Children as Guarantors: The Tzaddik Lives On

1“Do not cut off the tribe of the families of the Kehasites from among the Levi'im. Do this for them, so that they may live and not die.”¹ In his commentary on the Torah, the Baal HaTurim cites the Masorah, the traditional record of where words recur in Scripture, which links vechayu, “so that they may live,” in our verse with “vechayu, they shall live with their children, and they shall return.”² How are the two verses connected?

2We will also explain a Midrash: “When Israel stood at Mount Sinai, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: ‘Bring guarantors that you will keep the Torah, and I will give it to you.’ They said to Him, ‘Our fathers are our guarantors’ … They said to Him, ‘Our children are our guarantors.’ He said to them, ‘They are good guarantors,’ as it says, ‘From the mouths of babes and sucklings You have established strength,’ and ‘strength’ means nothing other than Torah, as it says, ‘Hashem will give strength to His people.’”³ This is very puzzling. Why did receiving the Torah require guarantors at all? And how can the children be guarantors for the fathers? On the contrary, the reverse makes more sense: it is the fathers who are responsible for seeing that their children are educated and walk in the way of the Torah. It would be understandable if the fathers were asked to be guarantors for the children, pledging to devote themselves to educating them in Torah. But the other way around, as the Midrash has it, is hard to understand: how can the fathers' Torah endure through the children?

3aWe can explain this along the lines of what the holy sefer Ateres Yeshuah writes on our verse, “Do not cut off …”⁴ These are his words: “When the tzaddik of the generation goes to his rest in honor, the main thing is to make sure his sons are supported after him. People should honor his sons after him just as they honored their father. Through this, ‘the tzaddik will be an everlasting remembrance,’ and the tzaddik's name will never be cut off, for his son fills his place in every respect. But if people are lax and do not give his sons the support that would enable them to fill their father's place, then, Heaven forbid, the tzaddik's name will no longer be remembered.”⁵

3bThe Ateres Yeshuah continues: “This is the meaning of ‘Do not cut off the tribe of the families of the Kehasites from among the Levi'im.’ The tzaddikim, who live in deveikus, cleaving to the Creator, are called Levi'im, ‘joined ones.’ You must see to it that you do not cut this off; rather, ‘the tzaddik will be an everlasting remembrance.’ ‘Do this for them, so that they may live and not die’: see to it that the tzaddik has life in this world too, and does not fall into a kind of death, ‘forgotten like the dead from the heart.’ The remedy is ‘they shall live with their children’: support his sons. Then ‘the tzaddik will be an everlasting remembrance,’ for his path of avodah will endure forever, since his son will fill his place and make his path known.”⁶ So far his words. That is, the disciples need to hear from the tzaddik's son the Torah and guidance of his father, the tzaddik. In this way Chazal's saying “Tzaddikim are greater in their death than in their lifetime”⁷ comes true, and even after their passing they remain, in a sense, alive.

4This explains the words of the Masorah, “they shall live with their children, and they shall return.” Vechayu, “they shall live,” teaches that the sons' continuing their father's ways is a kind of life. When they do, “they shall return” follows naturally: through this the sons bring Bnei Yisrael to return in teshuvah and walk the right path. All this comes from “Do this for them”: strengthening the tzaddik's house. And as a result, “they may live and not die”: even after the tzaddik's passing he is still counted as though he were alive, through the son who fills his place and expounds his Torah.

5This also lets us explain how the children could serve as guarantors at the giving of the Torah. The foundation of the Torah's way is to educate our children in Torah and mitzvos, so that holy avodah will never cease. So we find with Avraham: of all his avodah, Hashem mentioned only this: “For I have known him, so that he will command his children and his household after him, and they will keep the way of Hashem.”⁸ For the survival of the whole Torah depends above all on passing the way of Hashem on to the children. That is what the children's guarantee means: each person takes it upon himself to hand the way of Hashem and His Torah on to the generations to come, so that they will continue it. And then Hashem Himself guarantees that the children will continue the way of Hashem. As Chazal said: “Whoever is a Torah scholar, and his son is a Torah scholar, and his son's son is a Torah scholar, the Torah will never again cease from his descendants, as it says, ‘And as for Me, this is My covenant … they shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring's offspring, said Hashem, from now and forever.’ What is ‘said Hashem’? The Holy One, blessed be He, said: I am your guarantor in this matter.”⁹

6May Hashem grant that we be privileged to have children and grandchildren who engage in Torah. Amen, may it be His will.