We can, to do our part in fulfilling that prophecy of Bilam, וזרעו במים רבים – and his seed will be nourished by these mighty waters that come out of these homes.
Now, it will be fulfilled; absolutely the holy Jewish home will always continue. And it’ll continue until Hakadosh Baruch Hu takes us back to Eretz Yisroel and we can build those homes again. But the question is what will be our part, our contribution to the fulfillment of the prophecy? That’s our concern right now; what can we do to rebuild the churvos Yerushalyim here in Brooklyn or Monsey or wherever we are.
Holy Books, Holy Homes
It’s a lifetime project but some things we must mention. First of all, every Jewish home should have a library of seforim; not just a chumash or a siddur. Every Jewish home should have an ideal having shelves and shelves of seforim. That’s the easiest way of giving a Torah flavor to your house. It’s very important and I'm sure there are very many people who haven't done it yet.
Why not a Shas in every Jewish home? It lends a flavor to the home. You should have more than Shas Bavli. A Shas Yerushalmi! It doesn't cost too much. Buy a big Shulchan Aruch. It’s a good idea you’re hearing now. Today when you go home smash the television screen, hollow it out and put there a new Shulchan Aruch. It’s impressive to see that. That’s the beginning of a Torah home.
Home Decor
Don't say there's a Shulchan Aruch in the shul. There's an air conditioner there too but you're not satisfied with that. You installed an air conditioner in your house too, didn’t you? There’s a chandelier in the shul and still your wife says she needs a chandelier in the home.
And today there are beautiful seforim, nicer than chandeliers. Seforim are an ornament for the home. And even if they're just for show, to demonstrate that you're proud of your heritage, very good.
Of course, you should open them up once in a while and take a look inside. And you can do it even without understanding what's inside; try that once in a while. The children are running around, they’re playing, and you pull out a big sefer and sit down at the table to learn. And you’re thinking, “I’m doing a little bit, a little gesture, to make my home a Torah home.” If your family sees you opening up a very big Magen Avraham, the big size, they're impressed by what they see. It has a good effect on them.
Holy Propaganda
I remember when I was about nine years old, a woman told me that her father always was looking in seforim in the house. That’s her memory of her father. He always had a sefer open in the house; always looking in seforim.
I always quote the sefer called Toras Habayis by the Chofetz Chaim, and he urges us that we should learn in the house. First of all you're mekadesh your house. Your house becomes a holy place, a little bit more similar to the tents in the Midbar. But secondly the propaganda effect it has. Make an impressive show of it; you take out a big Gemara and sit down at the dining room table and start zugging. Let the children see that that’s what a Torah home looks like. What, the only thing they should see their father do at the table is fress?
The Idealistic Home
Now, Torah means not only dinim. A Torah home means a home of Torah idealism. There’s so much idealism to teach in the home. When you’re with your family, whenever you have an opportunity to talk, try to find ways and means of praising the service of Hashem, praising those who learn Toras Hashem.
Just think; you’re a mother of a family. You’re not always talking about eating, about obeying. You're not always talking about picking up the toys, about cleaning up. So you should have in mind that you want to put in, whenever you can, a word in praise of avodas Hashem. That’s how you make a Torah home, by being a propagandist for the Torah. I remember when my mother put in words here and there. She didn't even think of being a propagandist but these words remain in my mind until this day. I was only a little boy but it had its effect.
Torah Table Talk
The father too. Let’s say one day you decide, “I’m going to talk today about the roshei yeshivas. That’s how I’ll do it today.” So you sit down at the table with your children. They don’t know you planned it out. “Children, you know the roshei yeshivas are our leaders. What they say, that’s what we do.”
The children are busy eating – they’re hardly listening to you. Say it anyhow. “They’re holy people. They’re devoted to the study of the Torah and they’re raising up the youth of the nation in the ways of the Torah. We have to appreciate them.”
Don’t talk about baseball heroes, about singers, about politicians, other names that mean nothing. Speak only about Torah people, Torah ideals, places where Torah is studied. Speak about tzaddikim and children get the idea – or even adults get the idea; even you’ll get the idea – ‘That's how I have to become. If that's what we praise as a model, that’s what I’m aiming for.’
Firing Up the Children
Speak even about the old-time tzaddikim, the great days when Hillel lived. Talk about Hillel's life, how Hillel was a poor young man just married and he had to support his family and he had to learn Torah too, so every morning he went out in the forest and picked wood. He picked branches and he sold them to support his family, and he sat and learned all the time. And his wife was an idealist; she encouraged him to live that way and he became great. Tell these stories to your children and fire their imaginations.
Praise chassidim. Praise yeshivah bachurim. Instead of knocking frum girls and criticizing frum boys, chas veshalom, praise the frum Jew. Your children want to say a complaint against them? Say, “No. In this home we don’t say such things. He's a beautiful man! A sweet man.” Praise any frum Jew who goes l’fnim mishuras hadin. Don't say he's extreme. No; the more pious he is, the more you should elevate him.
And so little by little a propagandist finally wins out. It has its effect. There's no question. Like one rebbeh said: Kol propaganda eino chozeres reikam – no propaganda is ever for nothing. And so every word is another brick in rebuilding the Torah home, the home that we’re mourning for.
Mourning and Rebuilding
And so we’re talking now not only about mourning. The subject is rebuilding the churvos of Yerushalayim because that’s what we’re doing in our homes. A father and mother, the children too, if they're devoted to the rebuilding of the Jewish home according to the ancient model, that’s the very best expression of their mourning.
And even though you're married a long time already, it’s an old home already, try from now to start climbing up again and try to build your house with the glory that once dwelled in the Jewish homes. It's never too late. Even old people can start rebuilding their homes in the spirit of the tents that Bilam saw, the kedushah of the Jewish family that flowed even to the days of the Beis Hamikdash. Whatever you can do is worth doing because you’re building a house of kedushah where the Shechinah will dwell among us.
Nobody is an angel, nobody is perfect, but every attempt will be rewarded. And the time will come that asid Hakadosh Baruch Hu lehachziro lanu, Hakadosh Baruch Hu will bring all our Homes back again with all the glory that we put into it; and it will be glorified even more because of the Shechinah that Hashem will reveal when He comes back to Tzion. And once again, under the shadow of the Beis Hamikdash, we’ll have the opportunity to rebuild and live in the perfect Jewish home!
Have a Wonderful Shabbos
