Maintaining the Legacy
A woman bewailed her bitter plight. “My husband left me in order to live with a gentile woman. My two daughters also left me, in order to live with gentile husbands. And now, my last family member, my son, wishes to commit suicide.” She dissolved in tears over her dissolving family.
“Do you keep Shabbat?” I asked. She responded in the negative.
“Do you keep a kosher home?” The same response.
“Do you fast on Yom Kippur?” As expected, no.
“What do you expect?” I asked in surprise.
“I want my husband to come back to me, and my daughters to marry fine, Jewish men.”
I was in shock at her paradoxical outlook. She herself was light-years away from anything Jewish, not observing even the most basic elements of our religion. How can she demand of her family to observe Judaism?!
When the education one gives his children is not up to the standards of our nation, isn’t it expected that the outcome will be assimilation?
If parents want their children to maintain their Jewish identity, they must educate them from their childhood, serving as a role model of Torah-true Judaism. In this manner, they will have nachat, as their children continue as a link in the chain of our legacy.
