Emuna From the Cradle

by Shalom Arush, translated by Hillel Fendel

The main mitzvah [Torah commandment] upon which all the other mitzvot are structured is emuna, certainty of G-d. The Gemara tells us (Makkot 24) that the Prophet Habakuk "summed up" all the mitzvot into one, saying, "The righteous will live by his faith." Therefore, since we are obligated to teach our children to fulfill the Torah's commandments, it is clear that we must teach them emuna from a very young age – for that is the mitzvah on which everything else stands.

The above verse in Habakuk also shows that emuna is more than a mitzvah; it is life itself: "The righteous will live by his faith." Emuna gives life, and without it there is no life. If so, when we want to prepare our children for life, we must first make sure to give them life itself – i.e., emuna.

We have different ages for when we begin to fulfill different mitzvot – some at age 7, some at Bar Mitzvah, and some even later. But the mitzvah of emuna begins immediately at age zero. We may not delay teaching this mitzvah, because emuna in its entirety can be truly absorbed precisely when our hearts are soft. If we miss the chance to teach emuna from the very beginning of a child's upbringing, this loss cannot be made up.

Growing Up Without Anxieties and Fears

Emuna accompanies us all day long and provides light where there is darkness. The believer deals with the difficulties of life completely differently than one who lacks emuna. Our mental health and joy of life depend directly on the extent of our emuna. Children, too, need a great level of emuna to cope with the demands and difficulties awaiting them in academic, social, and other settings – and they need it even more than we do!

It is wrong to think that children must deal with their problems either alone or only with various kinds of therapy. We are Jews, believers sons of believers, and we know that emuna is the beginning and end of all. We see everything with glasses of emuna, and this is we must teach our children.

Rav Nachman of Breslov teaches that without emuna, we are like a seed planted in ground unfit for agriculture. Under such conditions, the seed will simply rot. A person who lacks emuna, Rav Nachman says, is in a state of rotting – sad, weighed down, fearful. A believer, on the other hand, is full of vitality, is eager to try new things, and has no unnecessary impediments. He believes in G-d, and believes in himself, and he therefore really grows and blossoms. And this is all the more true for young children who require fertilized and fruitful earth in which to grow, i.e., an atmosphere filled with emuna, which must be transmitted to them in an age-appropriate manner.

Our Troubled Generation

This is especially true for our generation, when the problem of dropouts from religious life plagues all sectors alike, leaving teachers and parents at their wits' end. But King Shlomo said: "Educate the youngster according to his path, and even when he grows old, he will not stray from it." That is, if the child receives the proper educational nourishment "according to his path" and age, then he will certainly not stray from it.

It is clear to me that a child brought up to feel a true connection with the Creator and with Torah, will never abandon it. Even if he distances himself for a while, Heaven forbid, because of negative external influences and the like, he will ultimately return to his source – because deep within his personality, he is connected; he believes.

We are required by Biblical law to teach Torah to our children, as we say in Kriat Shma, "You shall teach these words to your children…" This commandment deals primarily with the mitzvah of emuna, for that is the topic of this paragraph of Kriat Shma: the Jewish declaration of emuna expressed every morning and every evening, and this is what we are commanded to transmit to our children. This cannot be done via sporadic conversations or sentences, but rather by constant repetition and speaking, in accordance with the literal meaning of the words of this verse.

How?

Instilling emuna in our children from a very young age means talking to them about emuna, setting a personal example of emuna, cultivating their personal connection with the Creator, teaching them to talk to Hashem about everything and to see Him in everything they experience, telling them stories of righteous people of pure emuna, especially Torah stories of emuna about our Patriarchs, Joseph, and King David.

May G-d desire to guide us to succeed in raising a generation of deep and stable emuna, growing and flourishing in the courtyards of the house of G-d.