“And Moshe (Moses) went and he spoke…to all Israel.”
(Devarim/Deuteronomy 31:1)
Ibn Ezra explains: Before Moshe dies he goes to each tribe
to notify them that he is about to die. He reassures them that they should not
be afraid -- he is leaving them with Yehoshua (Joshua), who will be a capable,
trustworthy and devoted leader.
Writes Rabbi Zelig Pliskin in Growth Through Torah: “Moshe knew that even if they [Bnei Yisroel,
the Jewish people] felt fear, it was based on an error. Nevertheless, fear is a
painful emotion and it is an act of kindness to help a person overcome it.”
Rabbi Pliskin concludes that we learn from Moshe that whenever we see that
someone has fears, we should do all we can to alleviate those fears.
As parents, we must never laugh at our children’s fears.
Mocking will just cause more emotional pain than the fear already has. Even if
the fears seem silly and irrational, we must acknowledge that our children
truly are afraid. We must find ways to help them understand that there is
nothing to worry about, that they are safe, and that they can trust us to keep
them safe.
We must also teach our children to trust that G-d watches
over us and protects us. Remind your children that the letter shin (or
the longer shin-dalet-yud) on the mezuzah on your doors stands for
Shomer Daltot Yisroel, guardian of the doors of Israel. (Shaddai, spelled shin-dalet-yud
is a name for G-d.) We affix the parchment-filled mezuzah to our doors to
remind ourselves upon entering and leaving that G-d is in charge and He guards
us from entrance to exit.
Dedicated in memory of Shaina Dina bas Refuel Gershom. May
her memory be for blessing and may she have an aliyah (rise) is Shamayim
(the Heavens).
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