Exceptional Father Figure in Tanach and/or Jewish History

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chicco

Mon, Dec 20 2010, 8:15 pm

I am looking for the quintessential family man. Any ideas besides Yaakov?

Blueberry Muffin

Mon, Dec 20 2010, 8:51 pm

We dont know that much about him -
but what about Matisyahu
He had son's that ALL emulated him and all followed him and his goals to beat the Yevanim and restore Taharah to the Beit Hamikdash.

chicco

Mon, Dec 20 2010, 8:56 pm

My husband thought of that as well. It is a good one.

DovDov

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 4:05 pm

Doesn't work for father, but wouldn't Mordechai be the quintessential family man?

PinkFridge

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 4:23 pm

There are phenomenal stories of Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt"l though I assume you're thinking of the more distant past.

amother

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 5:12 pm

chicco wrote:

I am looking for the quintessential family man. Any ideas besides Yaakov?

YAAKOV!?! I don't want to disparage an av or anything, but seriously if your DH married your DS and then married a couple of servants to have kids you'd be happy? Not to mention that he clarely favored Yosef, which led to him being sold.

PinkFridge

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 7:41 pm

I was very, very nervous when I started reading this thread and my fears are confirmed.
We have to tread carefully.

PinkFridge

Tue, Dec 21 2010, 8:46 pm

Just to add something:
Until recently, we didn't have all that much to base things on but the results. Yosef, e.g., raised children who were able to navigate through galus yet maintain their identity and integrity. Sounds like he did a good job. Yitzchak...well, if you're a Rav Hirsch you can point to Vayigdelu hanearim and his comment that he erred in his chinuch methods by not being mechanech al pi darkom...we can learn from that but I would never dare say it; halevai I should have a scintilla of his kochos.

But then I mentioned Rav Moshe - we have his sons who give beautiful first-hand accounts of what kind of a father he was.

And I have to think - Avraham Avinu, who was kulo chesed and meurov im habriyos; wouldn't you have loved to have had him for a father? Yaakov had mitaso shleima; does that not indicate something positive?

OP, I don't know exactly what you're looking for and why, but I wonder if you'll be able to find something.
But we'll keep thinking.
Gotta run, hope this made sense.

chicco

Wed, Dec 22 2010, 10:04 am

Thanks everyone for your responses. Basically I would like to name a son for someone who was exceptional in many ways, but certainly lacked in the family department. I was hoping to choose a second name that could counteract that so to speak. The reason I thought of Yaakov was because he was involved with all of his sons and recognized their strengths and weaknesses and treated them as individuals. I don't know how you can do much better than that as a parent. Regardless, Yaakov is not an option. I did like the Yosef idea (I like that he took care of Asnat in addition to how he raised his own sons). In short I am looking for someone who we know took time and care into raising a family and being involved.

PinkFridge

Wed, Dec 22 2010, 10:16 am

Chicco, thanks for clarifying. Every parent has a degree of ruach hakodesh when it comes to naming their babies; may you see it in an obvious way. And I suspect that the care and thought you'll be putting into parenting will have as much an effect if not more than the name.

poelmamosh

Wed, Dec 22 2010, 10:23 am

If Yaakov is not an option, how about Yisroel?

chicco

Wed, Dec 22 2010, 2:14 pm

Yisroel also not an option. Both are already names in the family. My concern is that when you are naming after someone the whole point is to imbue their character in the child. I am scared to do that when I know that there was a big part lacking. I hope we will raise him to be a wonderful person/father, but I would feel better if there was also something in his name giving him the strength and direction.

Isramom8

Wed, Dec 22 2010, 2:23 pm

What about Yonah? It is said that he defended the child's (Klal Yisrael's) honor over even Hashem's honor. Makes for a nice dvar Torah at the bris. Wink

I'm not sure that seeking a "family man ultimate father figure" is a good idea because Torah personalities had to make so many tough choices that can appear in our eyes to be bad parenting. Maybe you want to go with the idea of a caring man. Like Moshe or Akiva who cared for the little lambs, or Levi Yitzchak (was it him?) who defended the Jewish people to Hashem.

amother

Wed, Dec 22 2010, 2:57 pm

My first thought was Boaz- one of the last actions he did was "father" Malchus Yisrael. He was a Tzaddik- regal, noble and honored by everybody. To the best of my knowledge there isn't really any parenting history of his listed in Tanach, but maybe it's still an idea? I happen to think that the name is gorgeous too!

yummymummy

Wed, Dec 22 2010, 3:07 pm

It's a little different from what you asked but I have heard of the name Abba, could you use that to convey your message?

freshie

Sun, Dec 26 2010, 6:46 am

How about Yitzchok? He was a good father to both Eisov and Yaakov. Saw only good in them etc.

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