Needless to say, during the course of the parade, we should address the children (as well as the adults) – but be brief.
Tell them all about Rashbi and arouse them to increase in all matters of Judaism; Torah and Mitzvos.
Follow Rashbi’s Example
In particular, we should encourage them to take a lesson from Rashbi’s own conduct. Here are two such lessons:
1) Absolute Dedication to Torah Study
Rashbi studied Torah in a manner of toraso umanaso – his entire and sole occupation was the study of Torah. Each and every Jew is able to achieve at least something similar to Rashbi’s degree of diligence, by using our fixed times for studying Torah to study in a manner of toraso u’minaso [as explained below].
2) Absolute Dedication to Hashem
Rashbi’s divine service is described as being “completely bound up with Him.” A result of serving Hashem in such a manner is that even our interaction with the mundane becomes part of our divine service. Indeed, the directive to “know Him in all your paths” means that even in “your” paths, i.e., in our mundane affairs (in which we are not specifically commanded to engage [but do so out of necessity]), we nevertheless achieve a state of “knowing Hashem.”
Also for Minors
We are able and required to explain this last point even to extremely young children. They are also capable of “know Hashem” in all their paths; although their ways are childish, they can nevertheless “know Hashem” through them.
