Q:
Do you approve of a husband or wife going away for Shabbos without their spouse?
A:
I do not approve of a husband going off someplace for Shabbos by himself or a wife going away on her own for Shabbos. On Shabbos they should be together always. Never should they make such a breach – even for a moment. A husband and a wife are one. And they have no right to break up the family for Shabbos. Now sometimes that may be difficult, but it can’t be helped. There may be some exceptions to this rule but in general it should never happen.
Now I want to add one more thing that I know most people won’t agree with me about, but I must say it. I don’t approve of children going away from their homes for Shabbos to visit other people. The best place for a child to be on Shabbos is at home with his family. Agav urcha, I personally know of two cases where children went away from their homes for Shabbos into unfamiliar neighborhoods and the children were, nisht eingedacht, killed by automobiles. And it wouldn’t have happened if they had stayed at home. They were in a neighborhood where they didn’t realize how dangerous a certain street or a certain intersection was and two children lost their lives. Had they remained at home it wouldn’t have happened.
In general however, even without that, the best place for a child to be on Shabbos is at home. Even to send your daughter to England, to Manchester or to Gateshead, I don’t think that it’s necessary at all. We have very good schools here in Brooklyn. There are very good schools for girls in Brooklyn. So why waste all that money? And who knows what could happen over there?! A girl all by herself in a foreign country?! I don’t approve of that.
So just stay at home with your spouse and your children so that you both can supervise their chinuch. I think that that is the very best way.
TAPE # E-181 (March 1999)
