“The Children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout the ages as a covenant for all time.” (Shemos 31:16)

The Jews who came to America before the Second World War firmly believed that they would continue to be religious Jews on this foreign soil. Many of them were even moser nefesh for Shemiras Shabbos, etc. and yet their children drifted away from Yiddishkeit. What did the parents do wrong? Rav Moshe Feinstein (1895-1986) famously said that the father would get a job on Monday, not come in on Saturday, and then get fired when he showed up on Monday. The father would then come home, bemoaning his fate, and say to his family, “It is difficult to be shomer Shabbos”. This would be repeated week after week and year after year. The message that the children absorbed was the exact opposite of the one the father wanted to impart. He wanted to emphasize the greatness and importance of keeping the Shabbos, and that it is worth suffering to keep it. Instead, what the children heard was that it was hard to keep Shabbos. Because of this, they ended up drifting away as soon as keeping Shabbos became too difficult for them. Rav Moshe’s lesson to us was that your mesiras nefesh for Shabbos should be considered a privilege so that it will be a positive experience for oneself and one’s family.

In the community of the Dvar Avraham (Avraham Dov ber Kahana Shapiro 1870 – 1943) there was a pious man who owned a store. As his children grew older, they began to work in his store – even on Shabbos! – while the father would not even go close to his store because he kept Shabbos. The Devar Avraham told him that his way of doing things was the opposite of the way that they should be done. He advised him to send his children to shul to learn and pray on Shabbos, and the father should take upon himself the responsibility of the store on Shabbos. The result would be that his children would be shomrei Shabbos, while the father would remain shomer Shabbos because he would never go to the store on Shabbos, and the business would also remain a kosher business. Sometimes we are obligated to take the test away from our children in order that they have the proper appreciation of Shabbos. The Devar Avraham finished by stating that this is included in the verse – “Laasos es hashabos ledorosam” – We have an obligation to ensure that Shabbos is observed for future generations. It is not enough for us to be shomer Shabbos, even if we keep it with all the stringencies possible. We must also make sure to inspire the next generation properly as well.

Purim is one of those holidays that we by and large have properly imparted its importance and its message to our children. As a result our children observe it properly and enthusiastically. It could be that this is because Purim comes only once a year, whereas Shabbos comes around every week, causing Shabbos to become a bit boring and less exciting. Perhaps we should find ways to make Shabbos exciting every single week, thereby passing it on properly to the next generation.

May we all merit to perpetuate shemiras Shabbos – and all that goes with it.