Re'eh: Cherished Children

Rabbi Silber's Parsha Thought on Re'eh opens with the verse "Banim atem laHashem Elokeichem" — you are children to Hashem — and shows why its deepest layer isn't the mourning laws it introduces but the declaration itself: every Jew, righteous or not, remains Hashem's child. He teaches that this verse is read every year just before Elul precisely because Elul often arrives with guilt, inadequacy, and dread over promises unkept, and this identity as a beloved child, not a servant judged purely by performance, is the antidote. Like a parent who never stops loving a child even at their most frustrating, Hashem's love does not shrink when we fall short, and that security, not self-criticism, is what should power Elul's teshuva.

• Every Jew, righteous or not, is called a child of Hashem — that identity holds regardless of how far someone has fallen short.
• Elul often triggers guilt and inadequacy over promises not kept; that dread is not what Elul is meant to produce.
• Being called a child rather than a servant means the relationship survives every failure, unconditionally.
• A parent's love for a child never depends on the child's performance, and neither does Hashem's love for us.
• Real confidence for the new year comes from feeling loved, not from feeling you've earned it.