The “Best” Child in the Class: A Lesson in Ahavat Yisrael

Yes, I agree. The previous version is grammatically cleaner, but parts still read like a translation. I’d make the English much more natural and fluid while preserving every concept, example, and teaching.

“Mom, remember how you said that if I get 100 on a test, I get 100 shekels?”

His mother nodded.

Meir held out his hand. “You owe me 50...”

Once every seven years, when the Beit HaMikdash stood, the Jewish people would gather for the mitzvah of Hakhel following the first day of Sukkot. The mitzvah is described in this week’s Torah portion:

“And Moses commanded them, saying: At the end of seven years, at the appointed time of the Sabbatical year, on the festival of Sukkot... you shall read this Torah before all Israel, in their hearing... Gather the people, the men, the women, and the children, and your stranger who is within your gates.”

At first glance, the order of the verse seems strange. Surely the people first need to gather in one place, and only then can the Torah be read for them to hear. So why does the Torah mention reading the Torah before commanding, “Gather the people”?

Who Is the Best Child in the Class?

The inspector stood before a classroom full of nervous children. With an official expression and more than a little drama, as though thousands of people were watching and he was about to make a historic announcement, he turned to the teacher and asked:

“Who is the best child in the class?”

The school was located in southern Israel. Jews deeply committed to Hashem and His Torah worked there to bring Jewish education to children who had not had the privilege of growing up in Torah observant homes. Many of the students were still far from a Torah observant lifestyle, and the particular class the inspector was visiting also struggled with significant attention and concentration issues.

The teacher, renowned educator Rabbi Yechiel Yaakovson, later recalled wondering how he should answer. If he singled out one student as “the best,” wouldn’t all the other children feel that they were somehow worth less?

He made a split second decision.

“Tzvi has the kindest heart!” the teacher announced. “Whenever he brings something special to class, a piece of fruit, some candy, or a game, he shares it with everyone. Sometimes we actually have to remind him to save some for himself. But Tzvi doesn’t understand why he needs any. Seeing everyone else enjoy themselves makes him so happy that he doesn’t need the candy to enjoy himself.”

The inspector paused and tried again.

“That’s a very nice quality. But I want to know who is really the best?”

“Shmuel has some of the strongest willpower I have ever seen in a child,” the teacher replied. “A few weeks ago, the lock on the classroom door broke, and the cylinder needed to be replaced at a cost of several hundred shekels. Shmuel sat there for hours, completely focused on the lock, until he managed to fix it himself.”

The inspector struggled to contain his growing frustration and continued asking questions. But every time he asked, the teacher singled out a different child for an outstanding quality.

Everyone was good at something. Every child had an area in which he genuinely stood out from the others.

Eventually, the inspector gave up on getting the answer he wanted and stormed out of the classroom.

What Hakhel Teaches Us About Ahavat Yisrael

The Maor VaShemesh asks why the verse appears to reverse the logical order, mentioning the reading of the Torah before commanding the Jewish people to gather together. His explanation reveals an important principle about a person’s spiritual growth within a community.

Ahavat Yisrael means loving every Jew.

But what about people who do not behave as they should? What about people whose company we might even be hesitant to keep because we are concerned that they could influence us negatively?

Love the good within them, and learn from the good within them.

There is no Jew who does not possess some positive quality that we can learn from. Even if you consider yourself spiritually “great” and the other person, by comparison, a “child” or a “convert,” there is still something within that person that can teach you.

How, then, do we fulfill “you shall read this Torah in their hearing”?

Through “gather the people.”

The Jewish people are made up of many different kinds of individuals. Some may indeed be on a very different spiritual level from you, but everyone must come together: “the men, the women, and the children, and your stranger who is within your gates.”

Everyone.

There is something good you can learn from every person.

Finding the Good in Every Jew

Even if another person did not score “100” on the Judaism test, and which of us scores 100, look at the percentage they did achieve. Maybe it is 50. Maybe it is even less.

Learn from what is good in them, and they can learn from what is good in you.

According to the Maor VaShemesh, the first benefit is spiritual, and it is something we desperately need in our times: “When love, brotherhood, and friendship are found among the Jewish people, there is no place for accusers to harm them!” 

When one person learns from another and continues working to improve, the observance of mitzvot and awe of Hashem grow stronger, “because they will listen to one another and incline toward the good path.”