A warning sign system should be activated.

September 4, 2016   

On Sunday morning, they met at the local tavern, moments before packing their bags and boarding the bus that would take them to the educational institution - to "yeshiva," for the New Year.

In the synagogue, they stood in the Hillel prayer, the first day of the month of Elul, and both cried out together, "Please, God, save us, please, God, make us successful," in prayer with great hope for the year that was just beginning.

But the bystander could see that although the words were the same, the prayer was the same, the intention was so different.

One is starting Shiur A in the big yeshiva, and the other is already starting his second year. For one, 'This is the day the Lord has made a revelation, and we will rejoice in it,' and the other already understands that 'it is good to take refuge in him,' and to trust in man.'.

•

This time I want to dedicate the words specifically to those who are starting the year, but are actually continuing because this is not a truly new beginning.

Perhaps we will devote thought to all those who are starting a new year again, but this time already hesitantly and worriedly: Will they succeed in fulfilling their desire, or only in pleasing the system? Maybe this time they will find their place, maybe they will feel a taste for the first time, or once again they will see how 'the sea saw and the Jordan will turn back'. They remember how they cried out to him, 'What is the matter with you, sea, that you will flee', although without words, they gave so many signs - but those around them did not pay much attention. They did not see, they did not hear.

And here is the 'Hillel' prayer, and the words burst forth with weeping without tears: 'From the strait I have called,' 'For I am your servant... and in the name of the Lord I will call.'.

Remember the story of that old man who sat at the head of the road, and before him were two roads: one, beginning with thorns and ending with a plain, and one - beginning with a plain and ending with thorns. He would sit at the head of both, and warn passersby and say to them: Even though you see the beginning of this one with thorns, go along it, for its end is a plain. And whoever listened to him and walked along it and was a little weary, went in peace and came in peace.

And we ask ourselves: Is there not a path that begins with a plain and ends with a plain? Apparently not. Because only by dealing with the 'beginning with thorns' do we reach a plain end. However, if we look, we will notice: Is it written a path of thorns or a path that begins with thorns? So why do the thorns sometimes not disappear and the plain is not visible? Indeed, all beginnings are difficult and it is true that the beginning of the path is usually thorny, but it is not necessary to go through an entire path of thorns in order to reach the plain. Thorns are enough for us at the beginning, and we must ensure that the path itself is plain.

And this is the task that is incumbent on us - on the educators, on the people who have the power to remove those thorns and grow a bouquet of roses, to pave the way with deep thinking about individual adaptation for each soul. Let's not put this on the shoulders of the boys; let's remember that every fall is a sign of distress, let's remember that there is no bad child, no child who doesn't want success; let's remember that behind every inappropriate behavior there is a soul with a story hidden, and we must try to see the whole picture.

And there is no justification or automatic understanding in these things for any improper conduct, but there is a desire here to activate a system of warning signs, lest our hands be light on the trigger, or worse: our mouths emit sentences and words of rebuke that are not only unhelpful, but sometimes lead to the abyss of oblivion.

Then in a year, when the boys meet again at the beginning of a new year in the Hillel prayer, they will ask together that the gates of righteousness be opened for them, "Father, I praise you, G-d.".

And from the side will stand 'Mother of sons, joy, Hallelujah!'.

• Head of the Beit Midrash "Torah and Halacha"'