Congratulations, you’ve bought a home. A home for your family. How can you make it a place of blessing? This is about the spiritual meaning of a “home” and a “housewarming,” and about building a harmonious connection between a person and their environment.
An English proverb says, “My home is my castle.” But from a spiritual perspective, a home has a completely different meaning. A home is not meant to be a place where I isolate myself from the world. Instead, it is a place where I develop the ability to connect with everyone through love, to open my heart to every person.
A home is the basic unit of a community, through which a person becomes part of their environment. The cornerstone-laying ceremony and the housewarming ceremony symbolize a person’s connection to the land, to the place where they wish to live in security.
Emotionally, we associate home with a feeling of safety. But when we think more deeply about it, we discover that the greatest sense of security does not come from owning an apartment or a private house. It comes from being surrounded by people who love us and genuinely want what is best for us.
We all know people who live in magnificent homes, yet their lives are miserable, filled with anxiety, stress, depression, and despair.
A true sense of home is built according to the degree of closeness we share with others. If we are wise enough to create educational and cultural processes that cultivate warm relationships and mutual responsibility among people, then everyone in such a society will feel protected. Wherever we are and whatever circumstances we face, we will feel secure.
In traditional sources, such a connection is described with expressions such as, “All of Israel are friends,” “we are responsible for one another,” and “we are all brothers.”
It is deep mutual connection, not the private walls behind which a person hides, which creates a feeling of home and complete security.
We might compare it to a baby resting in its mother’s loving arms. Her warmth calms the child and lets it grow and develop in the best possible way. The child has no need to pretend or hide behind walls. The whole world belongs to it.
This perspective leads to a recommendation for moving into a new home. In addition to the traditional housewarming celebration with family and relatives, it is worthwhile to do something to get acquainted with your new neighbors.
This can take place in the building’s courtyard or lobby, depending on the circumstances. Let everyone know that you would be happy to meet them. Arrange some refreshments and ask a few friends to help create a warm and welcoming atmosphere.
When the neighbors gather, raise a glass and tell them how happy you are to join the community and how much you hope to be good neighbors. As the saying goes, “A good neighbor is better than a distant brother.” Let them know that you will do your best to contribute whenever you can.
Another option is to organize an event for the neighborhood children. Naturally, some of their parents will come along as well.
Whatever the format, the goal is to say: “Hello, we’ve come to live here, and we would be delighted to build good relationships with all of you.”
Over time, shared activities can be organized, such as children’s programs, mutual assistance initiatives, community gatherings, and much more.
At a traditional Jewish housewarming, a mezuzah is affixed to the doorpost. The mezuzah symbolizes a connection with the upper force, which we hope will protect us when we enter and leave, safeguard us, and provide us with security.
For this symbolism to become reality, it is important to understand the deeper meaning behind these customs and symbols.
According to the sages who attained it, the upper force, which is a force of absolute love and bestowal, dwells within bonds of mutual love between people. This is why the sources teach that the essence of the Torah is: “Do not do to your friend what is hateful to you,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Just as at Mount Sinai the people stood “as one man with one heart” and thereby merited contact with the upper force, so too this remains the formula for bringing that force into our lives today.
The mezuzah contains the declaration, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One.” It symbolizes unity among us as well as unity with the single, universal force of nature.
If every time I enter or leave my home I remind myself to organize my life so that I remain united with others, without building barriers and divisions between us, then I will feel at home wherever I go.
And if all of us behave this way, then we will always live as though we are in one great home, protected by the one force.
One final piece of advice for homeowners.
The concept of home ultimately refers to family, to a couple building a bond of love between them. Such a bond is built through mutual concessions, through the effort to rise above our personal egos and make room in our hearts for the other person.
Without mutuality and support, there will be no living spirit within the home, and it will become nothing more than a place to sleep.
This is why Jewish people traditionally bless a couple with the words: “May you merit to establish a faithful home in Israel.” The blessing points us back to the foundations of the nation.
Abraham taught kindness and love for others, and therefore the very existence of the people of Israel depends on our ability to build ourselves as one large family. Each couple should become a healthy cell within the body of society as a whole, and through that connection receive spiritual nourishment and vitality at the highest level.
May we all succeed.
Based on “New Life 168 – The Housewarming Ritual” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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