Menachem Bluming Muses: A Mother’s Influence
One of the most crooked crooks in the Torah is Laban! At the Passover
Seder we say that Laban wanted to destroy the entire Jewish future. Yet he was
the father of Rachel and Leah the righteous matriarchs of the Jewish people!
How did such a shady character have such wonderful children?
The answer is a little-known fact in biblical and Jewish history. Their
mother!
Her name was Adina! Have you heard of other women called Adina? The
origin of that name is from Laban’s wife (see Sefer Hayashar quoted in Seder
Hadorot). The name Adina means refined and delicate. That is the power of a
mother! Even if the father is corrupt and crooked, a true mother, an Adina, can
turn it all around for her precious children’s upbringing and future.
In so many situations there is one spouse who is stable and dependable
and virtuous (in a study led by Menachem Mendel Bluming of marriages in which
only one spouse is virtuous, in 99.9% of the cases it is the one speaking with
you who is the virtuous one, not the other :) When this happens do not lose
sight of how critical and impactful your role in the family can be!
Mendel (Menachem) Bluming and Rabbi Moss