A Nation of Families

Pekudei is the final Torah Portion in the Book of Shemot. In the very last verse, the Torah relates: “For the cloud of HaShem would be on the Tabernacle by day, and fire would be on it at night, before the eyes of all the House of Israel in all their journeys.”¹ On this occasion, when referring to the Jewish people, the Torah does not use the more common term, – Children of Israel – instead calling them the House of Israel. The obvious question is why the Torah calls them the House of Israel at this point. Compounding this question is that fact that in the final verses in the Books of Vayikra and Bamidbar, the Jewish people are called, ‘The Children of Israel’.

Rav Nochum Lansky, one of the Heads of the Yeshiva of Ner Yisrael suggests a fascinating answer to this question.² He compares the end of the Book of Shemos to the beginning. How does the Book of Shemot begin? The opening verse reads: “And these are the names of the Children of Israel who came to Egypt with Yaakov, each man and his household came.”³  Shemot begins discussing house of an individual and ends with the idea of the ‘House’ of Israel. Rabbi Lansky explains that the Book of Shemos is about the genesis of the Jewish people. This is where we became a nation. However, the Jewish nation is no simply a conglomeration of millions of people. The Jewish nation is a nation of families and that is what makes us into a true ‘Am’. And it is household that makes us into a nation. Thus, by beginning by discussing the Jewish household and ending calling the Jewish nation, the ‘House of Israel’ the Torah is alluding to us that the foundation of our nation is the family.

The idea of ‘house’ comes up numerous times in the Book of Shemot. For example, in the Mitzvot of the Pascal Lamb, the Torah instructs: “They should take a lamb for the households of the fathers; a lamb per household.”⁴ Indeed, the whole emphasis of the Pascal Lamb is that it be done by the family as part of the nation. This teaches us that the formation of the Jewish nation is family by family. Without the foundation of strong families, the nation cannot function properly.

This message is highly pertinent to the contemporary world, with the breakdown of religious values in society. The concept of the ‘nuclear family’ has fallen by the wayside in many non-Jewish and secular communities, with disastrous results to society as a whole. It is well-documented that communities where the family unit is strong have much higher success in many areas. In contrast, in areas and groupings where the family unit is weak, and single parent ‘families’ are common, the rates of crime, drug abuse and other negative behaviors are far higher, and education, and success in general is far lower. Consequently, for the outside world, Rav Lansky’s message is of great import. However, one may ask that this lesson is obvious for those of us blessed to follow the Torah.

Yet, in truth, it seems that it is insufficient to merely get married and have children, thereby creating the family unit. It is essential to ensure that that unit blossoms and succeeds, because without that, its members will not be able to be as productive members of the greater community.

Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, cited by Rabbi Yisssachar Frand, beautifully makes this point on his discussion of the laws of who has to go to war. He notes that the halacha exempts a groom from going off to war during the first year of marriage in order to rejoice with his wife. In general, the principle we follow is that whenever there is a clash between a Mitzva that is incumbent on the public and a private Mitzva, the public Mitzva takes precedence. In light of this, the question arises as to why the personal Mitzva to rejoice with one’s wife the first year of marriage overrides the public mitzvah to go out to battle with the nation. Rav Hirsch explains that by staying home for the first year of marriage, the couple is working on building and cementing the relationship that is the foundation of a Jewish household, which in turn is the foundation of Jewish society. Accordingly, working on his marriage is in fact considered a public Mitzva as it directly affects the nation. We are only a nation by virtue of the fact that we are a nation of strong families.

There are numerous stories about great Torah personalities who did incredible things for the nation and yet at the same time, never forgot that their first priority was towards their families. We learn from the ideas above that by devoting their precious time to their families, they were not neglecting the nation, rather they were actually helping the Nation by strengthening the foundation of the nation.

1. Shemot, 40:38.
2. Cited by Rabbi Yissachar Frand.
3. Shemot 1:1.
4. Shemot, 12:3.

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