Bo: "and your little ones"
"The L-rd be with you, if ever I let you and your little ones go! Look, you have some evil purpose in mind. No! Go, the men, among you, and serve the L-rd, for that is what you desire." Ex.10.10Maayanah Shel Tov teaches us that Pharaoh was not willing to let the children and women go because by doing so, there would be no future for our people even if our men got away. In many ways he also explains we have Pharaohs live within our day who do the same thing. They tell us that for us our faith, our traditions are just fine but we should not inflict these ideas on our children who should be "allowed to make their own decisions". The flaw in these arguments is that even our children's new "teachers" ultimately will "teach" them their "faith", no matter how "pure" of a religious postering they claim they will be. Thus the attempts of the sixties to wipe all faith from the curriculum did not remove theology at all but wrought a theology of atheism with the children coming from secular homes or agnosticism when the children had parents of faith at home. Even the more recent attempts to infuse the curriculum with compassion and justice will ultimately fail because this is still devo id of its root. Thus the Catechism warns us:
"The fecundity of conjugal love cannot be reduced solely to the procreation of children, but must extend to their moral education and their spiritual formation. 'The role of parents in education is of such importance that it is almost impossible to provide an adequate substitute." (GE3) The right and the duty of parents to educate their children are primordial and inalienable. (Cf FC 36)" Cat. 2221This does not mean we must all home school our children, but rather that Religious Education shouldn't be solely relegated to your church's volunteers who teach your children their Catechism. Indeed, we believe Pharaoh isn't dead, although it seems he has changed his tactics and will get our children if we do not take the time and effort to just say NO!
