Swim Lessons: A Portal into Jewish Parental Obligations

(4) HEAR, O ISRAEL, Adonai is our G-D, Adonai is one. (5) And you shalt love the LORD your G-d with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. (6) And these words, which I command you this day, shall be upon your heart; (7) and you shalt teach them diligently unto your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. (8) And you shalt bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. (9) And you shall write them upon the door-posts of your house, and upon your gates.

(6) Train up a child in the way they should go, And even when they are old, they will not depart from it.

A [parent] is obligated to do the following for [their child]: to circumcise them, to redeem them if first born, to teach them Torah, to find them a spouse/partner, and to teach them a trade. Others say: teaching them how to swim as well. Rabbi Yehuda says, One who does not teach [their child] a trade, it is as they taught them thievery.

(1) Our rabbis taught: A person is obligated to do five things for one's child. G-d can be compared to a father and the Jewish people to G-d's child. Just like a father is obligated to circumcise his son, G-d did so for the Jews by circumcising them by the hand of Yehoshua as it says (Joshua 5:2) "Make for yourself stone knives." A father is obligated to redeem his son [if he is a firstborn] and G-d redeemed the Jews, as it says [II Samuel 7:23) "to redeem it as a nation." [A father is obligated] to teach [his son] Torah, [and] G-d taught the Jews Torah as it says (Deuteronomy 11:19) "Teach them to your children" and it is written "I am G-d your teacher." [A father is obligated] to teach [his son] mitsvot, [and] G-d taught the mitsvot to the Jews. [A father is obligated] to marry [his son] to a woman, [and] G-d told mankind: "Be fruitful and multiply." A parent is obligated to one's child [in the following ways]: to give them food and drink, to bathe them, to give them ointments, and to clothe them, and thus did G-d for the Jews, as it is written (Ezekiel 16: 9) "And I washed you in water, and I washed away your blood...and I clothed you with embroidered clothing...and My bread which I gave you..." [and in Numbers 21:17] "Arise, o well, sing to it." What does a parent give to a child? Possessions. Thus G-d did for the Jews, as it says in Jeremiah 3:18, "And I gave you a beloved land." And what must a child give to their parent? A gift. Thus G-d said to the Jews, "When you come to the land...and bring an olah-offering to G-d."