הוּא (רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא) הָיָה אוֹמֵר… חֲבִיבִין יִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁנִּקְרְאוּ בָנִים לַמָּקוֹם.
חִבָּה יְתֵרָה נוֹדַעַת לָהֶם שֶׁנִּקְרְאוּ בָנִים לַמָּקוֹם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (דברים יד) בָּנִים אַתֶּם לַה’ אֱלֹהֵיכֶם (אבות ג:יד)
Hashem’s Children
After mentioning that all humans are specially created in Hashem’s image, Rebbe Akiva emphasizes (in the continuation of the same mishnah) that the Jewish people are even more special in that they are Hashem’s children. Though all humans were created with Godly aspects, we have a unique personal relationship with Him.1
This idea is first expressed in the beginning of Sefer Shemot in Hashem’s message to Pharaoh: “Yisrael is my first-born son…If you refuse to release them, I will kill your firstborn.”2 Hashem’s relationship with us is the philosophical basis for makat bechorot.
Our mishnah quotes the pasuk in sefer Devarim3 which ensures that the Jewish people know about and appreciate this relationship. The Torah explains the mitzvah of “lo titgodedu,” which (taken literally) prohibits gashing skin and creating bald spots, with the words, “You are children of Hashem, your God.” As Hashem’s children, we need to maintain a comely physical appearance.4
This idea has implications both bein adam laMakom and bein adam lechavero.
Bein Adam LaMakom: Through Thick and Thin
Like any familial blood relationship, our relationship with Hashem is permanent and immutable. Rebbe Meir quotes many pesukim to prove that either “this way” (when we act properly) or “that way” (when we do not), we are still called (Hashem’s) children.5
This idea is also expressed at the beginning of Sefer Hoshea,6 where Hashem commands Hoshea to marry and have children with a harlot. The Gemara7 explains the backdrop to this perplexing command. After Hoshea responds to Hashem’s complaint about the Jews sinning by suggesting that He exchange them for another people, Hashem seeks to help Hoshea appreciate His relationship with the Jewish people by challenging Hoshea to separate himself from his own disloyal wife and her children. Hashem’s relationship with us, like the relationship of any parent with his children, is natural and (thus) eternal. No sin—no matter how severe—can sever it.8
The Gemara9 describes a similar conversation between Hashem and Yitzchak Avinu. At the End of Days, Hashem notifies each of the avot that “their children” have sinned. After Avraham and Yaakov submit to the Jews’ deserved punishment, Yitzchak responds by using the pasuk in Shemot to “remind” Hashem that the Jews are (still) His children. At that point, the Jews show their appreciation to Yitzchak by identifying him as their av. Yitzchak directs their attention “Hashem, our eternal Father.
Understandably, Rebbe Akiva, the author of our mishnah, also emphasized the importance of our son-father relationship with Hashem in additional contexts. He instituted the “Ta’anit” tefillah of “Avinu Malkeinu”10 and encouraged us to be happy on Yom Kippur because “our Father in heaven” purifies us.11 Rebbe Akiva taught us that, no matter how desperate our situation, as Hashem’s children, we can always turn to our Father in heaven to ask for forgiveness and assistance.
Bein Adam Lechavero: Brotherly Love
Our father-child relationship with Hashem has significance on the bein adam lechavero (inter- personal) level as well. The Navi Malachi12 uses it as a basis for achdut: If we are all children of Hashem, we should see all Jews as our brothers. Similarly, the Ritva13 uses this idea to explain the Gemara’s14 suggestion that “lo titgodidu” (the prohibition we saw in the Torah link to our being Hashem’s children) teaches the prohibition of dividing ourselves into distinct subgroups.
Rav Kook15 uses this idea to explain his objection to the secession of Orthodox Jews from formal non-Orthodox-dominated European communities. We are all brothers—children of Hashem. Separating from one another is an affront to the unity of Hashem’s oneness.16
The Rambam17 also formulates the bein adam lechavero implications of our relationship with Hashem. He uses it to explain the need for us to support and assist other Jews. If brothers do not care for one another, who else will? We are not just relatives. We are all brothers.
Special Relationships
May we appreciate the special relationships we have with Hashem and, through Him, with one another.
1 In other pesukim, Hashem uses additional terms to describe the uniqueness of our relationship. For example, Hashem defines Matan Torah as the Jews becoming His “kingdom of Kohanim,” “holy nation,” and “treasure among all the peoples.”
2 Shemot 4:22.
3 Devarim 14:1.
4 See Rashi 14:1. Alternatively, one can explain the connection between the prohibition and our relationship with Hashem in that the relationship should keep us from allowing death and mourning to cause us to react this harshly.
5 Kiddushin 36a. The Gra—based on the Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah, Hilchot Ribbit 159:2—quotes this Gemara to explain why the laws of ribit apply even to an apostate.
6 Hoshea 1:2.
7 Pesachim 87a.
8 See Maharal (Netzach Yisrael 11).
9 Shabbat 89b.
10 Taanit 25b.
11 Yoma 85b. We are also familiar with the “Im K’banim” tefillah we recite after the shofar blasts on Rosh Hashana
12 Malachi 2:10.
13 Yevamot 13b.
14 Yevamot 13b.
15 Orot Hatechiya, 20.
16 In fact, he equated the question to the two women who came before Shlomo arguing about the one living baby. The true mother was the one who did not want the child to be cut in half. The true Jew—the true son of God—wants the Jewish people to remain whole and unified.
17 Rambam, Hilchot Matanot Aniyim 10:2.
By Rabbi Reuven Taragin
