On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: two turtle doves (and a partridge in a pear tree)!

The doves stand for the Old and New Testaments, but also may represent the doves that were required as an offering when a male child was dedicated in the Temple at the age of 12.

Isn’t 2 doves also the offering for poorer families when the male child is presented at the Temple shortly after birth? I think that’s somewhere in Leviticus… Let me look… Yes. Leviticus 12 is all about this. This offering, for a male child, would happen about 33 days after birth, after the period of purification for the mother.

In an aside, I also recently learned that turtle doves are the same as mourning doves, which is the name by which I am more familiar.

Mourning Dove

As doves represent peace, the book recommends thinking up ways to spread peace. Hmmm… perhaps a good way would be to understand the position of people who do not agree with you. Even if you don’t come to a common understanding, if you have an idea of why they believe what they believe, then you can at least have sympathy for their position. Another way might be to practice humility in your daily life. If you are in the habit of being humble, you probably will be less inclined to being stubborn or prideful and letting disagreements escalate.

What are you thoughts on how we can spread peace?