In many ways, we Jews are functioning like a very normal family, not an ideal family.
We are a normal family, which means a fair amount of infighting, of disputes.
In a normal family when any member is in trouble he is automatically helped.
If a member is attacked, the family will come to his defense, again automatically, without thinking.
Later on, they may settle their accounts.
It doesn’t mean that everything becomes peaceful.
In that sense, in many ways we are still functioning as a family.
As I say, a very normal family, which means lots of fights, lots of bickering.
Sometimes when you become an adult, the bickering becomes less acrimonious; at least the members don’t hit each other.
But that’s it, that’s a family.
A functional family is not only sweetness and light, just as a functional husband and wife are not always love and kisses.
–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz