Father knows best

What is the best Dad-vice your father or father figure ever gave you?

Jewish Chicago checked in with readers to get the best advice from dads, grandfathers, and other important male role models in their lives. From grand life goals to tips for daily success, these fatherly lessons have helped their children soar and feel loved.

My dad, a history teacher who worked like a demon, set an example rather than giving advice, but he had this one maxim: “Just do what you know is right.”

– Hedy Weiss

In my family, nobody is too young to go to a funeral and our dad raised us to always go to the funeral. As a Jewish adult, I’ve amended that to “always go to the funeral or shiva.” You may never know the impact of showing up, but it always matters.

– Leah Jones

My dad always told me: ‘It never hurts to ask,’ and it stuck with me so much that I put it in a song I wrote, called ” Sheh’ay’lah U’tshu’vah (Question & Answer).” The song was built around the famous story of Isidor I. Rabi, the Nobel laureate who credited his mother with inspiring him to become a scientist because she always asked him ‘Did you ask a good question today?’ I always think of my dad when I sing it!

– Jay Rapoport

“Have faith in your abilities!”

– Laura Sauer-Shah

Two things: First, you can have everything you want; you just can’t want everything. And second, it’s better to be a day late, but with an extra dollar.

– Marla Swartz Morgen

My grandfather always told my parents, “Better for the kids to cry now than the parents to cry later.”

– Keren Gelfand

“Never let your gas tank go below the halfway point”–it was a metaphor for living a full life.

– Ellen Spira Hattenbach

“Chase happiness, not money.”

– Ron Krit