10 Takes: Ten Teachers Share the Brachos of Chinuch

00:00 Speaker 1 Hi, I'm Zalman Schneer. Welcome to the Everything Chinuch Podcast, brought to you by the Menachem Education Foundation. Here, you'll find fabrangins, workshops, live interviews, and more, all to inspire you, the Chabad educator. We hope you enjoy today's episode.

00:23 Speaker 2 Please note the Ten Takes recording begins in the middle of our first speaker, Mrs. Rachie Sandhaus, as she connects the ten sefirot to Chinuch.

00:33 Speaker 6 Combining the chacham and bina with the middais. I am inspired when I witness my students using their superpowers to take what I've taught and make actual changes in their behavior. Hearing from a student that she didn't go to college because of a sikha that we learned. Watching a student with ADHD successfully control her impulses while she was off her medication because she learned that her yetzer tov is stronger than any impulse she has. How could I not feel blessed? Chesed. I feel benched to be in this role where we can have such a strong impact through kindness. A smile, a kind word, some positive feedback goes a very, very long way. Gevurah. I am grateful for the standards and boundaries I am held to because of my role in Chinuch, both in Yiras Shamayim and in Middais. Tiferes. The combination of Chesed and Gevurah and Tairah. A teacher is doing this all day long. I am grateful for the growth I have as I learn to battle-- balance the Chesed and Gevurah when working with my students as I show them and teach them the truths of Tairah, which is Tiferes. Netzach, victory, not just temporary, milasha nitzchias, long-lasting victory. I am awed by the long-lasting impact a teacher can have. Meeting a student nine years after I gave her a notebook with a letter, she was still holding onto it, using it as a source of strength whenever she feels she needs it. In her words, "I don't go anywhere without it." Heid, surrender.

02:09 Speaker 6 I am grateful to the bittel I need to constantly have. Chinuch is a very, very humbling career. If ever I forget the level of humility I need to have, my students will do a good job reminding me. Kids don't like our egos. Yesaid. I am grateful to be part of my students' journey of connecting them to Hashem and the Rebbe, Tzadik Yesaid Olam. Being in that role forces me to upkeep my connections, and I feel benched when I get to be a part of their connection process. I am amazed at the power of watching children connect to the Rebbe. As a student told me, "You want me to come to school on time? Why should I come on time?" When I explained to her that this is something that the Rebbe is very, is very, very dear to the Rebbe, she said, "The Rebbe wants me to come on time? Don't need to say anything else. I'll be there tomorrow morning." And she was. Malchus. I feel benched to be in a position where I feel that I am here to serve Hashem with all my kochas. As I know the strengths and talents that I have are only because Hashem gave them to me, and I am benched to be in an environment that is a constant reminder that we are both Yidden, that we are Yidden created with the sole purpose of serving Hashem. The Rebbe taught us that the Gematria of Shliach plus the ten kochas, plus ten, representing the ten kochas

03:33 Speaker 6 that we have, is what's going to bring Mashiach. And we should accomplish our ultimate shlichas of bringing Mashiach altogether. We're now going to hear from nine more teachers of what Berek Benayach Beker Beich means to them, beginning with Mrs. Daba Webb on the bracha of being trusted as Hashem's ambassador.

03:55 Speaker 2 Firstly, we need an MC to introduce the MC. That was the fabulous principal of Beis Chaim Ushka, Mrs. Rachie Sandhaus. We met in Camp Chomish in Connecticut, and here we are back together in Connecticut. Um, we're just gonna take a moment to remove the wall so that Machanchais can spread out and make themselves comfortable for this incredible brand-new feature of the tenth annual Kinnos, brought to you by the incredible Kinnos Committee and team. Thank you.

04:25 Speaker 6 We do have ten speakers altogether, nine more. They are on a very, very tight timer. Three minutes. Ready, set, go. Mrs. Daba Webb.

04:36 Speaker 7 Okay. Hi, everyone. Can I begin? Hi, everyone. A question was posed, a request made to share the blessings of Chinuch in a three-minute trade. What do I say or articulate about blessings in my home or the children by my side? Of the many blessings abound, so much love, so much pride, deep bonds formed in this role, cold teachers. Or do I expand upon the blessings that I hold in my heart of my colleagues there, their friendships, laughter, and care to be amongst like-minded people, dynamic and kind. Hearing all this in a choir of ten notes, what will resonate with you? Will it all sound the same? So without further ado, no need for eloquence. Here's a chorus of my song. Grateful I am. Grateful I'm here. Ashreinu, a privilege to share. Join with me, and let's exclaim with joy. Raise your voices in unison so fine, celebrating the blessings that are Jewed, that are yours and mine. For a Chinuch is a gift, a blessing to lift. A beautiful story is told in Shemol Beis. I'm a Navi teacher. I couldn't resist. When the Ari of Hashem was finally returned to Yerushalayim, there was tremendous celebration. David HaMelech was overflowing with joy. David Mikarka Bechol Eis Lifnei Hashem, and David danced heart and soul with all his might Michal, Dovid's wife, Shaul's daughter, observed and was quite dismayed, aghast. This is not adequate of aris-aristocracy. She voiced her disapproval. Dovid looked at his wife and responded and said, "Lifnei Hashem asher bachar bi, Hashem chose

