On Children

I would be remiss not mention a Mazel Tov to my recent batch of good friends who bit the dust . . .

Zeli Silber, Nutti Shpigelman, and Beny Hershcovich.





Misha from Vilnius



I often deal with children . . .

In Vilna I learned with them, in Montreal I took them on Mivtzoyim, here in Los Angeles I run a weekly Messibos Shabbos (Shabbos gathering) where I tell them stories and grow gray hairs . . .



Why do I so often work with people younger then me?



I think it has a lot to do with their innocence.

A child has not yet been tainted by the world . . . he doesn't have ulterior motives behind what he does, he isn't a sycophant.



Perhaps it's due in part to how I view others . . . because I feel that praise coming from my fellows, all the older all the more so, is so often superficial -that I often wonder, who really cares- that I feel that when working with children I can be safe -when they say thank you, they mean it.



There's also a sense of importance to it -I know that how a young seedling grows will effect its stature as a great oak. If I can positively change one child's direction then it makes those gray hairs worth it.





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