It is basic decency.
Give your child the gift of a normal chinuch.
It pains me to see parents who grew up in Yiddish-speaking homes communicating only English with their children, unaware of the consequences. The father never faced the struggle himself and does not realize his son does not magically understand Yiddish. The mother does not see why it is so important. She never needed it, and perhaps it even feels useless, r"l.
If it matters at 18, it matters at 3.
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