Some Thoughts In Honor of Father’s Day
Yesterday, I met with a young student interested in enrolling in the high school where my friend and I are the principals.
The four of us sat together – me, the boy and his father. “He was kicked out of a few schools,” his father began, and the tears welled up in his eyes.
“Dad, cut it out…” (Click to tweet) his son snapped at him, his expression filled with anger. My friend and I were pretty shocked.
Despite working with school dropouts for the past decade, Such a hostile and degrading attitude toward a parent is still rare in our parts.
My friend kept his cool and immediately reprimanded the boy (a 15-year-old, after all).
“When your father speaks, you, first of all, lower your eyes, and if you reply – only do so in a whisper”, He said in a strict tone.
“The same rule applies even when you reach the age of 80 and your father is still alive!”
This short story is perhaps the most obvious example of the tension that exists between two significant figures that are part of every person’s life. One figure is your father, who, according to the ancient Hebrew tradition, is the one responsible for passing down the moral values from generation to generation.
The second figure is the teacher, the one responsible for teaching the Bible and transmitting the word of God in the world.
A father usually imparts his identity to his son – his DNA [together with the mother, of course].
This does not require an ideological decision of any type on the part of the son – the heir.
Nor is the son’s entitlement to inherit these things examined based on his loyalty to various values.
Heredity and a person’s relationship with their father is a system that is outside of all spiritual or ideological definitions.
Mental and Emotional Awareness
In contrast with the father is the spiritual teacher. Especially in the Jewish nation, where there is a tradition from the “chain of secret-keepers,”. A person’s relationship to it is based on his loyalty to a specific value system.
As opposed to something hereditary, the essence of the identity is expressed through a constitution, a covenant.
The fulfillment of certain acts verifies and justify the identity to which the person has chosen to affiliate himself.
this all stems from mental and emotional awareness and decisions.
Can these two different focuses ever meet? (Click to tweet)
In the Bible, we are told of a very unique person by the name of Job. at least at first glance, Job is presented as a very tragic character, a righteous person forced to deal with extremely difficult challenges and enormous suffering.
“Now his sons would go and make a feast in each one’s house on his day,
And they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.
Now it would come about when the cycle of the feasting days would be over,
That Job would send and summon them, and offer up burnt-offerings early in the morning;
Burnt- offerings according to the number of all of them, For Job said,
“Perhaps my sons have sinned and blasphemed God in their hearts. So would Job do all the days.”
– [Job 1:4-5]
A job was blessed with the most beautiful children on earth and the happiest ones. Job’s sons and daughters spent their time visiting each other and having parties all week long. Yet, after each meal, Job would sacrifice an offering, lest during the euphoria of their celebrating, one of them sinned by cursing God. Job did not sin in his own deeds, But there was a question regarding his children, his heirs, and their relationship to the morals and values that identified them.
An Elderly Father
Job’s lack of faith in his children hints at the fact that Job was unable to transmit the necessary loyalty to the next generation,
and could not fully verify that they had inherited his moral legacy.
Their success was seemingly perfect – Job’s children were all the most God-fearing, the most beautiful, and by the way – the wealthiest too.
But the connection that existed between the legacy from Job [the DNA and the wealth] and their moral behavioral loyalty, was questionable.
This is the underlying explanation for Job’s great suffering.
As opposed to this approach, there is another approach that is expressed in relation to the brothers, the sons of Jacob, who come to Egypt and answer Joseph, the all-powerful Egyptian ruler:
[Remember that at this stage of the story, the brothers do not yet know that he is their brother Joseph]
“We have an elderly father and a young child of his old age…”
– [Genesis 44:20].
An “elderly” father means a legacy from generations past. the title “elder” does not just refer to a person’s age;
an elder is someone wise and experienced. “A young child of his old age” hints to the ability to renew.
this is the child born to a father who was already old at the time of his birth, and this child contains the full hereditary identity,
with all of its significance – Both in terms of the father’s DNA and his values.
Moreover, this child contains the seed of the great future that lies ahead, the ability to renew history, to address the events and new developments, while still basing his life and decisions on loyalty to the right values.
The World Will Be Continued
Although the inheritance [the transfer of money] was successfully transferred to Job’s children, we saw that this inheritance was not a lasting one. Nothing was left of their father’s loyalty to advancing the world we live in.
They spent their time feasting as if it were the end of days and felt that they were the embodiment of the purpose of human existence.
The book of Job relates that they were constantly eating and partying. The seed of renewal had stopped!
With children such as these, history does not advance… (Click to tweet)
In contrast with Job’s children, let us look at a wedding feast. it is not just another party, it’s a “party” from which children will be born. Meaning, the renewal will continue, The world will be continued.
The hope is that this new couple and their children will be loyal to true universal values that advance history toward a better future.
This explains the importance of the principal’s words to that prospective student.
We must not forget where we came from, and we must make sure our values match the bigger plan.
In conclusion, we ask – Where do you fit into this bigger plan? (Click to tweet)
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Wonderful insight. I have never heard that aspect of the story of Job!
Thank You Rabbi!
Your welcome