In the fall of 2020 my wife and I moved into our new home, new to us, it is a 1950s bungalow. One of my longtime dreams was to have a home with a large front porch, a place to unwind, a personal tranquil spot where you can pause for a moment and breath. A place where family and friends can gather and share life. The dream, has become reality.

We were so excited to have our own front porch that we went out and purchased an American flag and hung in on a corner post and then we began to furnish it with rocking chairs, a glider, plants and a wind chime.

Two large Maple trees, probably as old as the house majestically occupy the front yard and now full of leaves, they completely shade the porch.

Spring nights here in the south can be very refreshing, you can feel life flowing through your body. It was such a night like this that we went out to the porch. After nestling down into the rocking chairs we began to let the sounds of night evaporate the stresses and worries of the day. Setting there in the darkness I began to take notice of the light that came from a streetlight, it wove in and out of the leaves and then pierced through the back side of the flag. This became a patriotic, American site that only my eyes and heart could capture. With every moment that passed my mind drifted toward images I had for my porch, a porch filled with the noise of friendly voices enraptured in conversation or a group gathered around someone picking a banjo or guitar.

Many Americans my age or older, our minds go back to a place called Mayberry, were Andy’s front porch was a place where friends and family gathered to sing, laugh and share life – a place where everyone was welcome, a place where the world was a much friendlier place.

The Lifestyle Group, a home remodeling contractor wrote on their website, “A home without a front porch just feels like it’s missing something.”

I would like to add that the world without a front porch is missing something.

Let me explain, My blogs and videos revolve around what is called in Hebrew, Sheva Mitvot Bnei Noach, in English The Seven Noahide Laws, in everyday language one could put it this way – Seven Behavioral Instructions for Mankind.

Don’t leave just yet, hang with me to the end, I will wrap this all up together in one easy to grasp package.

Here is a quote from an article that I feel gives an easy to understand explanation of these instructions.

What Are the Seven Noahide Laws?

The 7 Noahide Laws are rules that all of us must keep, regardless of who we are or from where we come. Without these seven things, it would be impossible for humanity to live together in harmony.

1. Do not profane G d’s Oneness in any way.
   Acknowledge that there is a single G d who cares about what we are doing and desires that we take care of His world.
2. Do not curse your Creator.
   No matter how angry you may be, do not take it out verbally against your Creator.
3. Do not murder.
   The value of human life cannot be measured. To destroy a single human life is to destroy the entire world—because, for that person, the world has ceased to exist. It follows that by sustaining a single human life, you are sustaining an entire universe.
4. Do not eat a limb of a living animal.
   Respect the life of all G d’s creatures. As intelligent beings, we have a duty not to cause undue pain to other creatures.
5. Do not steal.
   Whatever benefits you receive in this world, make sure that none of them are at the unfair expense of someone else.
6. Harness and channel the human libido.
   Incest, adultery, rape and homosexual relations are forbidden.
   The family unit is the foundation of human society. Sexuality is the fountain of life and so nothing is more holy than the sexual act. So, too, when abused, nothing can be more debasing and destructive to the human being.
7. Establish courts of law and ensure justice in our world.
   With every small act of justice, we are restoring harmony to our world, synchronizing it with a supernal order. That is why we must keep the laws established by our government for the country’s stability and harmony.

These laws were communicated by G d to Adam and Noah, ancestors of all human beings. That is what makes these rules universal, for all times, places and people:

Our world is upside down at the moment, one of problems is that we have gone inside to the TV, video games and other modern technologies, we have left the front porch.

Our homes, neighborhoods, villages, towns, cities and nations needs to return to a Front Porch State of Mind.

Now picture this – the front porch I have described and the one Mayberry showed us can become reality by everyone choosing to live by the Seven Instruction mentioned above. It is not about religion but humans living life the way it was meant to be from the beginning,

“If The World Had A Front Porch.” Tracy Lawrence

“If the world had a front porch like we did back then, we’d still have problems, but we’d all be friends. Treatin’ your neighbor like he’s your next of kin, wouldn’t be gone like the wind, if the world had a front porch like we did back then.”

Terry W. Hayes

Credits:

Photo: Terry Hayes

Article Quote: chabad.org