I learned that a glass of water is the best thing. I’m not even talking now about quenching your thirst. That’s only the beginning. Tell your children that water is going to put a sparkle in their eyes! And water causes your blood to be liquid and have a consistency that it could flow freely to bring nourishment to all parts of the body. It’s water that is the most important element in the blood. Water is everything for us! Baruch Hashem, for a glass of water. When your child is looking, hold the cup of New York City tap water in your hand and say, “L’chaim! Ahh! This is the real l’chaim! It brings life!” And then make a loud bracha. It's the same bracha you make on whiskey, but water is better than whiskey.
Precious Plumbing
And we have it in our homes! When I came to Slabodka, there was no water in the houses. Turning a faucet and having water coming out was unheard of; they had to take water from the well. And even today, in undeveloped countries they still don’t have water going into the house. They have to go a block away and draw water from the well.
“And kinderlach,” you say, “we have water, water comes into the houses.” And it’s fit to drink. In Slabodka, water from the well was undrinkable. They had to boil it to drink it. It was a sakanah to drink it otherwise. Today, you can drink water from the sink. What a blessing that is! Today, you walk into a bathroom, turn a faucet, and get all the water you want — hot and cold! You have to appreciate these things.
Today, every house has a toilet inside. In the olden days, if you didn’t have a toilet nearby, you had to run a half block away to the public ashpah. Having it in your house? Even a king in ancient times didn’t have a toilet like we have today. Did you ever stop to think about that? What a convenience it is! How fortunate we are to have a bathroom! We’re all wealthy beyond people's wildest imaginations just a few decades ago.
And when you teach a child the happiness of a glass of water, of indoor plumbing, of a bathroom, a toilet, of rain and wind and sun and food, you’re giving him a gift better than money! All his life, he’s going to enjoy these experiences that others ignore. Even when he’s an old man and he’ll take a cup full of water in his hand, he’s going to think, “My mother taught me the happiness of enjoying life!”
The Joys of Siblings
And therefore it's so important to start him out in life that he should look through rosy glasses at everything, to see everything in a happy light. Even his siblings. “Chaim’l, isn’t it a good thing that you have a little sister?”
“No!” He gives her a little push. But you say it again and again. You find ways and means of convincing him so. “Everybody is jealous of you, that you have a friend in the house.”
Now he didn't think so until now, but since his mother suggested that to him, he'll remember that. It's good to have a sister. It's good to have a brother. And the more you have, the more good it is.
But if you don't speak on the subject so he'll follow his nature and everybody in the house is a competitor with him and you know what happens to competitors. Nobody likes them. So he grows up thinking that every brother and sister is an added disability. But if you talk to him, you suggest to him and say, “Look, you have five brothers. Aren't you lucky? You have another five sisters! Aren't you lucky?” so it goes in.
Home Sweet Home
Now, if a mother and a father won't tell these things to a child he'll never appreciate it. You’ll have to wait until he comes to these lectures. But who says he’ll come? And all that time in the interim was lost. Anyhow, it’s not easy to undo all of that damage even in a hundred lectures. And so it’s up to you—mothers and fathers—to begin at home.
Now, the few things I mentioned, that’s only the beginning of the list of building the home. You know, if you ever watched a house being built, you see how they put in the supporting girders and the beams and then there are pipes and wires and walls; gradually it takes the shape of the house. You see that there are thousands of details that were needed in order to make the finished house. Same thing, there are thousands of details of happiness when it comes to building a home. And that’s one of the great functions of wise parents; to make a happy home, a home where the simple gifts of Hashem are extolled and accentuated always.
