God has just given the commandments at Mount Sinai, and the text reads V’shinantam l’vanecha: . Those two Hebrew words are usually translated into English as “Teach them diligently to your children,” or something along those lines. But that’s not what the Hebrew says. The Hebrew says, “Inscribe them on your children.” The verb shanan, which I am translating as “inscribe,” could also be translated as “incise”—it literally means to cut with a knife.33 “Teach them diligently” is watered down.