06:04 Speaker 7 me to be a prince for the Jewish nation. Bachar bi, Hashem trusts me. For that, I cannot contain the joy. For that, I dance without refrain, for I am blessed." The story continues, Dovid Hamelech sitting in his newly made palace. He longs that Aron should also have a home, a beautiful home like himself, the Beis Hamikdash. How can I sit comfortably in my magnificent edifice while the Aron sits in a tent? This hurt Dovid and wanted to build. Then the navi tells Dovid, "Kal asher bechal levecha asah." Fulfill your dream. But that was not meant to be. Hashem reported to Nasan to convey to Dovid, No. "Ani lakachti min hanever li'hos nagid." Tell Dovid I lifted him from being a shepherd to become a prince. I bless him at war. I bless all his ways, but this dearest dream will not be completed by you. With remarkable humility, Dovid says, "Mi anochi ki havisi ni hada elam?" Who am I that I mention and merit such greatness from you, Hashem? It was only through your will that brought me all this blessing. Dovid sings praises to Hashem and expresses gratitude for all his chasadim. These words ring deep in my heart day after day. I'm filled with boundless gratitude. Hashem chose me. He trusts me with my most precious, his most precious children, to impart his most treasured jewel. Every morning when I walk up the stairs, if you're in Bnot Menachem, you know what I'm talking about, to go to my classroom, there's a

07:32 Speaker 7 picture of the Rebbe. I take a moment, I breathe, my eye meets the Rebbe's face, and I say thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to learn, to grow, and to serve. Thank you for the opportunity to engage and cultivate every aspect of my being to be deserving to be your ambassador. Thank you for such a blessed life. Thank you, Rebbe, for trusting me. Thank you, Hashem, for choosing me, asher bachar bi, in the words of Dovid Hamelech, for lifting me, ani lakachti mehanever, to a position with all my fallibilities and imperfections, for giving me the merit and making it your will, ki havisi ni hada elam, to give me all this kindness from your will. I will end with the eloquent and poetic words of Dovid Hamelech in this heartwarming interaction, reaction that he had with a bracha. Umevarech asecha yivarech beis avdecha le'olam. Through your blessing, Hashem, let us be blessed, the house of your servants. And with that dancing spirit in our hearts, let's say thank you. Ashreinu ma tov chelkeinu bechol oz.

08:43 Speaker 6 Thank you, Deva. And now, Sarah Weiss on the bracha of being a dug machaya.

08:56 Speaker 8 Sorry.

08:57 Speaker 6 You're good.

09:03 Speaker 8 Zoom is right here.

09:04 Speaker 6 You're all good.

09:08 Speaker 8 It gets you a little taller, so.

09:11 Speaker 9 Okay, I'm putting back on. Speaking to the mic tends to.

09:21 Speaker 8 Okay. When I first heard of the phrase chinuch is a bracha, I first thought about the impact it can mean that we have on our students. But I've come to believe that one of the greatest brachas of chinuch is the impact it demands of us. My grandfather, HaRav Meshulam Dave, whose yahrtzeit is actually coming up this Monday, once went into Yahadis with the Rebbe. The Rebbe turned to him and said, "I see you're going into chinuch." The Rebb- My grandfather nodded. The Rebbe responded, "Let me tell you what it means to be a true mechanech. To be a mechanech, the main role isn't to teach information. It's to pass on Yiras Shamayim." So the Rebbe turns to my grandfather and asks, "Where are you going to get your Yiras Shamayim to pass over to your students?" There's an awkward silence in the room, and the Rebbe continued, "You have to take it from within yourself. You have to be a dug machaya, a living example at all times." And this, the Rebbe gave a mashal. There are two types of wells. One is a spring-fed type of well. It's connected to an underground source that is constantly self-nourishing. So the more you pull out, there's always gonna be water in it. The second type of well is one that stores rainwater. And if you keep drawing from it and you don't refill it, eventually it runs dry. And so the Rebbe said, "A mechanech is that type of well. You can't give if you are

10:48 Speaker 8 not constantly nourishing yourself. You have to be working on your own Yiras Shamayim because that's what your students will drink from." And that, to me, is the bracha of chinuch. The bracha isn't that just we get to give over to our students. It's that we are called to become the kinds of people that get to give over to our students. We're forced in the best way possible to live in alignment with what we teach, to walk through life not only as mechanecheis, but as living sources of nourishment. In our generation, especially, the Rebbe emphasized, our students do not just need information. They need emes. They need integrity. They need to see us living in what we teach, not perfectly, but sincerely. They need to see that we are still learning, still growing, still connected. That's the deeper gift of our work. That we don't just help others grow. We become people who must keep growing. That our avoda isn't separate from our teaching. It is our teaching. And maybe that is the greatest bracha of it all. That chinuch doesn't let us stay still. That every moment in the classroom nudges us to align more closely with what we're teaching. That being a dugma chaya means we are constantly being shaped and uplifted by the very values we're passing on to our students. We don't just teach emes, we're taught to be more emes-dik. We don't just teach bitachon. We are asked to live it, especially when it's challenging. So chinuch demands of us, but

12:25 Speaker 8 it transforms us, and that's the bracha. That in giving, we become. That in pouring into our students, we discover deeper reserves within ourself. And that in the a-- in the quiet, unseen moments when no one's watching but the Ibister, we're building not just our students, but ourselves. So I'll end with a bracha. That may we all be zecha to draw from our own wellspring of yirat shamayim, to be nourished so we can nourish, to live as true dugma chayas to see the ultimate fruit of our chinuch in the coming of Mashiach.

