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We live in a world which seems to be spiralling into spiritual and moral
chaos. Even in the Orthodox community we increasingly see problems.
Why?<br><br>
Could the answer be in the following which is from pages 107 - 111 of
RSRH's essay Nissan VI in Volume I of the Collected Writings of
RSRH? YL<br><br>
<font size=3>Subjected to terror and persecution, Israel did not lose the
consciousness of its<br>
special mission. Could this have been achieved through any other<br>
virtue than the chaste purity of the generations? No Jewish child
was<br>
exposed to a casual education or entrusted to the care of chance.
Was<br>
this not achieved because both father and mother were present and<br>
available for every Jewish child from birth onwards! Upbringing is
the<br>
spiritual and moral completion of the physical process begun with<br>
conception and birth. All of Judaism is built upon the fact that
every<br>
Jew is born for one specific life vocation and task; that every Jew
must<br>
be educated for this life task, and that this spiritual bequeathal of
a<br>
Divinely revealed vocation is transmitted from generation to
generation.<br>
Can this Judaism then be truly realized if the child, who is the key<br>
to the coming generation, has no father who transmits the Jewish
spiritual<br>
legacy to him; if the child has no home in which he thrives in the<br>
formative atmosphere of the pure Jewish life required for this
spiritual<br>
legacy?<br><br>
To be descended from a proper home and to build another such<br>
home comprises, therefore, all the good fortune, all<br>
the earthly blessings, and all the ethical Calling of the Jew. - And
is<br>
this not actually basic to all men? Is this not likewise the basic
condition<br>
for the well-being and ethical perfection of the nations? Is it not<br>
also the precondition for all the hopes of mankind?<br><br>
O that wherever people deliberate about the fortunes of nations<br>
and national welfare, about the morals and the culture of nations,<br>
about the well-being and tranquility of people and of mankind; O
that<br>
they would look at this first page of the Magna Charta of the People
of<br>
God which was bestowed upon them by God! Not at the council tables<br>
of princes, not on the fields of battle, not in the factories of the<br>
industrialists, not in the halls of business establishments, not even
in<br>
the lecture halls and educational institutions of the arts and
sciences,<br>
and also not in the temples where God is glorified-not there, but in<br>
the homes is decided the fortune or misfortune, the prosperity or<br>
misery of nations and men. Do you desire good fortune and
prosperity?<br>
Procreate in' purity, take care that in palaces and ordinary homes<br>
every new child that is born is looked after, reared, and educated
with<br>
the love of his mother and father.<br><br>
Facilitate, encourage, and support this ethical building of human<br>
households. "Create homes!" - and you will have provided for
the<br>
well-being of your families, peoples and states; you will have<br>
ensured-whether in palaces or in ordinary homes-that human<br>
affairs, from the sublime to the most ordinary, are entrusted to
clean<br>
hands, pure minds and unsullied spirits. The spirit of morality, the<br>
spirit of love which can flourish and be practiced only in homes,
that<br>
spirit will permeate and govern ruler and subject, industry and
trade,<br>
science and art, religions and temples. That spirit-and no
other-will<br>
bring about well-being and peace.<br><br>
<i>There is no surrogate for the home.</i> Let immorality
increasingly<br>
make a mockery of ethical family life and let children without
fathers<br>
proliferate in the streets, then all of your politics and diplomacy,
all<br>
your institutions of culture and learning will not save you from
ruin.<br>
Truly, the sages of old probed deeply into the problem of the
wellbeing<br>
of nations. They noted that in the Divine Scriptures there is a
repeated<br>
counting of the people by families and houses. The sages then<br>
comment as follows: "When Israel received the Law, the nations of
the<br>
world were envious, saying: Why are these people deemed worthy to<br>
stand nearer to God than others? The All-Holy One silenced them<br>
with the words: Bring Me the records of your ancestry. You cannot!<br>
Only my sons are able to furnish evidence of their birth according
to<br>
their families! Therefore, He counted Israel-at the beginning of the<br>
fourth Book-after the conclusion of the Giving of the Law in the<br>
third Book: Count the members of the entire congregation of the sons<br>
of Israel according to their families, according to the houses of
their<br>
parents! Thus begins the fourth book; because Israel became worthy<br>
to receive the Law only through the purity of the lineage of their
families.<br><br>
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