Happy Father’s Day to all of you. In this special edition of the newsletter, I’m sharing an article I wrote that was published by exploringjudaism.org.
So far, fatherhood has been a journey of obligation, an exploration of identity, and an opportunity to experience life through my child’s eyes.
I am honored that this year, in 2023, I will be celebrating my first Father’s Day.
In the first moment of fatherhood, I felt responsible.
I stood beside my wife in the delivery room as she held our daughter, and the first thing I felt was a sense of responsibility.
Before affection and love, I felt a deep sense of obligation to protect and provide for this tiny human. At the moment, I thought about the immediate, our time in the hospital, and the long-term, how to help this child become the best person she could be.
I knew every choice I made from this day on had a new set of factors.
When I read this I thought of Rabbi Jason Rubenstein's article "To Shelter an Egyptian Firstborn: The Revelatory Potential of Care Ethics in Jewish Thought," especially the first part.
in Care Ethics, Religion, and Spiritual Traditions. There is a link to an open access version at the bottom of the page https://www.peeters-leuven.be/detail.php?search_key=9789042946545&series_number_str=13&lang=en&fbclid=IwAR243y-CSE2v_HoFRo37ZNZEU6e1Gy_Ww-1uYZF5iGasD9KWsWSjd05GReg
Beautiful essay! Happy Fathers Day.