13:04 Speaker 6 Thank you. Wow, how powerful. And now, Mrs. Rechama Thaler on the bracha of giving and receiving.

13:17 Speaker 9 It might be more than three minutes. I will watch that. Maybe three minutes. Okay. Will it reach hello? Can you hear me? Okay. Okay, fifty years in Kita Alef, going into my fifty-first. I think some of my students are sitting here. So the question I have is: how did that happen? But even more importantly is: why did that happen? And what are the brachas that I've gleaned from this holy work? To be honest, I have to give credit where credit is due. I absolutely love my first-grade teacher in Yeshivah Achiei Temimim of Worcester, Massachusetts, Mrs. Schloss. I don't necessarily even remember what she taught me, but no doubt to read and write, but I do remember how she made me feel. And I just always remember wanting to be that morah. And Baruch Hashem, I was able to pursue my dream. The bracha of knowing what your passion is and being able to pursue it is one of the greatest gifts. You find people that can spend years pursuing a career or getting a degree, and then poof, they don't-- they feel that they're not passionate about it enough anymore, and then they have to recalculate and figure out what sparks their passion. How fortunate, on the other hand, and what a bracha it is to be able to fulfill your dream and do it with passion. But what kept me there for half a century? Perhaps it was the realization that teaching can have a long-lasting impact on children, even into their adulthood. Case

14:51 Speaker 9 in point, at my granddaughter's wedding a few years ago, a former student who is now a shlucha and a teacher herself came up to me and said her to me that her original classmates, whom I taught maybe f-- twenty-five years ago, are still in touch through a class chat. One girl, who I remembered well, came from a mixed background, a frum father and a mother who decidedly was not. She told me that Rochel had recently posted on their chat that she is frum today and living in Crown Heights because of Morah Rechama. Who knew? Is that, is that not a bracha to actually find out years later how a life was affected for good? And then there was a melava malka a few years back at the Kneset Hashluchas, where a lovely shlucha approached me and said, "Morah Rechama, do you recognize me?" I actually did. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that she became a shlucha. We never know how we impact our, our students. I'm sure that everyone in this room has examples of the same idea. What a zechus we have to change lives. Of course, it almost goes without saying, but we must say it, that the Rebbe gives brachas in their personal lives to those who teach his children. The Rebbe uplifts us with nisim geliyim in every aspect of our personal lives. Throughout the ups and downs of raising a large family, chinuch hara, we must give the credit to where credit is due. And even in those instances

16:23 Speaker 9 where the small and not so small bumps on the road feel like hidden brachas in the meantime, I personally have received answers from the Rebbe through the Igrot Kodesh to difficult situations in such clear and exact ways. So even as I stand before you today waiting to see the fruition and the fulfillm-fulfillment of some of those brachas in my personal life, the chizuk that I get from the Rebbe carries me from day to day. In conclusion, it's hard to say who, throughout these fifty years, has grown more, me or my students. As I continue teaching, I find myself receiving much more than I'm giving. I've learned to appreciate what I give rather than what I receive. Of course, it helps when a mother or a grandmother comes up to me to tell me she remembers being in my first grade years ago and how it impacted her life. That's really what it's all about, this magnificent bracha of changing the world for good, one student at a time. The Rebbe once wrote to a teacher who was feeling isolated and lonely, that she should think about how the fruits of her labor continue to grow and flourish and dynamically impact the world. Wow, what a bracha it is to teach. Thank you, Mrs. Schloss.

17:40 Speaker 8 Wow. What an inspiration. And now, Mrs. Shaina Jacobson on the bracha of connection.

17:52 Speaker 10 Good?

17:52 Speaker 9 Yeah.

17:53 Speaker 10 Okay. I was just finishing maternity leave, and I sat holding my baby, feeling overwhelmed. The last few weeks had been incredible. I couldn't believe that I had actually pulled off a maternity leave. Having just opened a school a little over a year earlier, I couldn't imagine what would happen when I needed to take time off. But I had done it, and I couldn't fathom jumping right back in. Starting a school was the craziest thing I'd ever done, and I've done my share of crazy. But I was so scared now to leave my little cocoon, leaving my babies again with a babysitter, and going back to the real world. I just felt like I didn't have the strength. I picked up Igros Kodesh, and I said, "Rebbe, please give me the strength to do this." The Rebbe's words jumped right off the page. The Rebbe wrote beautiful berachos, and then says, "And that which he thinks that his kochos are weak, it's only 'cause for a moment he forgot that all his kochos are from Hashem, and Hashem has no limits. And when he remembers he's a shliach of Hashem, th-then this brings tremendous hatslacha." Chinuch is such a tremendous responsibility. But when we're connected to our source, everything's possible. I felt this way ever since I started my chinuch journey over twenty years ago. I've written in about so many different things, but in regards to chinuch, the clarity of the answers I've received have always been astounding. Every Friday night, after a week filled

