Rav Steinman's Letter to Melamdim and Parents:
Warns Of Improper Treatment of Talmidim And Children
Jerusalem - Rav Aaron Leib Steinman has written a letter for teachers and parents, warning them about improper treatment of students and children. He says that the letter was prompted by the many tragedies and illnesses which have hit the frum community. Many Torah scholars suddenly require yeshuos of one kind or another -- children who can't make a shidduch or aren't blessed with children, or became seriously ill, etc. They inevitably turn to Rav Steinman and other gedolim for advice and blessings.
"I wondered much," said Rav Steinman, "What is going on? I tell people who need a yeshua to try and remember if they hurt the people closest to them -- I'm referring to melamdim, parents and friends. A father sometimes thinks that he can slap his son, or he can insult his wife. He thinks it's permitted because after all, they're his... teachers also think that they have the child's benefit in mind when they criticize him and tell him off and even humiliate him. Everything is done in the name of well-meaning mussar and rebuke which he is responsible to do. But that's not the case."
The text of the letter was shown to the public although it was privately addressed it to the head of a school. The following are sections of the letter, which carry an important message for all educators:
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Rav Steinman then addresses the reason for the overflowing number of tragedies that have hit the community, leaving almost no one untouched..... "When one causes suffering to others, he is punished in Olam Hazeh too. Every person must pay attention to what he does and what he says so as not to hurt his fellow man. The truth is that the punishment is much worse in Olam Habo, but most people are not aroused by what they can't see directly, so I am speaking about something that everyone understands well."
Finally, he mentions the words of the Chinuch on the mitzva "no man should afflict his fellow man": Even though one doesn't get lashes from a whip made of cow's hide for a mitzva that doesn't involve action, a person will get 'lashes' from the One who commanded this."
He signs off his letter, "One who is careful not to hurt other people, all the blessings mentioned in the Torah will befall him and he will enjoy a pleasurable life in This World and the Next."
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