Lessons Beyond the Classroom

Prior to his death Yaakov blessed his grandsons Ephraim and Menashe. He prefaced that blessing with a peculiar introduction:

וְעַתָּ֡ה שְׁנֵֽי־בָנֶ֩יךָ֩ הַנּֽוֹלָדִ֨ים לְךָ֜ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֗יִם עַד־בֹּאִ֥י אֵלֶ֛יךָ מִצְרַ֖יְמָה לִי־הֵ֑ם אֶפְרַ֨יִם֙ וּמְנַשֶּׁ֔ה כִּרְאוּבֵ֥ן וְשִׁמְע֖וֹן יִֽהְיוּ־לִֽי:

And now, [as for] your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt, until I came to you, to the land of Egypt they are mine. Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine like Reuben and Simeon.

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein asks: why does Yaakov say that specifically his grandsons born in Egypt prior to Yaakov’s arrival in Egypt are considered like his sons? We would have though the opposite. Those grandsons that were born once Yaakov arrived in Egypt should be more dear to Yaakov since Yaakov was present for their entire lives, compared to Ephraim and Menashe who were born in Egypt while Yaakov was still in Canaan. Rabbi Feinstein answers that Yaakov is teaching his family- and all of us- that Chinuch, Jewish education, must transcend the walls of a family’s home and the walls of a classroom. The greatest testament to Yaakov’s strong Jewish identity and deep Jewish values are evident when we consider the fact that Yaakov had grandchildren who lived by the values of their grandfather without ever meeting Yaakov during their early formative years. We have the ability through what we do and what we value to make an impression on those with whom we interact, including and especially our children.  Here Rabbi Feinstein is suggesting that when we teach our children through word and deed we can have a positive impact on our grandchildren and future generations, even those whom we don’t meet and those with whom we do not spend much time.

This idea from Rabbi Feinstein reminded me of a story that I vaguely remembered regarding the power of a lesson beyond the classroom and the mitzvah of Hashavat Aveida, returning a lost object. Thanks to Google I was able to find a version of the story, as told/ quoted by Dr. Erica Brown, Vice Provost for Values and Leadership at Yeshiva University and the founding director of YU’s Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks-Herenstein Center for Values and Leadership. (Quoted from Weekly Jewish Wisdom, February 11, 2016):

“Many years ago, I was teaching in several gap year programs in Israel and carpooled with another faculty member to one of the programs. Impressed with a student in one of my classes, I asked my colleague if he knew her. He told me she had a fascinating story. She was set on studying in an ashram in India. On the way, she stopped off to see family in Israel. Her relative took her to a class in the Old City of Jerusalem on the topic of hashavat aveida, returning lost objects. The minutiae of Jewish law bored her to tears; she told her relative that this was precisely why she was going to India: to escape the legality of Judaism for the spirituality of an ashram. She studied for months with a guru. One day, she was walking and talking with her teacher, when they saw a lost wallet. He pocketed it and said the Indian equivalent of “finders, keepers, losers, weepers.” Suddenly, she recalled her Shabbat in Jerusalem. But this time, the class did not seem so boring. It seemed honest, authentic and ethical. She left India and went back to Jerusalem, where I had her as a student. And thus, returning lost objects helped her return to the tradition in which she was raised.”