House of Holy Books

A container is defined by its contents. Take a carton of milk, for example. If it's empty, you'll say, "Pass the carton." But if it contains even a little milk, you'll say, "Pass the milk." So too, our home is also defined by the most important things inside it. And some of the most important items in our home (aside from those who live there) are the Torah books lining the shelves and scattered about.

Just one of those holy books, the Lubavitcher Rebbe said, is enough to redefine our entire environment. Our home is now transformed from just another house to a shining source of wisdom.

It's also an identity thing: the books we buy and place in our homes is one of the ways that establish who we are -- for ourselves, and for those who visit our homes. So when we fill our home with Torah books, we thus create a Torah environment and an identity for us and our family.

And who knows? We, or one of our kids, may just be tempted to pick up one of those books and read a little of it.

When G-d authored the Torah, He put His essence and being into it. That’s why we treat Torah books with respect: We kiss them if they fall to the ground, we are careful to always place them right-side up and we never use them for anything other than reading and study.

Of course, the more books the better. However, the basic minimum of a Chumash (the Five Books of Moses), a Tehillim (Book of Psalms) and a Siddur (Prayer Book) are suggested, and from there one can expand.