Fatherly Advice

It’s come that time of year again
They fill our homes each spring
With wisdom, mussar, Torah thoughts
On almost every thing

They teach us how to daven
How to eat and drink
About nature and the government
And how we are a link

They talk like they’re a father
Talking to a kid
About the things they used to say
About the things they did

Profound thoughts
When floating skulls
Were something they did see
What not to say
If while you learn
You pass a pretty tree

How to regard a fellow Yid
Or government official
How to act when presiding
When matters are judicial

Jealousy, desires
And honors that we seek
And how Yidden all must aim
To emulate the meek

They join us in our living room
Or at a shiur in shul
They are with us no matter what
Grade we are in school

They teach us that this lavish world
Is just a corridor
And not to dismiss or be remiss
To someone weak and poor

What is Torah etiquette
How not to interrupt
And not to try to befriend those
Who we know are corrupt

Who is a student of Avrohom
And who soars like an eagle
Who wears a crown of a good name
From all, that is most regal

Triumph over enemies
They taught us not to gloat
And each one has a unique thought
A teaching he would quote

How not to judge if you’re alone
And who is really rich
And he who lives near chachomim
Should not be paid to switch!

About wasting precious time at night
And sleeping during days
About the kinyan Torah
And its forty-eight ways

These words they are not history
Or tales from yesteryear
They are alive and relevant
Each and every year

Make sure that you invite them
Each Shabbos in your home
The power of their messages
Transcends this simple poem

For those who talk to us each week
Are fathers who did love us
They handed down a holy crown
We call it Pirkei Avos