As parents, we’ll take our kids to get their shots even if they yell, ‘I hate you, I hate you’ because as much as that might hurt, you do it because you’re looking out for the kid’s best interests – it’s a giving act.

If I was to ask a group of parents, ‘What’s the source of the most joy in your life?’ Of course they would answer, their children. And if I were to follow that question with, ‘And what’s the source of the most pain in your life?’ the answer to that is also going to be, their children. It seems that one of the reasons God makes us parents is so that we can see His “side” of the equation.

When your child yells, ‘I hate you’ as you are trying to do what’s best for him, can you hear the idea that maybe you’re getting a window into God’s “perspective”?

Indeed, it seems that this is one of the reasons we are directed to have children in the Torah.

Do you think the only reason God wants us to have kids is in order to populate the world? God arranged for there to be 6 billion people on Planet Earth. If He wants that there should be 6 billion and 2.5, He can find another way to make that happen without your participation.

One of the deeper reasons that we are to have children is that it adds another experiential parallel to a person’s relationship with the Infinite.

Rabbi Eliyahu Yaakov’s  #1 Amazon’s Best Seller, Jewish By Choice: A Kabbalistic Take on Life & Judaism, is now available on KINDLE!

Rabbi Eliyahu’s next North American lecture tour is scheduled for February 4-20. To book a presentation, seminar, or consultation email rey@getyourjewon.com