Translation by Yehoshua Siskin
We hear that this has been a lost year for our kids, that screens (computer, cell phone, TV) made them crazy. Rabbi Yona Lavi came to the Nifgashot workshop attended by hundreds of girls and teens to provide them with tools for coping with the corona:
• "There are two big questions regarding our relationship to screens. How much and for what purpose? First of all, how much time each day do I spend in front of a screen? Sometimes I say to myself 'just a minute' and then an hour goes by. Second, what am I looking at, where am I surfing to, and what is the content? Today there are excellent Internet filters that restrict both content and viewing time. In our home each child knows how much time he is allowed."
• "I think that at the end of this period everyone should be a candidate for the Israel Prize. Truly, all of us have contended with enormous challenges. Therefore I recommend to judge every family member favorably. To judge our children favorably, to emphasize their successes. To judge our parents favorably, to respect them and thank them. Only after my child was born did I understand that it is not at all simple to be a parent. I called my mother to thank her for every diaper change and every time she put me to bed. We need to understand that parents are now coping with something that their parents never faced."
• "We are people of faith. The Holy One blessed be He wants us just where we are, here and now. We are in the 'corona workshop' and not by chance. Up above, they enrolled us in this course. I have a friend who learned martial arts. He told me that they sometimes tie one hand behind your back so you must fight with one hand alone. Then, when they release your tied hand, it feels like you have three hands. All of us now have one hand tied behind our backs. But I believe that when this crisis ends we will emerge from it with three hands, stronger than before."
