Divine Parenting

MILLER, NANCY

Divine Parenting To Kindle a Soul—Ancient Wisdom for Modern Parents and Teachers Lawrence Kelemen Southfield, Michigan: Targum Press IncAeviathan Press, 2001. 255 pp., hardcover...

...Rather, Kelemen draws extensively from child developmental experts John Bowlby, the surgeon general, and a host of university and government studies tracking behavior and educational performance among children—from young toddlers to teenagers...
...These two divine approaches to creating a perfect world are among the most fundamental behaviors," he writes...
...Nancy Miller is a business writer based in New York...
...From there Kelemen argues that just as God "plants" and "builds" the world, so, too, parents must take care to "plant" values in children and to "build" a structure for children that will enable them to realize their full potential...
...Divine Parenting To Kindle a Soul—Ancient Wisdom for Modern Parents and Teachers Lawrence Kelemen Southfield, Michigan: Targum Press IncAeviathan Press, 2001...
...Indeed, planting (a long-term process) without building will create a wild vine with no structure, Kelemen warns, while building a structure alone will only produce "a human robot...
...To Kindle a Soul provides encouragement and strength to parents seeking a compassionate yet value-informed approach to child-rearing...
...Perhaps Kelemen needs these more "neutral" sources to bolster what he argues is essentially a traditional Jewish point of view...
...Ultimately J ew and non-Jew alike will find inspiration in this book's message that in order to be good parents, parents must first aspire to be good people...
...255 pp., hardcover $27.95 REVIEWED BY NANCY MILLER Does the Torah really provide the basis for parenting...
...But the essence of those chapters is not Rambam, the Talmud, or wise King Solomon—although they certainly make appearances...
...From there, Kelemen covers a great deal of ground, arguing against spanking, harsh words, sugary diets, and most compellingly, against the evils of television viewing whether commercial or so-called educational...
...In this compelling guide, Kelemen recalls die basic Jewish tenet that parents must try to imitate God: Be merciful and kind and forgiving...
...Still, one sometimes wishes for a greater emphasis on the classical texts and to hear more about why the Sbulchan Arukh, a central Jewish guide to behavior, forbids parents from locking a child in a room (a not uncommon practice among parents trying to get a child to sleep)—a fact he quotes on two separate occasions...
...Lawrence Kelemen, a Jewish scholar and baal teshuvah—a relative newcomer to Orthodox Judaism—argues that it does...

Vol. 27 • February 2002 • No. 1


 
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