#123: Machshavah

Rav Akiva Rabinowitz, Rebbe of the Porisov Chasidut who passed away a few months ago, notes in his work HaShir V’haShevach (p.277) that the manner in which one conducts the Shabbat meals can have an important impact upon one’s children.

“On Shabbat, the theme of education is an extremely important one. One achieves great benefits in the realm of education at the Shabbat table, so one should not hurry to finish one’s meal. It is proper to use the Shabbat meal for saying words of Torah — be they on the parsha or words of mussar or stories of righteous individuals, since this has a big impact upon the members of the household and the whole family… It is also worthwhile for a parent to study about middot (proper character traits) with one’s children, according to various works, statements of Chazal and comments of the righteous on middot, during the breaks in between Kiddush and the meal, or even in the meal itself between courses, so as to rouse them regarding good character.”

May we be successful in elevating our Shabbat meals from being just a great culinary experience to the higher goal of inspiring ourselves and our families to follow a life of Torah and service of Hashem with joy.

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Dedicated by Fran Broder as a zechus for the hostages to be released safely to their families and may everlasting peace come to Eretz Yisrael in the merit of learning Hilchos Shabbos.