Introduction
Our home is the center of our lives: it’s where we grow and develop, raise and educate our children, and manage most of our personal lives. The fact that we have a home to live in is so important that our sages blessed memory said, “A person without a home is not a person.” Hence, the great importance of properly managing our home.
One of the most important things in a home is the atmosphere within it – what influences us and our children the most. A good atmosphere creates calm and joyful parents, good, relaxed, and high-quality children. Conversely, a negative atmosphere creates the opposite.
However, before understanding how the atmosphere shapes the souls in our home, we need to understand how an atmosphere is created in the first place. How do we create an atmosphere?
Atmosphere comes from the word “air” in Hebrew. It’s like the subtle taste of the regular air we breathe in the house. Just as the quality of the air affects our physical health, the quality of the atmosphere affects our spiritual and emotional well-being.
Atmosphere is created through the parents’ behavior in the home and the established rules. Additionally, it is influenced by what is present in the home: aesthetics and the type of objects in the house have a significant impact on the existing atmosphere. Therefore, they also influence life in the place.
The influence of the atmosphere on a person living in a place is a result of the repeated connection and exposure to the same things existing in the home. The repeated exposure of a child to a good and warm parent teaches them in their subconscious that they are loved and will, in turn, love. It also educates them to behave that way. Constant exposure of a child to clean and organized objects influences them to be the same.
That is why it is very important to pay attention to the small details in the home, which are part of the home’s fabric, creating a good atmosphere and contributing to the home experience.
Just as in everything, if God has something to tell us, all the more so in something important – as central and influential as our personal home and the atmosphere within it. In addition, Judaism offers “tips” on how to improve the atmosphere in the home, especially how to improve the Jewish and sacred atmosphere – which, of course, also affects the joy and happiness within the home.
And if in everything it is advisable to listen to the voice of the Creator of the world – who obviously knows what He is saying – then certainly we should pay attention to His words regarding what we need to do and create within our personal home. This will affect us in the best way and create a good, high-quality, and sacred atmosphere within our domain.
So before we seek couples’ counseling to improve the atmosphere at home, and before we start our car on the way to the nearby textile store to enhance its warmth, it is advisable to read in this booklet what God has to say about the matter. It doesn’t cost money, and it’s also the most effective way…
The booklet before us deals with the Jewish perspective on the home – how it should be structured (materially and spiritually) and how it should be managed. These are the sure guarantees that will bring us the happiness and joy, wealth and blessings, and in short: the blessing of God.
Who is the “boss” in the house?
And finally, let us not forget who is the master of the house…
How many men do we know who can talk on the phone with a friend, feed the child, and also transfer clothes from the washing machine to the dryer all at the same time? Probably none. How many women? Many. God has placed the woman as the central figure in managing the home. In sources, the woman is referred to as “Ikarat Bayit,” which means ‘the essence of the home.’ She, usually more present than her husband, is strongly connected to the children – she is the nucleus around which everything revolves. She is the primary responsible for creating a good and joyful atmosphere and has the most influence in raising the children.
Therefore, God endowed the woman with important and precious qualities that are particularly suitable for managing the home and raising children. Her ability to handle multiple aspects simultaneously and excel in each of them is one of the important qualities that God has given her to successfully fulfill the endless tasks that exist in every home with children. The woman’s developed speech is also a result of the important role that God assigned her (more than her husband) in the upbringing and nurturing of her children – which requires many conversations and dialogues that contribute to their development and growth.
Of course, the man also has an important role in the home, expressed in various responsibilities such as setting boundaries and parental authority (together with the woman), the duty to think and act together with his spouse in the children’s education, assistance in household management tasks, and more. Additionally, cooperation between the husband and wife is necessary for proper, joyful, and, of course, Jewish home management.
