Unleashing the Spiritual Power of Your Child
And What is the Sound of Sheep that I Hear?
Rabbi Isser Pliner
In Tanach we learn about Shaul, king of Israel, being tasked with the obligation to attack the nation Amalek and to wipe it out entirely, men, women, children and animals. In the end, the king made a calculation and chose not to dispose of the animals, in direct violation of Hashem’s command. Shmuel HaNavi, who had anointed Shaul, confronted him. Initially Shaul claimed that he fulfilled his obligation. But then, Shmuel said, and what is the sound of sheep that I hear?
Not only did the sheep remain alive, but somehow King Agag was able to survive, which ultimately led to Haman and his rise to power. Due to Shaul’s lack of thoroughness, Israel faced almost complete annihilation generations later. As a result, Hashem ripped away the kingdom from him.
The sages tell us that for the Jews in Persia, the future was bleak. Haman hated us and was out to destroy, Achashverosh, king of Persia, hated us and was out to destroy, and even the angels in heaven seemed to be against us. The Jewish people fasted and prayed, but it wasn’t clear from where the salvation would come.
We find a fascinating passage in the selichot that we recite on Taanit Esther that provides an insight to what was really the catalyst behind the unbelievable turn around in the fate of Israel. In the selichot prayer it says that Hashem said, what is the sound of sheep that I hear? This statement was made in reference to the Jewish children in Shushan who were diligently learning Torah and praying. As a result of their pure voices expressing holy words, which stormed the heavens, Hashem put into motion a series of events that ultimately led to the king turning against Haman and for the Purim miracle to happen.
To understand what really happened and how the actions of the children broke the evil decree, we need to understand why Hashem said the exact same words that Shmuel HaNavi said so many years earlier. This idea is based on the writings of Rav Yisroel Miller, nephew of Rav Avigdor Miller, Z”L.
Our sages taught that after Haman had made his evil decree to annihilate all of the Jews in the vast kingdom, Mordechai sat down to study Torah with the Jewish children. One particular day they were learning about meal offerings. Mordechai looked up and saw Haman walking towards him leading a horse. He had just been told by the king to honour Mordechai for saving his life. Mordechai was sure that he was coming to kill him. He quickly jumped up, donned a tallit and began to pray. In the meantime, Haman arrived and sat down with the children to wait for Mordechai to finish. He asked them what they were learning. They explained that they were learning about the atonement that comes from offering a portion of a meal sacrifice in the times of the Temple. For some reason, Haman responded that their learning about these offerings would overshadow the enormous amount of money he gave to the king for permission to wipe out the Jews.
Rav Miller points out that what Mordechai was teaching the children was very significant, and what Haman said to the children was foretelling. Mordechai descended from the family of Shaul the king, and he understood that this impending holocaust was brought about by his ancestor’s terrible mistake. He felt an obligation to be the catalyst for his people’s salvation. He recognized what specifically Shaul did which led to his mistake. He was given the mitzva to eliminate Amalek, but he rationalized. If I leave the animals alive, how can it hurt? It would actually be a benefit for use as offerings. In the end, by not fulfilling the mitzva in its totality, Jewish survival was put at risk.
Therefore, Mordechai chose the topics of offerings in the Bet HaMikdash as a strategy to overturn the evil decree. Why? For one, he was teaching them something that had no relevance at that time. They were living in galut and the Mikdash was destroyed; and there were very compelling reasons not to teach the children at all because of the need to try and stop Haman. Secondly, unlike most mitzvot that their fulfilment even when not totally complete will be accepted by Hashem anyway, offerings in the Bet HaMikdash must be done exactly correct without any deviation and with pure thought. Otherwise, the offering is no good.
Mordechai’s lessons to the children were meant to inculcate in the next generation the very value that Shaul stumbled on, fulling Hashem’s will 100%.
When Hashem heard the beautiful voices of young children learning the lessons of meal offerings, He said, what is the sound of the sheep that I hear? In a resounding response the angels and even the holy souls of our ancestors exclaimed Tinokot shel Bet Raban, the little children of the cheder. With that, Hashem tore up the evil decree.
In a time when the Am Yisrael is facing an enemy and hatred that surely rivals Amalek and his offspring, we need to internalize the guidance of Mordechai in the chinuch of our children.
To that end, we need to recognize the influence of the sweet voices of children learning Torah on Hashem, our illustrious ancestors in Shamayim and the Holy Angels. See chinuch activities as opportunities to preface them with short compelling tefillot. You should make children aware of their strategic role and let them participate in the teffilot.
Second, as Mordechai did, we need to train our children to strive for excellence in their performance of mitzvot. To insure their success, there should be an emphasis on children striving for excellence in all areas of life. In short, we need to inspire our children to try their best at all times.
Finally, we need to recognize how strong the self-esteem of Mordechai’s students was when they were engaged in conversation by the evil Haman. Children who learn Torah and do Mitzvot in a true chinuch environment led by loving parents and teachers develop a self-identity as a Torah Jew. Not much can embarrass someone who is strongly connected to the Torah.
Let’s step up now as students of Mordechai the rebbe and unleash the power of our children on the enemies of Israel.