August 13, 2026
The Torah in Parashat Shoftim discusses the situation of a person who had built a new house but was recruited to the army before he had a chance to live in it. Such a person would be sent home before battle. The Torah refers to this individual as האיש אשר בנה בית ולא חנכו – a person who built a house but has not done חינוך (20:5). Rashi explains: חינוך לשון התחלה – the root ח.נ.ך. means "begin." In this pasuk , לא חנכו means that the person built a new house but hasn't yet begun using it. The word חינוך , of course, is used also in reference to education. And Rashi's brief comment here sheds light on what חינוך is and how parents need to approach it. חינוך means "beginning." That is all. It means we prepare our children for the future, we get them off to a good start by teaching them how to live. It does not mean we control their lives, that we decide their lives, that we don't let them make their decisions. Controlling children is not חינוך . Education requires knowing when to let go, when to let children make their own decisions, to empower them by showing them that we trust them and have confidence in them. The founder of our nation, Avraham Avinu, is called in the Torah אברהם העברי . He is not called "Avraham the Tzadik ," or "Avraham the Holy One." He is called the עברי , which means that he came from the other side of the river. He moved to the Land of Israel, but he was from the other side of the Euphrates River, so he was called העברי . Why is this Avraham's name? Why