Our great teachers and Sages throughout the centuries have been living examples of how we should raise and educate our children. Following are a few anecdotes and tales from the deep well of wisdom we have inherited from them.

The Talmud relates an incident about Rav Prada, who was the leader of his own generation. Rav Prada had a certain student who was very slow to grasp a concept. But, far from giving up on him, Rav Prada sat with this boy day after day and tirelessly repeated the lesson for him until he learned it. He would repeat the lesson no less than four hundred times until his pupil knew the subject. One day he had already repeated the lesson four hundred times, and yet, the boy still hadn't grasped it. What was Rav Prada's reaction? Certainly he must have thrown up his hands and concluded that this child was simply too slow to learn. But, no, Rav Prada began again and taught the lesson another four hundred times!

That day a heavenly voice spoke to Rav Prada. Because of his tremendous patience and his devotion to his student's Torah learning he was given the option of choosing his reward. Either he could chose to have extraordinarily long life, or he could chose to benefit his entire generation by giving them all a portion in the World-to-Come.

It is obvious what a Tzadik like Rav Prada would chose. Of course, he decided to share his reward with all of his fellow Jews, and all the Jews of that generation received a portion in the World-to-Come.

This story was told by Rabbi Pesach Krohn

Rabbi Reuven Feinstein, the son of the late world-renowned rav and halachic [Jewish legal] authority, Rav Moshe Feinstein, was making a Bar Mitzvah for his son. The child's birthday was mid-week, and so, a celebration would be made to mark the day when the boy would be called up to the Torah for the first time. A large celebration was scheduled for Sunday, when family and friends would be able to gather to mark the great occasion.

Rav Moshe, however, had been scheduled to speak at a major rabbinical conference which was to take place on the same Sunday as his grandson's Bar Mitzvah. He attended the mid-week occasion of the child's birthday and aliyah to the Torah, but was unable to come to the larger Sunday celebration.

A friend asked Rabbi Reuven Feinstein how he reacted to the absence of his illustrious father at his son's Bar Mitzvah. His answer was indicative of the true greatness of his father, and shows how our every action and thought may be directed to establishing a bond of love between us and our children. He replied, "I didn't feel bad, because my father loves me."

Of course, the obvious rejoinder was, "How do you know?" and indeed, that was the next question in this dialogue. Rav Reuven replied by describing three incidents in his childhood which had stuck in his mind as a constant reminder of his father's great love for him.

Rav Moshe, of blessed memory, as the most widely respected and revered halachic authority of our time, received thousands of inquiries from every part of the Jewish world. He was occupied most of the day responding to the questions of world Jewry. Thus, he was unable to devote many daytime hours to Torah study. He compensated by studying at night. He slept just a few hours each evening and would rise in the middle of the night to commence his Torah study until it was time for the morning prayers. Rav Reuven recalled that his father would stop in the middle of his studies and put his little son's clothing on the radiator on the cold winter nights, so that when the steam heat rose in the morning, his son's clothing would be toasty warm for him to put on.

The next incident he remembered was one which repeated itself many times during the long summer days when young Reuven would study Torah with his father in a bungalow colony in upstate New York. Every afternoon, a hay wagon would make its way through the grounds to the glee of the children who would looked forward to the daily hay ride. Rav Moshe, who was naturally very deeply engaged in study with his child, would close the book every afternoon and encourage his son to have time out to enjoy the ride and have fun.

Lastly, Rav Reuven related that although his father was sought out by all manner of very important people, many of whom were guests in the Feinstein home on the Lower East Side of New York, Reuven was always accorded respect by his father. He always remained in his usual place at the table, next to his father except on the rare occasions when a visitor of the greatest stature had to be placed at his father's side. Only then did Reuven move from his customary place. A bond of love and trust, firmly planted, grows roots deep enough to last a child for his entire lifetime.

Special thanks to Rabbi Yehuda Zakutinsky, outreach coordinator of Hashiveinu, for his moving telling of these stories and anecdotes.