The Power of Children
We have just finished celebrating the holiday of Purim, and may we all be blessed to carry with us throughout the rest of the year the sense of joy that permeates the holiday.
Along with the happiness of Purim, we should also take with us the lessons of Purim. In a letter written to all students of Hebrew schools, the Rebbe referred to the children who helped bring about the miracle of Purim. Our Sages describe how this came to be.
When Mordechai heard of Haman's evil plan to destroy all of the Jews, he gathered thousands of Jewish children around him and taught them Torah, instilling in them such love of G-d and Torah that G-d nullified the wicked decree. Those children should serve as an example to the children of this day and age. Just as the children who lived in the time of Esther and Mordechai helped bring about the salvation of the Jewish nation then, so too, do the children of today have the power to bring about our complete Redemption through Moshiach.
The Rebbe described two specific areas of increase for children to bring the Redemption. Firstly, the Rebbe writes that children should increase their Torah study time, and they, in addition, should increase the quality of their Torah study, learning with greater enthusiasm and concentration. Second, children should make a special effort in the area of tzedaka. "The idea behind this urgent suggestion is that Torah and tzedaka - especially when studied and practiced by young children - go a long way to help our Jewish people in difficult times - and now is a difficult time."
May we merit to educate all Jewish children so that they bring about the long awaited Redemption at which time these "difficulties times" will be only a memory.
