Word Prompt – MALACH – Chani Miller

When my grandson was two, my son-in-law began saying the entire Krias Shema with him before bed, even the paragraph of V’ahavata. I remember thinking privately that this was a little ambitious for a two-year-old, certainly the Shema itself with HaMalach HaGoel was enough for a toddler with the zitzfleish of a puppy, but I wisely kept my mouth shut, as all good mothers-in-law should.

I don’t remember exactly what prompted it, but one Shabbos afternoon my grandson started to sing HaMalach HaGoel, and in the charming way that makes sense to a two-year-old, he sang, “HaMalach HaGoel O’sleep.” It was adorable and perfectly logical for a bedtime song; but he wasn’t finished. He began to recite V’ahavta and actually got through about nine words before trailing off and stopping. I was stunned.

A student of the Kotzker Rebbe asked him why Moshe Rabbeinu commanded the Bnei Yisrael in the text of V’ahavta to put the words of Hashem “on” their hearts, why doesn’t he say “in” their hearts? The Kotzker Rebbe famously replied that sometimes our hearts are unready or unreceptive, so we place the words upon our hearts and wait for the moment that the heart shakes, a fissure opens, and the words fall in.

I thought he was too young, but I was wrong. He had no idea what he was saying, but it didn’t matter, because part of chinuch is placing the words upon a child’s heart before he is ready, trusting that one day the words will rush in.