Turning a House Into a Home

Do you know the song "A House is Not a Home"? Well, it's a pretty old song and maybe people of this generation are not really familiar with it.

I got to learn about this song in one of our English (or was it Home Economics?) class back in high school. I still remember our teacher (forgot her name but she was dark, had big a big nose, black eyes and straight hair) playing the song in her battery-operated cassette player one sleepy afternoon in school.

The song goes like this:

A chair is still a chair
Even when there's no one sitting there
But a chair is not a house
And a house is not a home
When there's no one there to hold you tight,
And no one there you can kiss good night.

A room is still a room
Even when there's nothing there but gloom;
But a room is not a house,
And a house is not a home
When the two of us are far apart
And one of us has a broken heart.

Now and then I call your name
And suddenly your face appears
But it's just a crazy game
When it ends it ends in tears.

Darling, have a heart,
Don't let one mistake keep us apart.
I'm not meant to live alone. Turn this house into a home.
When I climb the stair and turn the key,
Oh, please be there still in love with me.

I don't know why I always associate this song with house blessings. I guess because, whatever kind of ceremony you are happy with, house blessings for me are very much like the rite of passage into turning your house into a home. Blessing your home is like saying that you are letting God be the center of your home. After that, the real test of making your house into a home is now in the way the members of the family try to love each other day in and day out.

This post sponsored by Rabbi Yitzhak Miller.