19:28 Speaker 10 with lots of great moments and many challenging ones too, I sit down, think about my week, and open a letter of the Rebbe. The letters I read are so on point, it's just amazing. A week that I'm worried about how the students are doing, the letter reads, "I'm so happy to hear how well your students are doing." A week I'm thinking that I haven't spent enough time with my kids, a beautiful letter, how the keli for bracha is through chinuch. A week I'm struggling with a dilemma, a reminder to speak to someone wise, which leads to a call to my mashpia. The comfort, affirmation, and connection I felt with each one is life-changing. This past Friday night, I sat thinking about this Kinus that I was coming to. I opened up to a letter that among other things, the Rebbe talks about the my love connecting with friends. What a bracha to be here for a third year in a row with some of my closest friends who share the same passion and love for education. Connecting with them and with each one of you at this time allows me to deepen my love for chinuch in a magical way. Another week, I had written in the names of every student in our school with the hachlata they had taken on for Yud Aleph Nissan. The letter I opened began, "Thank you for sending in a list of all of your students." What amazes me over and over is not only the Rebbe directly answering

20:54 Speaker 10 me, but how many letters there are showing the Rebbe's care and love for each individual child's chinuch. The Rebbe sets the example of the importance of caring and connecting with each and every student. My grandfather, Rabbi Jacob Yehuda Majeski, was the principal of Beis Rivkah, and I grew up on stories of his legendary love and care for every student. A woman in my community in small town Florida went to Beis Rivkah, and she told me, this was over fifty years ago, that she, as a child, she used to like acting out in class because it meant getting sent to Rebbe Majeski's office. "I loved speaking to him," she said. "He was the one we knew really cared." I feel so connected to my grandfather in this aspect. There are so many brachos in kino-- in chinuch, but the ability to connect to each student as both a teacher and a principal is priceless. I used to worry that I'd lose that ability as a principal because I felt like I wouldn't have as much time with my students. But I found that being in this role allows me to show each child care in a way that they need most, and the gratification that it brings is tremendous. Greeting each child by name, noticing their haircut, their new shoes, their smile, or their lack of smile, just noticing them. In the past Nashei newsletter, my cousin, Rebbe Mendy Deitsch, writes in wonder about the time the Rebbe gave and spent with children. I feel like

22:17 Speaker 10 it's both our achrayus and gift to be able to continue to give this love and connection to the Rebbe's precious children, and to make sure to keep our connections strong so that we can connect in our students in a real and lasting way.

22:37 Speaker 6 Wow. Thank you, Shaina. Moving on to the connection with our students. Rochel Abrams, all the way from England just for the Kinus.

22:53 Speaker 10 The world will never clap for what I do, and Baruch Hashem for that, uh, because when there's no applause, there's only truth. Only Hashem's watching, and if He's clapping, I'm good. My days are full. I'm a mother, a shlucha, and a day school director. We live over an hour away from my own children's school, so my kids stay home with me until they're absolutely ready to go to school, and somehow, Hashem gives me the time to do what I love. The Rebbe said that time is like an elastic. The more you fill it with meaning, the more it stretches. I've lived that. I don't feel like I'm working in chinuch. Chinuch feeds my neshamah. But what I love most about chinuch is that everything that really matters happens in the invisible. No one sees when I say Mi Da'ani with my own children while already thinking about how I can impact somebody else's. Nobody hears the tone I use when I answer a curriculum email at eleven PM. But sometimes that invisible work echoes. One of my students once turned to another and said, "Well done," in my exact tone. That's when I realized they're not learning skills, they're, they're learning how to see each other, and maybe they're learning how to see themselves. I'm not just teaching, I'm building people, building confidence, building self-worth, and they don't even know it's happening. But Hashem does, because in chinuch, the biggest things are hidden. The Rebbe didn't ask us to be teachers, he asked us to

24:30 Speaker 10 be lamplighters, to find the wick in every child and to light it. It's not just me. I am who I am because of my teachers and my parents, and they kindled my spark. Each one lit something in me, and now I get to pass that on, especially my mother, who's here today. Your love shapes so much of who I am. Thank you. Our students won't remember what we taught, but they'll remember how they felt. And that feeling, that's the foundation of their Yiddishkeit. Other people build buildings, I build futures, and futures don't clap. But when a child lights up, when a shy student becomes a confidence encourager, when a soul feels safe enough to shine, I know Hashem is clapping, and that's enough for me.

25:19 Speaker 6 And we're all clapping `cause that was beautiful. Thank you. This is Bracha Yanni on the bracha of good questioning. Can you lower the mic? Can you lower this?

