Struck with Fear
From when I was a young child, Father’s method of education was by slapping me when I deserved it. He did this until I was thirty! To this day, I admire my Father, who is no longer with us, may his memory protect us.
I often ask myself why I still feel a certain fear of my father. Father passed on to the World of Truth. And I take comfort in the answer:
Father always trained me to fear Hashem, Who sees everything I do, at any given moment. He trained me, as well, to fear the tzaddikim of the past, including my holy ancestors, who gaze at me from their places on High. For this reason, I am afraid of doing the wrong thing. I don’t want to cause them shame.
Although child education today is vastly different from how it was when we were growing up, I raise my children just as I was raised. I teach them constantly to “know what is above you: a Seeing Eye, a Hearing Ear, and all your deeds are recorded in a Book” (Avot 2:1).
