GEN1462 Unfortunately, many of our children are deprived of a father image at home – and I do not mean only those children whose fathers are m’chal’lei Shabbos, violators of the Sabbath, or do not observe kashrus and taharas hamishpochoh – they are deprived of a father image simply because in their homes, and this includes even some religious homes, there is not the atmosphere of idealism and of a yearning and an aspiration toward things that soar above the mundaneness of the toil and moil of life. This is the main reason why youngsters today are in revolt against everybody and everything, why so many Jewish children become hippies, or beatniks. [Published in 1975 – AJL]   So many of us ascribe to youth all the responsibility and guilt for youth’s revolt and impetuosity without realizing that many times the parents themselves are more at fault than the youngsters for youth’s unrest and rebellion, in that they have failed to instill moral fibre in the hearts of the children by not providing the kind of atmosphere at home to inspire them toward things that soar above the mundaneness and the vulgarities and the profanities of life.   In regard to the verse, “V’habor raik, ein bo moyim” [this verse] – and the pit was empty, there was no water in it, our Sages say: “There was no water in it; however, it was full with serpents and scorpions” This Rabbinic comment is based upon a well-known scientific principle; namely, that “nature abhors a vacuum.” Hence the Torah, when said “v’habor reik – and the pit was empty,” could not have meant that it was void of everything for nature abhors a vacuum. If it was not filled with water, then it must have been full with serpents and scorpions. This scientific principle, namely that nature abhors a vacuum, is as true in the psychological realm as it is in the physical realm. Human nature too abhors a vacuum. Either a father ills us the spirit of his child with spiritual and ethical norms and aspirations or he invites spiritual and emotional scorpions to penetrate the heart of the child.   The only way for principals and teachers to inspire the children in our Day Schools so that they dill not join, when they grow up the ranks of the revolting youngsters is by supplying a sublime father image to the children. If the principals and teachers will consistently and scrupulously furnish a father image to the school children then there will be a spiritual and moral content in their lives and they will not be disposed to conjure up the idols of new morality, immorality and amorality. However, the fulfillment of the father role by the principal and the teacher of the Day School constitutes only one of the two functions incumbent upon a rebbe. For the other function incumbent upon a rebbe is the fulfillment of the mother role.  The mother role is realized through the Torah she imparts to the child, as it is written, “V’al titosh Toras imechah”  Proverbs 1:8 – Forsake not the Torah of your mother. Obviously, a mother does not impart Torah through instruction in books or through intellectual reasoning. The mother imparts the purely practical aspects of Torah, the inculcation of ethical qualities, through tender, tolerant, and sympathetic guidance. And so it should be with the rebbe.  Both the father image and the mother image have to be furnished by the Yeshiva teacher so that the child may be enduringly motivated by the concept of the dignity of man and of man as a being who was created in the image of God and by the concepts of love of God, love of Torah, love of Israel and love of mankind.   BUILD 24-5