How Goodly Are Your Tents, O Jacob?

An outsider to Judaism could be forgiven in thinking that the Synagogue plays that same role in Judaism as the Church plays in Christianity. Nothing could be further from the truth. The central address of the Jewish nation is not in the synagogue or in the batei midrash, but in the home. One can be a perfectly good Jew without visiting the synagogue except on occassion, but one's Judaism would be severely lacking unless they keep a Jewish home- a home that observes the laws of kashrut, shabbat and is a center of kindness, hospitality and Torah study.

Throughout the ages, it has been the Jewish home and family that gave our people strength to endure the harsh persecutions. While the goyyim got drunk and beat their wives, Jewish husbands treated theirs with respect as mandated by halakhah. Instead of spending their nights getting drunk and taverns, Jews drank at smachot, or when making Kiddush Friday nights. The Jewish home was known to be a place of holiness, of G-dliness, and of kindness. When the Jews were in the Desert, the wicked king Balak hired the sorcerer Bilaam to curse Israel. Climbing to the summit of a hill overlooking the Jewish encampment, Bilaam found himself unable to curse the Holy Nation. He exclaimed in praise: "How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, thy dwellings, O Israel!" (Num. 24:5). Bilaam saw that the doors of the homes never faced the entrances of their neighbours, to prevent invasions of privacy. Since our wandering at Sinai, the Jewish family unity, the basic unit of our people, has been a source of strength and a place to innoculate core Jewish values such as respect, monotheism, ethics and morality.

Needless to say, the recent ruling by Attorney General Menachem Mazuz allowing homosexuals to adopt children serves only to erode the strength and stability of the Jewish family. This first step towards recognizing same-sex marriage is completely contradictory to the Jewish family which emphasized traditional values, Jewish learning, Torah, the bond between parent and child. Like in other Western countries (though thank G-d not yet as widespread), non-traditional relationships have become the norm in many cases, with the numbers of divorces skyrocketing, and incrases levels of teenage pregnancies, single-parents and other non-Jewish lifestyles.

Israel cannot survive long if it allows the Jewish family to weaken and disappear. The Jewish homes is where family life revolves, meeting on holidays where they share Jewish historical experiences and seeing Torah practically applied. The Jewish family is an organic unit, a mutually created and momentous work of art, a microcosm of the Holy Temple and a vessel for G-d's Divine Presence. In the Jewish family, husband and wife are two halves of one persona, the expression of one, unified will. The Torah directs the family with strong morals and values. Its invaluable guidance nurtures a happy, serene and unified family. A strong Jewish upbringing in a Torah-home is essential for a healthy Jewish society. As we see, Israel suffers from an existensial crisis in which it cannot justify its own claims to the land and therefore cannot adequately protect itself. The only rectification for this is the return to a strong Jewish home infused with Jewish values to imbude children with moral integrity.