Day: 48: Every Day is Father’s and Mother’s Day

BLESSING FOR COUNTING THE OMER:

Baruch ata Adonai, ELOHEYNU melech ha-olam, asher kiddeshanu bidvarecha v’tzi-va-noo al sifeerat ha-omer.

Blessed are you, O Adonai our GOD, King of the universe Who has sanctified us by your Word and commanded us concerning the Counting of the Omer.

Today is forty-eight days, which is six weeks and six days of the Omer.

Today’s meditation on Malchut (majesty) originates in this week’s Torah portion Exodus 20:12  “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. This commandment changes slightly with the addition of “as the LORD your God has commanded you” when repeated in  Deuteronomy 5:16 ‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may be well with you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

   Malchut (connection and bonding) is not an aspect of G-d like the other sephirot, but rather it is what emanates from G-d’s creation and glory. It is often thought of as what is manifested in this world, on earth, by G-d. Yesod (foundation) of Malchut acknowledges the source of all goodness in life with gratitude. Everything we have is simply a gracious gift from G-d. Acting within Yesod of Malchut we must always determine to give back in the same gracious and merciful way that we have been given.

   Sages believe the Ten Commandments are the foundation of all 613 mitzvoth. The Ten Commandments were written on two tablets. The first five commandments represent vertical human to God relationships, the other tablet represents horizontal human to human relationships. The Talmud reasons the fifth vertical commandment is because both God and our parents are creators. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai states “the most difficult mitzvoth is to honor your father and mother. There is no limit to the honor due them”. Hashem commands us to Honor (kevod) our parents, and love everybody else. We are commanded to love God (Deuteronomy 6:5), love our enemies (Luke 6:27), love our neighbors (Leviticus 19:18), love strangers (Leviticus 19:34), and even love ourselves (Leviticus 19:18) So why are we commanded to Honor (kevod) our parents, not love (ahab) them?

Paul’s discourse on love is a beginning, not end. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.⁸ Love never fails."

    Each heart must internalize this. My YHVH My Elohim has commanded Me to honor My father and mother, that My days may be long, which My God is giving Me. Jewish thinking believes this commandment extends to your parents and grandparents, spousal parents & their parents, as well as step-parents & their parents. The word honor (kavod) is translated as glory, weighty, and important. We must recognize the importance of our parents as well as the role of parenthood. The fifth commandment serves as a bridge between man and God. Parents' love of God planted in children helps them establish a bridge to GOD. My surrender to God leads not only to a long (blessed) life here on earth but eternal life with the GOD they loved.

   On the sixth day, Hashem’s masterpiece, the family, was completed. Man and woman were created, given dominion, and commanded to be fruitful and multiply. Infants and toddlers are totally dependent on adults for survival. Adults ultimately train children to stand on their own two feet. G-d’s grace allows every human being to become sovereign, autonomous, and independent, leading to leaving and cleaving, beginning the cycle anew.

   The journey from childhood to adulthood is never rainbows and unicorns. Through sin, broken people bring broken children into a broken world, and children become mirrors of their parents’ brokenness.

Psalm 51:5 "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me." Psalm 27:10 "when my father and mother forsake me, then YHVH will take me up."

More often, the road is filled with potholes, unexpected turns, delays, dangerous curves, and train wrecks. The choices adults make, along with generational curses, have consequences on children. Abandonments (divorce, foster care, becoming an orphan), drug addiction, alcoholism, mental illness, abuse (physical, emotional, verbal, sexual), and abortion have devastating consequences. Like dominoes, childhood traumas may affect a person’s entire adulthood.

   Everyone has baggage from their childhood that must be dealt with at the foot of the cross. 1 Corinthians 13:11 ^"When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 1 Peter 5:10-11 ¹⁰ And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory by Yeshua, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.¹¹ To him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen."

   Because I received forgiveness, I extend forgiveness to others. Because I received grace, I extend grace to others.  YHVH so loved the (broken) world that He sent his only begotten Son. YHVH’s thoughts toward me are of peace and not evil, to give me a future and a hope. What great love the Father has lavished on me, that I should be called his child. YHVH is close to the brokenhearted. Inwardly, I am being renewed day by day.

  Abba today, thank You for being The perfect father, forming me in my mother’s womb and calling me from before my birth. Help me today to do the spiritual work for a proper foundation in Messiah Yeshua. Allow me to see myself as You see me, not as my parents or the world views me. Thank You for the gift of my parents.