YOUTH “Youth is the engine of the world.”- Matisyahu
When R’Yitzchak Meir of Gur was a young child, a man once said to him , “Yitzchak Meir , I will give you a gold coin if you can tell me where Hashem is”. R’Yitzchak quickly made a counter offer, he said “ I will give you two gold coins if you can tell me where he is not.”
Source- A touch of Wisdom, A touch of wit By: Shmuel Himelstein
Soon after her brother was born , little sachi began to ask her parents to leave her alone with the new baby. They worried that like most four year olds, she might feel jealous and want to hit or shake him, so they said no. But she showed no signs of jealousy. She treated the baby with kindness and her pleas to be left alone with him became more urgent. They decided to allow it. Elated, she went in to the baby’s room and shut the door, but it opened a crack, enough for her curious parents to peek in and listen . They saw little sachi walk quietly up to her baby brother, put her face close to his and say quietly “Baby tell me what G-D feels like I am starting to forget”
From Chicken soup for the soul, contributed by Dan Millman
In a simple commentary written for a five year old great secrets of the Torah can be found. But only once you understand the simple commentary as a five year old does. “Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schnerson”
Sotah 11B : The children recognized Hashem first at kriyas yamsuf, even before Arohn,Moshe and the Elders.
The young kids in town heard that after sleichos the Rabbi goes up to Heaven . A small four year old was chosen to hide under the Rabbis bed and see what happens. The Rabbi quickly said sleichos and then went outside and helped an old women cross a street and left a few dollars for the poor and did various other anonymous acts of chessed. The next day the kids gathered round the youngster and asked, “Is it true does the Rabbi go up to heaven?” He replied “NO he does not, he goes a little bit higher.”
Several years ago an Israeli family was visiting America. They were granted an audience with Rav Moshe Feinstein. Before they went to see him The father told his five year old daughter “we are going to see a gadol” Rav Moshe was only around five feet tall. After the visit the little girl said to her father , “you are a liar he is an eesh katon, aval hanishamah gadol”
I heard this story second hand.
When the Vilna Gaon was a very young child he went out one day to play with his friends. He then returned quickly. His father asked him, “Eliyahu why don’t you play with your friends?” He replied “it says in the Torah you must love your neighbor as you love yourself. How can I go up on the seesaw when it causes my friend to go down.”
Source- A touch of Wisdom, A touch of wit By: Shmuel Himelstein
“The natural state of man , the way G-D created him is to be happy look at children.”
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schnerson
A college professor had his sociology class go into the Baltimore slums to get case histories of 200 young boys. They were asked to write an evaluation of each boys future. In every case the students wrote, “He hasn’t got a chance.” Twenty five years later another sociology professor came across the earlier study . He had his students follow up on the project to see what had happened to these boys. With the exception of 20 boys who had moved away or died , the students learned that 176 of the remaining 180 had achieved more than ordinary success as lawyers, doctors or businessmen. The professor was astounded and decided to pursue the matter further. Fortunately , all the men were in the are, and he was able to speak to each one. “How do you account for your success?” In each case the reply came with feeling “There was a teacher”
The teacher was still alive, so he sought her out and asked the old but still alert lady what magic formula she had used to pull these boys out of the slums and into successful achievement . The teachers eyes sparkled and her lips broke in to a gentile smile “It’s really very simple, I loved those boy’s”
From Chicken Soup for the Soul- Eric Butterworth
When Rav Dov Ber of Mezritch was eight years old his house burnt down. His mother was inconsolable . “Why are you crying so much mother, should one cry like this when a house burns down?” His mother replied “ I am not upset over the house but because there was a document in it that had our family tree that went back to Rav Yochanon Sandler. “Don’t worry mother” he said “ I will start a new family tree.” The Maggid of Mezritch went on to be the successor to the Baal Shem Tov and all branches of chassidus have there roots in him. Source- A touch of Wisdom, A touch of wit By: Shmuel Himelstein
The following story is from chicken soup for the soul and is BY : Dan Millman
Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at Stanford hospital I got to know a little girl named Liza who was suffering from a rare and serious disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her five year old brother, who had miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat the illness. The doctor explained the situation to her little brother , and asked the boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister. I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying “ Yes I will do it if it will save Liza.”
As the transfusion progressed he lay in a bed next to his sister and smiled, as we all did, seeing the color return to her cheeks. Then his face grew pale and his smile faded . He looked up at the doctor and asked with a trembling voice “Will I start to die right away ?” Being a young boy he had misunderstood the doctor he thought that he was giving her all his blood.
Told By His Father
One Day Avraham Yitzchak failed to come home from cheder on time. He was less than six years old at the time so we began to worry. As time passed , my wife became very agitated , and she asked me to go out and look for him. When I left the house , I met a few of his friends and asked them his whereabouts. One boy told me that he saw Avraham Yitzchak walking with an elderly man towards the older section of town. Anxiously , I headed in that direction . I had walked only a short distance when I saw him from afar, running uncharacteristically , towards our home. I ran towards him and when we met he understood that I had gone looking for him. He embraced me and begged forgiveness for being so late. He then explained that when he left cheder , an old man approached him, asking if he new were a certain old man lived. Avraham Yitzchak Understood that this man was a stranger in this town and that he would have a hard time finding the house, even if he was given the address and directions. Beside which, -he thought - the old man was walking with a cane! So this five year old decided to perform the mitzvah of chesed and take the elderly man to the magnates home himself.
“Didn’t I do the right thing?” asked the youngster innocently when he finished explaining . “I am sorry if I made you and mommy worry , but I call heaven and earth to witness that my sole intent was to do a mitzvah! And you know what ? The man even blessed me, that I should grow up to be a great Torah scholar. Source An Angel Among Men - Rav Avraham Yitzchak Hakohen Kook By: Simcha Raz. Rav Kook was the first Chief Rabbi of modern Israel for the Ashkinaz.
The Power of young Children A moshel By The Maggid of Dubno
A man lived deep in the forest with his family. It was secluded and no one was around for miles. Every night he would board up the windows incase of a wolf or bear attack . One night a large stone fell in front of the only door to the house and that same night, much later a candle was knocked over and started a fire in the house. No one could escape and no one heard there cries because they were deep in the forest. The youngest boy was able to fit thru the chimney and he ran to town where he got help from the townsfolk to move the bolder. He then triumphantly opened the door for his entire family to escape.
Just as this little boy was able to open the door and save everyone in his family, so to the study , prayers and tears of young children can open up the lofty gates of Heaven and bring deliverance to their elders.
Consider R. Hamnuna's statement in the Talmud (Shabbat 119b): "Jerusalem was destroyed only because they neglected [the education of] school children; for it is said (Jeremiah, 6:11), 'Pour it out [sc.?? God's wrath] because of the children in the street': Why pour it out? Because the child is in the street."
See there also for statements made by Reish Lakish in the name of R. Judah the Prince: "School children may not be made to neglect [their studies] even for the building of the Temple." And: "I have this tradition from my fathers: Every town in which there are no school children shall be destroyed. Ravina said: It shall be laid desolate." See also the commentary of the Maharal who expounds on this passage in his Netivot Olam, Netiv HaTorah, ch. 10.
Feel free to reach out to me for any of the works cited here for further study.
