Home and FamilyPart I: Tangled Roots. A project of IUAH and

the JCC

Go Forth (unto yourself) to your new home!

• The Call of Abram in Genesis• 12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your

father’s household to the land I will show you.• 2 • “I will make you into a great nation,    and I will bless you;I will make your name

great,    and you will be a blessing.[a]• 3 • I will bless those who bless you,    and whoever curses you I will curse;and all

peoples on earth    will be blessed through you.”[b]• 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was

seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

Land (Eretz), birthplace (Moledet), and home (bayit) together form the soil out of which the personality of people grows. Land gives our

personality the stamp of the national characteristics and participation in the power and worthiness of a nation; birthplace gives us civic position and independence; the home, finally, is

the narrower sphere in which we grow up individually, and find care and development. –S.R.

Hirsch

• ה .-אֶמ*ר 0ֹּי ֶמ2' ַו 3 ְל5ָך 5 ְל*ָך א0ְב5ר3ם .ֶמ: 5א0ר5צא*ְל ַו 3 .ֶמ: ֶמ.ַו-ְל0דָך ַו 3 5ָך ְב.2ֹּיְּת5ְּת. 3. ָך א0ר5א* א?ֶׁש=*ר ה3א3ר*ץ א*ְל 3 :א3ְב:ֹּיָך

The imperative of transformation is the driving force of Lekh Lekha. To leave one’s place is ultimately to seek to become other. Avram needs to leave his place in order to realize who is truly was. - A. Zornberg

Sanctifying the Jewish Home

• A Jewish household is created by the people who live in it--by the way they act, the things they do and don’t do, the beliefs they hold.

• To a great extent, a Jewish way of life is a portable faith: you can take it with you anywhere you go.

• It is generally accepted that Judaism as a religion is more oriented to holiness of time than holiness of place. There are many occasions we sanctify, but very few places we call holy.

• Is that the whole truth? Not at all, for the very place in which we live, our permanent residence, is sanctified. This is achieved through a very concrete ritual, through the mitzvah of mezuzah. –B. Greenberg

Mezuzah

• Mezuzah is of Biblical origin. “And you shall inscribe them on the doorposts (mezuzot) of our house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:9, 11:20). What is to be inscribed? “The words that I shall tell you this day”: that you shall love your God, believe only in Him, keep His commandments, and pass all of this on to your children.

Mezuzah: doorpost

Mezuzah is of Biblical origin. “And you shall inscribe them on the doorposts (mezuzot) of our house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:9, 11:20). What is to be inscribed? “The words that I shall tell you this day”: that you shall love your God, believe only in Him, keep His commandments, and pass all of this on to your children

Hiddur Mitzvah

Beauty enhances the mitzvot by appealing to the senses. Beautiful sounds and agreeable fragrances, tastes, textures, colors, and artistry contribute to human enjoyment of religious acts, and beauty itself takes on a religious dimension. The principle of enhancing a mitzvah through aesthetics is called Hiddur Mitzvah.

 

The concept of Hiddur Mitzvah is derived from Rabbi Ishmael's comment on the verse, "This is my God and I will glorify Him" (Exodus 15:2):

Shabbat in the Home

Ex. 20: 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord

blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Preparing the Home is a Holy Act

PASSOVER AND THE HOME

Passover is one of the major festivals of the year where the home rituals are of such significance and importance that they overshadow those done in the

community.