Akiva wanted to say something like, “That sort of cynicism isn’t a great chinuch technique,” but he wouldn’t stoop to that level
Akiva Putterman was giving his easiest speech, the basic “Transform Your Shabbos Table” lecture, to a crowd of eager young parents who had the right tables, the right chairs, the right homes in the right neighborhoods, but they were clueless about how to make the moments at those tables count.
He got it. They meant well, these people. But they were always distracted, rushing through life. Their children were just as distracted, so for the most part, things just moved along.
But then came the Shabbos table, and there were no devices, no office to run off to or important call that Tatty had to take, and no one knew quite what to say.
He spoke about his own father, a Holocaust survivor, and how even though he was more reserved, the Shabbos table was electric.
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