Education is not about words but actions. This message was powerfully conveyed in the latest lecture by Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto, who emphasized that the true way to educate children is not through instructions and commands, but through personal example.
“A person who yells at his child—‘Pray! Study! Do this!’—while sitting at home glued to his phone or engaged in idle matters is not educating his child but sending the opposite message,” said Rabbi Pinto. “When a parent demands that their child study Torah but never opens a book themselves, or instructs them to pray while staying outside the synagogue— the child absorbs the gap between speech and action.”
According to Rabbi Pinto, true education means being a living example. “Children don’t need to hear us talking about values; they need to see us living them. If you want your child to go to yeshiva—study Torah yourself. If you want him to pray—pray in front of him. If you want him to behave respectfully—treat others with respect.”
Rabbi Pinto further clarified that success in education is not achieved through coercion but by creating an environment where values are genuinely present—not just in speech but in action. “When a child sees his father praying with joy, studying Torah diligently, and treating others with honor and integrity—he absorbs these lessons into his own life. But when he hears only sermons without real-life reinforcement, he may ultimately drift away from the path.”
The message is clear: True education is not about what you tell your child—it is about what you do in front of them.
This article was written in cooperation with Shuva Israel