In his latest lecture, Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto emphasized the importance of personal responsibility and early childhood education, warning against the sense of entitlement some people feel towards God. According to him, a person who believes that the Creator “owes them something” is making a serious mistake.
“People who think that God owes them – woe to them,” Rabbi Pinto told his students. “God created us, not the other way around, and He owes us nothing. However, God does not want people to suffer, but He expects each person to rise up and take action.”
Rabbi Pinto explained that personal responsibility is the key to success. “If a person does not get up and help themselves – no one else will. God tells a person: rise up, take action, move forward, change your mindset, and act.”
In the second part of the lecture, Rabbi Pinto focused on the power of early childhood education and how it shapes behavior in adulthood. “Much of what a person does as an adult stems from childhood experiences. Until the age of five or six, everything a person absorbs stays with them and expands later in life. Someone who steals a candy as a child may steal millions as an adult. Someone who tells small lies may grow into someone who tells big lies,” he explained.
Rabbi Pinto especially warned parents, noting that messages of fear and financial anxiety can instill insecurity in children that will follow them into adulthood. “Parents who express fear or financial worries in front of their children often raise businesspeople or adults who remain fearful their entire lives. Because fear implanted in childhood stays with them forever.”
Rabbi Pinto concluded with a message to parents: “Be careful about what you transmit to your children, because the small and unconscious things turn into powerful truths that shape their lives as adults.”
This article was written in cooperation with Shuva Israel