25:33 Speaker 11 Okay, if I might just take a moment, um, to ask everyone to keep my father, Rav Shalom Dov Ber Ben Chava, who's in need of, uh, bigger refuah shleima. He actually taught Torah Umada in B'er Lev Gat, so it's really apropos to the topic of, um, good questioning. Okay. A few weeks ago, I had one of those fleeting, precious moments with my son. He had just returned from his year in Yeshiva in Eretz Israel. We only had a few hours together before he was off again to a summer job in LA. In the car to the airport, I asked how his year had been. I expected stories, places he traveled in Israel, maybe a recap of his journey through Egypt, of how-- of things he had learned. But instead, he started asking me deep theological questions about Hashem, about Emunah, about, "Ma, how do we know this is all true?" At first, I felt a knot in my stomach. Uh-oh. Should I be worried? After a year in Israel, was he struggling with Emunah? Was this his way of telling me something big? But instead of jumping in with answers or assumptions, I just listened in the car and paused. I let the questions hang in the air and left space for more, and I was curious to hear. When I dropped him off at the airport, I gave him a huge hug. I wished him well. But as I walked back to my car, I found myself in tears, not out of fear or

27:02 Speaker 11 worry, but gratitude. And all I could say to myself was, "Baruch Hashem. At least he's asking the questions." This experience reminded me that as parents and teachers, it's not our job to have all the answers. It's our job to keep the conversation open, because those questions are our invitation to connect. V'chi yishalcha bincha machar. And when and when your child will ask you tomorrow. The Torah doesn't just command us to teach. Rather, it teaches us to anticipate the questions will come. Education doesn't begin with answers or information. It begins with curiosity, which leads to good learning and relationships. When your child will ask, because a question from a child is more than a quest for knowledge and facts and answers. It's an invitation to connect. What a blessing, what a bracha it is when our children feel safe enough to question, when they know they won't be shut down or judged, when they sense that not every question needs an immediate answer. There's a moving story about Mr. Lasky, a spiritual seeker during the Woodstock era. One day, he shows up in front of seven seventy. Picture this, leather jacket, snakeskin boots, long hair and all, and saw the Rebbe getting out of his car. As they locked eyes, the Rebbe asks him warmly in Yiddish, "What is your name?" Lasky answers, then quickly added to the Rebbe, "I have a question." The Rebbe responded warmly, "Ask." "Where is God?" Lasky asked. The Rebbe said, "Everywhere." "I know," Lasky said, "but where?" The Rebbe replied,

29:07 Speaker 11 "In everything. In a stone, in a tree." Still unsatisfied, Lasky said again, "I know, but where?" And then the Rebbe looked deep into his eyes, answered with full warmth, "In your heart, if this is how you're asking." Not every question is about facts or information. Most often, questions are a window into the seekers, the students, the child's soul. It is wise of us to listen not just to what they ask, but to why are they asking the question. What are they really trying to understand? What reassurance are they seeking? Just as our Rebbe did. Even Hashem began with a question. When Adam was hiding, Hashem called out, "Ayeka, where are you?" Hashem knew exactly where Adam was, but he asked gently to begin a conversation, to create space for reflection. Adam responded, "Hineini, here I am." Perhaps that's what our students are really saying when they ask a question. Hineini, I'm here. Morah, are you listening? Morahs, are we listening?

30:40 Speaker 6 Wow. Thank you, Bracha. It is now my absolute honor to call up a student of mine, Yehudis Goldschmidt, on the bracha of trusting our students.

31:00 Speaker 12 I walked in to teach one of my eleventh and twelfth grade Sicha classes one day, and within a few seconds, I sensed scattered energy. There was anxiety, tension, restlessness, girls talking to each other, hyperactivity. There was a feeling of fear inside of me, imagining what the next seventy minutes might look like if I tried to push through it in this state. I stopped and asked myself: What do they need right now? I trust that they want to learn. They're here because they have a desire to learn. I led them through a body scan exercise, guiding them to relax their bodies and regulate their nervous system. After just five minutes, the room was calm. From that point on, I was able to teach the lesson from a completely different place, a place of trust and connection, of knowing that you are good. You want to learn. Now, you are in the space to learn. The class continued. They were focused, engaged, and on task. We had great discussions. But more importantly, it felt deeply connective to listen to the need and to respond with trust rather than control. Another example. I'm teaching a concept and having a heated discussion. A girl asks a question that feels big. A part of me feels scared. How do I show her all the truths of the world? How do I reach her if she doesn't seem receptive to it right now? In both of these cases, I found myself returning back to the same place. How do I take

32:28 Speaker 12 a step back from fear and lean into trust? How can I trust my students in this moment? How can I realign myself with the deep knowing that they are good, they want what's good? Trust is allowing space. It's allowing space for my students to ask, to question, to pause, to hold discom-- in discomfort, holding the question, creating a safe space that it's safe to not know. Trusting my students is what allows them to be receptive to what we're learning. When they know that I see them, that I believe that they have the tools to learn, to understand, they have the tools inside of them to navigate their own lives. If I trust that what I'm teaching is true, then I'm not teaching them something foreign or external. I'm awakening something that already lives inside of them. And if that's the case, I can trust that it will be there for them when they're ready to reach for it. Trusting my students means allowing for them to be in the process. It's setting high standards because I know that they're capable of it. Sitting in front of me in my classroom is a room full of pieces of Hashem. And as the Alter Rebbe adds, mamash, literal pieces of Hashem, truth seekers in search for more. They want what's good. I can let go. I can let go of trying to control their process of the results. I can trust that they can stand by their innate values. It's natural for teens to question the status

