Education - Previous Rebbe's diary...

The following are two excerpts from the diary in which the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe describes the education he received from his father, the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe.

Writes the Rebbe: One Rosh Hashanah when I was a child of seven, I visited my grandmother and she treated me to a melon. I went out to the yard and sat with my friends on a bench directly opposite my father's window and shared the melon with my friends.

My father called me in and said to me: "I noticed that though you shared the melon with your friends, you did not do so with a whole heart." He then explained to me at length the concept of a "generous eye" and an "ill-will eye."

I was so deeply affected by my father's words that I wept bitterly and threw up what I had eaten of the melon.

"What do you want from the boy?" asked my mother. "He's only a child!"

Father replied: "It is good this way. Now this trait will be ingrained in his character."

This. is education.

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One Passover, writes the Rebbe, when I was close to ten years old -- a new suit of clothes was made up for me, together with a brand new pair of shoes.

In my hometown of Lubavitch, the preparations for the festival were conducted in a meticulous and thorough manner.

Among the final 'odds and ends' jobs was a job entrusted to me: to remove the seals from the wine bottles and to partially pull out the corks. The latter was a most challenging task, for one had to take care that the metal of the corkscrew should not come in contact with the wine.

That year, I was busy at my appointed task in my father's room. I went about my work with great caution, careful not to dirty my new suit and, most importantly, not to dull the shine on my new shoes.

My father noticed what was uppermost in my mind and said to me: "The Alter Rebbe cites the following metaphor: A great nobleman sits at a table laden with all sorts of gourmet dishes and delicacies. Under the table lies a dog, gnawing a bone. Can you imagine the nobleman climbing down from his chair and joining the dog under the table to chew on a luscious bone?"

My father's words so affected me that I was ashamed to even look at my new clothes.

This. is education.