Your Daily Slice

TAMMUZ 11

Imprinting

“and you shall IMPRESS them upon your children …” (Deu 6:7, emphasis mine)

We find Noah Webster defining the word ‘impress’ as “to imprint; to stamp; to mark; to indent; to fix deep; as, to impress truth on the mind, or facts on the memory.”[1] It would appear that the tone of this word is a serious one, implying a use of strength and force to ‘imprint’ upon an object.

For over 25 years, my husband and I bred and raised Quarter Horses. We successfully used a method known as ‘imprint training’ with our new-born foals, teaching them to respond positively to being handled by humans. The window that is open from birth to five days of age is when the greatest success of this method has been attributed; it is, of course, much easier to teach them these foundational lessons at that early age than when they are a full year old, and much bigger.

This also applies to us ‘homo sapiens.’  Those professionals engaged in child development and learning agree that a child learns more in the first four years of life than at any other time – I shudder at the many parents who park their children in front of a television playing non-stop cartoons. I rejoice when I see parents ‘imprinting’ their young children with Torah truths, for they know that “even when their children are older, they will not turn away from it.” (Pro 22:6)

Jewish sages believe that this verse is also concerned with those who attach themselves to a Torah-teacher. This teacher must be about the business of ‘impressing’ the Words of our Elohim upon those that are children in the faith. Behold, the lost art of ‘discipling,’ of assisting those ‘newbies’ to run their race with endurance, always pressing on toward our goal. (see Heb 12:1; Phi 3:14)

Please, make sure you know whose Words you are ‘imprinting’ – remember, teachers have the greater accountability, and consequently, the greater judgment. (see Jam 3:1; 1Tim 1:5-7)

©2025

[1]American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828