blogs/rabbi-harold-schulweis

A PARENT'S DREAM

Bar/Bat Mitzvah by Harold M. Schulweis

"Protect my children from my secret wish
to make them over in my image and illusions.
Let them move to the music that they love
dissonant perhaps to me." (Nissim Ezekiel)

We have raised them, sculpted them, schooled them
Exposed them to our ways and our world.
Who can blame our parental conceit
Imposing our dreams on their heads

Give us the courage and wisdom
To sever the incestuous ties
Free them from the bondage of mimicry.
Not in our image are they created,
Extensions of our ambitions,
Duplications of our aspirations.

Let them imitate God, not us.
Let them be freed of servitude to any model
Give us the wisdom to let go of them
The moral way to hold them close.

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