So when you’re a father of a family, make up your mind when you’re sitting at the table, you won’t waste the opportunity. Now, just to show up at the Shabbos table and hope that the right things come to your mouth, no. Then you’ll just chatter, incidental talk. You have to prepare beforehand.
Now, the children never know that it’s planned, that it’s intentional. They think agav urcha you happen to mention it but actually you’re doing it with a scheme, a wonderful scheme. It’s the scheme of וְהִצְדִּיקוּ אֶת הַצַּדִּיק, making the righteous ways righteous.
You’ll say some good words. “Ah Shabbos! How lucky we are that we keep Shabbos! What a wonderful thing it is to honor the Shabbos. What a big mitzvah is, oneg Shabbos; how important it is to eat the maachalim with the intention of kavod Shabbos.” Make Shabbos great in the eyes of your family. Give them a taste in the importance of Shabbos.
On Sukkos, give them a pleasure in the mitzvah of sitting in the sukkah. Speak about the possuk לְמַעַן יֵדְעוּ דֹרֹתֵיכֶם כִּי בַסֻּכּוֹת הוֹשַׁבְתִּי. Whatever mitzvah you’re talking about, make the people understand the happiness of the mitzvah, the importance of the mitzvah. Elevate it. The other things, gentile things, foolish things, that’s nothing. Torah u’mitzvos, the Torah ways, that’s the only righteous thing.
Heap on the Praise
Praise the frum institutions. “How wonderful is Bais Yankev or Bais Rochel, whatever it is. They’re teaching girls the way of the Torah, it’s wonderful. In a world like ours where all the filthy things are made important, our girls are extraordinarily good.” These girls all come out in the streets; you see crowds and crowds of girls – all frum girls. All of them idealistic. And they’ll become mothers of big families – what a wonderful thing they’re doing.