34:03 Speaker 12 quo, to put up a facade, a protective identity. Trusting them means seeing past those walls, seeing the struggle, but also knowing they are not their struggles. They are unconditionally worthy and good exactly as they are. Trusting my students means listening to the voice inside of them that screams, "I know the answers in my heart. Trust me, see me. Allow me to trust myself." Naturally, we want to control, to fix, to keep all in line. Teaching has taught me to surrender, to find the trust, to find the tools, to create a structured, safe place, a container for learning, vulnerability, and growth. The blessing of Chinuch is self-transcendence, trusting our students.

34:57 Speaker 13 Wow. Thank you, Yehudis. And now, Mrs. Rivky Lehrer on the impact, the bracha of impacting, long-lasting impact on our students. About ten years ago, while visiting Israel with my parents, we went to visit a young professional that once attended the school my parents have run in their shulchas for over fifty years. His story is something that continues to inspire me to this day. As a child, he had gone to the local Gan Israel day camp that left a deep impression on him. When he returned home, he told his parents he wanted to attend a Jewish day school, but his parents weren't sold on the idea. They weren't connected to Yiddishkeit at the time. Undeterred, this ten-year-old boy found the address of Seven Seventy and wrote a heartfelt letter to the Rebbe. Soon after, the school got a call from Rabbi Holikov, instructing them that the Rebbe wanted to make sure that this child gets his wish to attend the Jewish school. That very evening, the shluchim visited the family's home and convinced the parents to give it a try. They arranged for a taxi to bring him to school the very next morning. That one decision changed his life. The young boy loved the Jewish environment, and his neshamah was ignited. It did not take long for him to ignite the sparks of his parents. His siblings followed. The entire family started on their journey to Yiddishkeit. Today, he is a prominent lawyer, his brother is a top psychologist in Israel, his sister is a

36:19 Speaker 13 pediatrician, and another brother heads an organization that helps Jews all around the world, and the families continue to grow entire Yiddishkeit. This is the Bracha of Chinuch. It doesn't just impact a child. It transforms a family. It builds futures, communities, and generations. For over fifty years, the school my parents have helped build, a school established by the Rebbe, has been a powerful force of transformation. I now have the zechus to teach in that very school, and I've personally witnessed how one child's ins-inspiration can ripple outward, bringing families closer to Yiddishkeit, strengthening homes, and touching entire communities. The impact doesn't stay in the classroom. It grows, it spreads, and it continues every single day. In the classroom, I've seen firsthand how even the smallest spark can create a ripple effect. When a young child connects to Yiddishkeit in a real way, that inspiration doesn't stay with them alone. It often finds its way into their home and beyond. One year, I had a student named Rachel. Her family was usually unaffiliated. Around the time of Shavuot, we studied the Aseres Hadibrot, and I encouraged her to attend shul to listen to the reading. Something clicked for her. Something awakened. She told her parents, "We together have to hear the Aseres Hadibrot." That Shavuot, her entire family came to shul to hear the Aseres Hadibrot. Since then, they attend shul regularly and are active in the Chabad community. It all started with an eight-year-old internalizing one lesson, and that lesson echoing into her home. One child, one

37:48 Speaker 13 spark, one ripple effect of change. The Rebbe spoke often about the power of igniting the pnimiyus, the inner spark of a child's neshamah, especially in a child who may not have had that light awaken before. When that spark is lit, it doesn't stay contained. It radiates outward, changing not just the child, but the home, the future, and the community. This is the bracha of chinuch. We think we're teaching a child, but in reality, we're planting seeds that continue to grow, reaching homes, communities, and having an impact on the world. May we each be zoche to be that light, to awaken the spark within every child, to uplift families and shape communities. And may we merit to see the beautiful ripple effect of our work, knowing that even one spark can truly light up this world.

38:35 Speaker 6 Wow. Thank you, Rivky. And acharon acharon chaviv, this is Geulah Numin on the bracha of being mechanech the dor that will greet Mashiach.

