Rebbetzen Shaindel Moscowitz #fundie breslev.co.il

[The Rebbetzen offers advice on protecting children from "bad influences."]

It's obvious that even when you educate your children properly at home, your children need the right influences. Education can all be undone very quickly if children do not attend the right school or have good friends. [...] I was always very careful which friends' homes my children visited because I didn't want all the hard work I had invested in them at home to be undone, or even just blunted, in other peoples' houses.

[...]

We had all learnt in school how Dinah, the daughter of Ya'akov, was a curiosity seeker and the troubles that befell her. Our mother explained, without going into too much detail, that this had happened because she had gone out when she shouldn't have without her mother's permission; because of this she was unaware of the dangers that awaited her. Our mother told us that it was the duty of a good girl to always let her parents know where she was and who she was with.

[...]

Regarding allowing children out alone, I too monitored my children the way my mother ob"m had done, but because other children were allowed more freedom by then, one of my daughters went through a stage where she questioned our close supervision of her activities. She used to say "but don't you trust me mummy", or "all my friends are allowed to go, why can't I"? Out of "all" her friends perhaps one or two were actually allowed out alone, and I explained very clearly to her that I considered this to be "hefkerus" - wantonness - on their part. [...] I also explained to them that it was a bad world out there (without going into too much detail) and for that reason I felt they needed to be protected. My children already knew that Jewish kinder do not roam the streets getting into trouble like otherchildren do.

[...]

Part of this policy was that my daughters did not go shopping themselves. I always accompanied them because it was my policy, but also because I wanted to be on hand to discreetly guide their taste in the right direction. I explained to my daughters that salesladies are not primarily interested in the client's welfare; they are interested in making a sale. And therefore it was in their best interest that I help them in deciding whether the item in question was as nice, well-fitting and modest as the saleslady claimed it was.

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