Home Sweet Home

And now, if you hearken well to Me and observe My covenant, you shall be to Me the most beloved treasure of all the world, for Mine is the entire world! (Shemot/Exodus 19:5)
 
There are some positive things that come out of moving aside from a fresh start and a nice change in location. One results from packing. It’s amazing what one can find while going through a home full of stagnant items, some of which haven’t been used for years. In most cases one could say if we haven’t needed it in all that time, it probably needs to find a new home or should be marked for the garbage. One such item I discovered before we moved recently was an adornment I couldn’t part with. It had been with us since early in our marriage and in many ways it was representative of all we had gone through over the years. It was a brass wall plaque for holding keys which displayed the words “Home Sweet Home” surrounding an oval space for a photograph.
 
It started out in our happy young home, shining proudly on the wall along with all our belongings, as bright and pristine as our lives. It first contained a picture of our two youngest children, smiling and happy, without a care in the world. Over the years, the picture changed to reflect the growth of our family, the lustrous exterior becoming older and slightly worn by time. Then, as our family life took a turn for the worse, the outdated picture was never replaced by a new one. The empty frame symbolized the huge spiritual void in our lives. While the ornament was nice enough and could be used to hold keys, without the picture it was missing a very valuable element, a vital function of its creation. Our family, like the frame without a photo, lacked the essence of its purpose, Torah and Mitzvot (commandments).
 
With G-d’s Guiding Hand and through so many hidden miracles, we gradually began to observe Shabbat and made an effort to learn what it meant to maintain a Jewish home. My husband and I had both been born into the covenant and had an inkling of the concepts and customs, but neither of us had ever made the commitment to be fully observant until several years into our marriage. This resulted in our aliya to Israel, the land which HaShem promised to our people, the generations succeeding Avraham (providing we follow the path HaShem has set out for us).
 
If you will now accept upon yourselves, it will be pleasant for you from here on, for all beginnings are difficult (Rashi)
 
Our initiation into Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel was fraught with one trial and tribulation after another. Our failing marriage combined with financial difficulties to create a dangerous vacuum which bore heavily on our children as well. We tried to keep afloat with our newfound devotions, but when piety is performed by rote rather than from the heart, it is unfulfilling and destined to sink like a punctured life raft. Were it not for HaShem’s gift, The Garden of Emuna, which found its way to our front door one evening, we would have ended up as food for the sharks (metaphorically speaking, of course).
 
Ever since our aliya over 19 years ago, the brass key rack was nowhere to be seen. It had never graced a wall in Israel as it was shoved uncaringly to the back of a dresser drawer. When I discovered it prior to our move, the condition it was in almost brought tears to my eyes. Indicative of the dysfunction of our home for so many years, it was grimy, black and coated with dirt – a sad sight indeed. I did not despair. Just as we have the ability to cleanse ourselves from any regretful deed by doing tshuva, returning to Hashem and repenting, I took the key holder and began the scouring process. I polished it up and scraped out the grunge from all the nooks and crannies until it was ready for a new photo. Now all I needed was a snapshot that would fit the limited space provided.
 
When I found the selected shot, I knew I had to use it. It was a picture of a nest with mother bird and her babies taken just outside of our last apartment. I couldn’t find a better parallel than that. To me, I am like that bird. I built my home, raised my brood and now, the G-d’s help, they will each soon be leaving the ‘nest’. We erected our home on the most precarious branch at first, but once we attached ourselves firmly to our roots, even the strongest wind could not harm us.
 
“The bird has also found her home, and the swallow, a nest for herself, where she may lay her young – Your altars, G-d of Hosts, my King and my L-rd.“ (Psalms 84:4)
 
Not only did we attempt to sustain a household on a foundation of holiness, but we chose to build it in the longed-for land of our forefathers, cloaked with our Heavenly Father’s presence. As discussed in the Talmud, one patch of wall in our flat was intentionally left unfinished as a sign of mourning for the destruction of the Temple (may it be rebuilt soon). Across the room, our brass wall plaque is once again adorning our entrance. It is a reminder of all HaShem’s blessings and that we are finally able to dwell in our “Home Sweet Home”.