38:55 Speaker 3 What a bracha to just learn from the teachers who just shared. I'm in such awe, such a zechus. And just a big thank you to the organizers. This has been so geulah just all being here together. This is what we're gonna be doing when the shofar blows. Like, our kids will be all, everyone happy, everyone taken care of, and we're just gonna be learning Torah with them, with all of Klal Yisrael. So that's what we're doing now. We all know the famous Hayom Yom of Beis Iyar, where when the Rebbe Rashab, as a-- Rabbi Maharash was tested as a young boy and did so well, his tutor said, "Ha, vas-" Sorry. "Vas ag de-- Vas sagt er, er macht gut." What do you say? He's doing so well. What did his father, the Tzemach Tzedek say? "Vas iz di hispalus? At a teferes shebe teferes macht gut." What are you so excited about that a teferes shebe teferes is doing so well? Our students are different than any other students in any other generations, ourself included. Our students, their neshamas were handpicked to be the ones to actually unfold the geulah, to actually greet Mashiach. The Rebbe points this out on a sicha around Chof Cheshvan. When the Rebbe talks about a story, the famous story of the Rebbe Rashab when he was four or five years old and was crying, "Why didn't I get to see Hashem?" And the Rebbe points out a detail that not many people are familiar with. The Rebbe says,

40:29 Speaker 3 "Why wasn't this story publicized earlier," right? The Rebbe Maharash could have come the next Shabbos at the farbrengen and said, "Look at this child," or, "We can learn from this child. He's crying to see Hashem." Only in later generations was this story publicized. Why? Because there are many, many stories of Beis HaRab that we are not privy to. It's not shayah to us. We shouldn't even try to reach that. The Rebbe says if a story was publicized by the Friyerdiker Rebbe, it means that only now is it relevant. Only now is it shayah. Why? Because now we're coming closer to the geulah. The neshamas that are entering our world are so much more sen-sensitive to get lechkait. Whereas in generations previous, you needed more of the physical motivation and excitement, these neshamas are actually capable of being so excited because they're going to get to see Hashem and crying because they, they don't see Hashem. So a few years ago, when we were in the COVID year, we had a Zoom kind of Hebrew school that we had at our Chabad house, where we had children come and did their Zoom, and then we served them kosher food, and we did davening with them. The public schools in LA are very, uh, laid back. They had like a two-hour Zoom for a whole day, so the parents were so happy to drop them off. And there was-- we were talking in a circle time about, um, nightmares. A child was saying that she has nightmares.

41:55 Speaker 3 And so I said, "You know, we should kiss the mezuzah before we go to sleep, and it helps us to remember Hashem's always with us." And, and I actually heard once from a mashpia that that is a hiraf from the Rebbe to make sure to go kiss the mezuzah before you go to sleep to have good dreams. So on the spot, this cutest little three-year-old, she had tears, and she started crying. She said, "Morah, I don't have a mezuzah. I want a mezuzah." So the next day in my eighth-grade class in the Lubavitcher Mesivta in Beis Rebbe, I shared this story, and I was shocked because right away the girls got together moving, and they decided they're fundraising. Now, they're very into their fundraising because they get the trip, and they have the, all the things that they get because they're raising money for an end of the year. They decided to make a separate fundraiser to raise money so that this girl can have mezuzahs in her whole house. And so first we're like, I'm shocked. Wow. Like, I don't, I wouldn't, I don't think we would have done maybe in eighth grade. No one told us to do this. These are different neshamas. They're cut out for something else. We were given the privilege, the zechus, to educate them, to guide them, and then to just bask in their light, which is so strong. And yeah, are we shocked? Yeah. But then we realize, oh, this is because it's the times of the

43:14 Speaker 3 geulah. Another story which I, I'm inspired from all the time is one of my students, she loved going on Mivtzayim. On Friday, we go on Mivtzayim, and her only chance that she went on Mivtzayim was in school. She didn't come from a family that, uh, that really did Mivtzayim or, uh, things of that sort, and she loved it. She ended up going to a, a high school. Her family wasn't necessarily the, the type to move on to Lubavitch High School. She went to the not Lubavitch Modern Orthodox High School, and she started a Mivtzayim club, and she would come with her not Chabad friend to my house to pick up the candles, and the next year, more girls started joining. And I wanna read to you a story that she sent me. She didn't only send it to me. She sent it to her whole family chat and all her friends. "Something just happened that I think to be very inspiring, and I thought I can share with all of you. As some of you may know that me and Hannah go every Friday after school to hand out Shabbos candles. As usual, today we started at the library and continued through Rodeo. As usual, along with all the new people we see, we also build up relationships with those workers in stores along our usual routes. When we arrived at the library today, we right away found the Jewish librarian we knew, Toby. She was so glad to see us once again, and as

44:35 Speaker 3 usual, was happy to take the candles. But this time she said something new. She told us that as a librarian, she loves telling stories and asked us if we'd listen. Of course, we said yes, and she told us of last week and how the candles affected her family. She told us of her son, Caleb, and how he never usually sees her due to his busy work schedule. And it happened that it came that Friday when she was lighting her Shabbos candles we gave her. When her son saw this, he instantly flooded with memories of him as a young boy, lighting on Friday night. He remembered his bar mitzvah and other Jewish things he'd do. He left that night so inspired that he and his girlfriend lit Shabbos candles that night, too. So when Toby saw us today, you can only imagine how her face lit up. I love to give out candles and add light into the world, but when others share how it worked, it's even better. A lesson I learned was that every little good deed you do can have a huge effect on someone else, even if it doesn't seem like it. Take the time to do the good. It pays off. Have a great Shabbos everyone. Heart, heart, heart, emoji, emoji." Does she realize I'm the one that's the most affected by this? She's like telling them a good-- I, I can't live with this story. So of course, first we're shocked, and then we wake up, and we listen. The

