On The Breath of Children: February 2010
Once when teaching a grade 2 class, I felt it was important that they begin to understand how hurtful ‘lashon harah’, speaking negatively about others, could be. I gathered the children together on our carpet since I felt they should realize how personal this is and I wanted them to engage and invest themselves in this very important Jewish value.
I was so taken with how their eyes were glued on me and the silence in the room told me how seriously they were absorbing what I was teaching. It was one of those moments when we see the connection building between us and the generation to come. It was a very moving moment for me.
After class one little girl came up to me and said she really understood what I was trying to say and that we should never talk about others behind their backs. To show me how much she had absorbed this valuable lesson she then said: ‘I never do that to anyone, but Lisa, she always does that.’
Tags: Children, gossip, lashon harah, teaching