Jonathan Rosenblum on My Father My Hero
Posted on | May 10, 2006 | By Guest Contributor | 3 Comments
Jonathan Rosenblum, the noted author and journalist has a great post about his father titled My Father My Hero over at Cross-Currents. Here’s an excerpt:
When I was a little boy, my father was my hero. When he was around, I knew nothing bad could befall me.
Rarer, perhaps, my father remained my hero even after I had reached adulthood and become a ba’al teshuva. There was no one with whom I more enjoyed talking. He drove me to the airport every time that I traveled abroad. The forty minute drive, with no outside distractions, always seemed too short.
I always told my parents that they have no one to blame but themselves for the fact that four out of their five sons became ba’alei teshuva. And they acknowledged their guilt with good cheer. My mother always told us that the most important about us was that we were Jewish. And it was natural that her sons would, at some point, come to Israel to find out what being Jewish means.
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May 10th, 2006 @ 2:48 pm
I really enjoyed this piece. I have met a number of Ba’alei Teshuva who have siblings that also became observant and it goes to show that oftentimes people who join the observant world are doing so as an extension of their parents values, not a rejection of their values.
I’ve seen a number of comments on this board that seem to imply that everything pre-teshuva was helter skelter and have taken issue with such many times. While I am sure many became frum and rejected their parents values, I imagine that just as many people became frum and are able to honor their parents values by continuing to hand their values down in a more structured way in a society that supports those values more.
May 10th, 2006 @ 8:59 pm
This column should be a mussar haskel for all BTs ( or anyone who is more mdakdek bmitzvos than his parents). Halevai that we all had such relationships with our parents.
May 10th, 2006 @ 11:20 pm
This piece is truly beautiful. The combination of a father who sounds really great and a son who has hakaras hatov and an ayin tov is unbeatible. For all of us, we should be blessed that whatever our parents are like, we should have hakaras hatov and an ayin tov. This will allow us to maximize our relationships.