Time to talk to your children about G-d

Sometimes we forget to have the most important conversations with our children. Life is so busy, we are scrambling to keep up with school lifts, homework, shopping, and extra lessons, and everything else that comes along with raising young children.

One of the most important conversations we can have with our children is about G-d, because everything starts with that.

It’s particularly important to have this conversation now, in the time in which we are living. The world is filled with uncertainty, and helping our children to cope with this uncertainty – to manage the trials and challenges of life – is one of the most important life skills we can share with them.

So, when we begin this conversation about Hashem, really talking to our children about G-d, we’re actually giving them the tools to cope with anything in life, knowing that Hashem is always with us, giving us love and strength when times are tough and when times are joyous. It’s about understanding that He loves us, and that our relationship with Him is like the relationship children have with their parents – who know that what they want isn’t always what they need.

Helping a child to understand who Hashem is and how we can develop a relationship with Him gives them another tremendous gift for life – a blueprint for living with meaning and purpose. And the need for meaning and purpose is directly connected to our belief in Hashem. This is the most important relationship our children can have, and part of our responsibility as Jewish parents is to give our children a concept of this relationship and what it means.

We all want to give over to our children their Jewish identity, values, and heritage. The foundation of that is our relationship with Hashem. He is the author of our Torah. He is the creator of our world. And He is the one who gave us our mandate to live as a Jew.

But how do we begin a conversation about G-d? We aren’t alone on this journey of learning and understanding G-d because there are generations of Jews who have come before us. We form part of a rich, beautiful heritage that has within it all of the wisdom and knowledge handed down from generation to generation, starting at Mount Sinai, when G-d first introduced Himself to us and our ancestors – three million men, women, and children – when He said, “I am Hashem your G-d.”

The Torah has within it this incredible, rich knowledge and understanding to pass on to our children. It’s a gift of our heritage and something so special and foundational.

We have the writings of our great sages and their explanations, we just need to unpack them. If you don’t know where to begin, reach out to your rabbi or rebbetzin, or write to me. I’m happy to engage with you on this. Whatever you do, let’s all find a way of talking to our children about G-d.

• This year’s Generation Sinai on Tuesday 17 August at 18:00 will give parents and children the opportunity to learn together about G-d. You can register at chiefrabbi.co.za/generationsinai