1. Punishment as a means for love – After demotion comes elevation, and after punishment for sin comes comforting:

Meaning of Simolo Tachas Leroshi Uyimino Tichabkeini: It states in scripture that “Simolo Tachas Leroshi Uyimino Tichabkeini/And the left hand is under my head and the right hand embraces me.” Although this verse refers to the upper world, and how G-d’s acts with them, in truth there is also a deep inner message behind this statement with regards to how Hashem acts with the Jewish people, His chosen nation. Whenever the Jewish people are treated with G-d’s left hand, which is Gevura/severity and is expressed as punishment due to the actions of the lower beings, then afterwards G-d raises His right hand to help save them and elevates them even higher then where they were before.

Meaning of Ki Sisa Es Rosh Bnei Yisrael Lipikudeihem: This is the inner meaning behind the verse “Ki Sisa Es Rosh Bnei Yisrael Lipikudeihem.” The word Lipikudeihem derives from the word Pekida which means occurrence, and in this context refers to bad occurrences which are punishments or retribution which may happen to the Jewish people as a result of their sins G-d forbid. This relation between the word Pekida and punishment can be found in the statement of our sages who say that “There is no Pekida [i.e. punishment for bad behavior], which does not occur also as a result of the sin of the golden calf.” With this understanding of the term Lipikudeihem we can now understand the message behind the above verse, following the same theme that we explained above. Even after bad occurrences, Lipikudeihem, happen to the Jewish people, Hashem promises us that He will raise and elevate us. This is hinted to in the opening words of Ki Sisa Es Rosh Bnei Yisrael which literally means that He will raise our heads. The reason that G-d acts in this manner to always comfort and elevate and raise the individual after punishment is because to begin with the punishment was never intrinsically for the sake of punishing and hurting the person causing the pain, heading forbid. In truth, even G-d’s left hand of punishment and bad occurrences that happen to a person are part of His general goal of Yemin Mikareves, hugging the Jew and bringing him close to Him. The pushing away of the Jew with the left hand is not a complete pushing away.

• The Divine lesson #2: The second lesson that we can learn from the above relates to parents and educators in disciplining children and students. We are only human and are susceptible to normal human emotions of anger, fury, and desire for vengeance, that become triggered as a result of mischievous, rebellious, or financially damaging behavior of a child or student. This of course does not mean that we should act out on it, and on the contrary one must try to abstain from disciplining the child until the emotion of anger and revenge dissipates. Only then can we guarantee that the disciplinary action will be appropriately measured to the action and not cause more damage than harm. Now, from the above teaching we can learn two important points when it comes to discipline: Number one is that the initial disciplinary measure that is chosen which often causes some degree of pain to the child, whether mentally [i.e. scolding him], emotionally [i.e. grounded], or physically [i.e. a Petch], should only be done out of love for the child to help discipline and educate him. Number two and most importantly, one should not just discipline the child and view his job as done. An act of discipline, which to the child is viewed as a punishment, should eventually be followed by an act of closeness and love with the child, to try to rebuild and rejuvenate the relationship to an even better place than it was before. This especially applies if one disciplined the child in a disproportionate measure due to having administered the discipline when still in a state of anger and vengefulness. Every act of discipline which causes the child pain should likewise pain the parent and should not be done out of revenge.^[4] When discipline is given in this manner it is much easier to love the child afterwards, and follow the path of G-d as whenever He gives a person punishment of Smol Docheh it is followed by closeness of Yemin Mikareves. The child must never remain with a message that the punishment is an intrinsic message of distance and hate from his parent.

[4] A story is told of Rav Yitzchak Shaul, a dear colleague of Reb Baruch, the father of the Alter Rebbe, that his father wept bitterly after smiting his child for cruel behavior. [Memoirs Vol. 1 p. 334 [English edition]]