45:43 Speaker 3 Rebbe said, "Open your eyes. This is the Geulah. This-- These are the Neshamas that are the Neshamas of the Geulah." Okay, so you're gonna say, "Oh, so you have rosy glasses. Everything's good. Your students are all perfect. They all just, like, want Mivtzayim, and they wanna buy you mezuzahs for all the not from kids." Well, there's another side to this Geulah generation. The Rebbe points out that it says in Daniel in Pasuk, a prophecy about Mashiach's times. It says, They will be refined, elevated. What is it talking about? It's talking about the darkest, most negative, dirtiest things are gonna come from hidden spaces to revealed spaces as the Geulah unfolds. Why? Because every little part of negativity has to be elevated and purified as we welcome the Geulah. And the Rebbe says this manifests itself in hidden negative traits in ourselves and our fellow Yidden, and of course, in the world, right? I mean, things that are going on. You've never imagined such negativity, such darkness, such horrible. It's because we are welcoming the Geulah, so that's another sign. The Rebbe said, open up our eyes. So do we get disheartened? When you're cooking a big pot of delicious chicken soup, I don't know, I was taught by my mother, you know, you skim the top, right? Do you ever say, "Ugh, this is so gross. Forget the soup"? It's only-- It's there because the soup is so good. It's there for you to take out so that the soup. So the big pot of

47:13 Speaker 3 delicious soup is boiling inside each one of our students inside ourselves. And as it says in Daniel, there's the gross stuff that just comes out, and it's in our faces. And what is our job? To be present. To first align with it, recognize what it is, and say, "It's my job to elevate it. It's my job to pur-purify it." And another hack that we were taught because we're in the Geulah times is just the decision that I want to elevate it, Hashem. Hashem's gonna make it happen. Don't stress about it. Recognize what it is, and even just making yourself aware that that's just what it is, it will dissipate 'cause-- because our hands are being held by the Rebbe in this avoda. We just have to be present with it. We have to open our eyes to it and appreciate this chass. So as I was preparing, I wrote-- I opened up a letter of the Rebbe for a bracha, and I was thinking about this topic of how each one of them is so beautiful, so precious. And what does the Rebbe say in a letter? Jewish daughters are beautiful, and the Rebbe says, Each one is so precious. Each one is so beautiful, more than we can even fathom because why? Like, we pinch ourselves. Why was I chosen to be the one standing in front of these Neshamas that are the ones that actually are gonna say, ? They're gonna be able to point and be able to recognize Hashem first, like

48:43 Speaker 3 the children in the times of the Geulas Mitzrayim. We don't know why we were chosen, but we're here now, so we just gotta do what we need to do, right? I'm forever grate-- forever grateful to my parents for really living with this. My mother, Adon Olam Bas Kol Malech, to have a complete Refuah Shleima, and dance with us to the Geulah, and for believing in me more than I believed in myself growing up. I had a little sister, have a little sister from a young age, was very vocal, very opinionated, very authoritative in the face of her teachers, in the face of her parents, and I'm talking about two, three years old, even from a very young age. And I clearly remember my father, when she would say these statements unfiltered, very strong opinion, and he would say, "I'm taking you to Washington with me." 'Cause my father's involved in the Rebbe's firm, they should be redeemed immediately, and would go to Washington a lot and have to meet with the senators. "I'm taking you to Washington with me." Seeing that spark of Geulah, that spark, the Nitzot Shal Jacob Avinu, the Nitzot Shal Mashiach inside every child brings it out. Just recognizing it and knowing that the-- there's qualities that could be so dirty and dark, but there's something so much more powerful lying beneath. And it's a very urgent matter. It's not just about empowering ourselves and empowering our students. It's about actually making it happen. The Rebbe said in a famous Sicha

50:11 Speaker 3 on Beis Nissan, Tof Shin Mem Zayin, um, which actually I, I love the Sicha. My birthday is Beis Nissan. The Rebbe said, "Ein melech balai am," there's no king without a nation. The Rebbe says, "Am m'lashon ememos." Am comes from the expression of like r- um, very far and low compared to the king. It's specifically us low, our students who can sometimes seem low. We can sometimes seem low and removed. It's specifically us who are counted on to give that chayis to the melech, and to make this transition happen from Galus to Geulah. It is us. So I want to give us all a bracha and a l'chaim that we should align ourselves with the reality that the Geulah is in f-- unfolding before our eyes. And every part of our reality in our classrooms, in our lives, we should see the brachos of the Geulah already, the gashmius, the ruchnius, we complete health and happiness in every single way, and nachas, and shidduchim, and children, and everything good that everybody needs. And we should be able to uncover that spark of Mashiach in the world. L'chaim.

51:19 Speaker 4 Great. Wow, thank you. I don't know about all of you, but I feel like I just got an overload of inspiration. Wanna end off wishing all of you an abundant amount of brachos in your teaching, and you should really feel berech v'neichem b'kirbeich in a very tangible way. And of course, we should start off the school year in Yerushalayim. Hatzlacha.

51:46 Speaker 5 Thank you for listening. Wishing you much hatslacha in your vital shlichus.