The Code is Shabbat - Parshat Emor

A couple of years ago my wife and I were in Cyprus on a short Winter break and one morning we went to the local Chabad house to 'daven' - to pray. It was winter and the place was pretty much empty, but every Shabbat in the summer months it's packed with young secular Jews from all over the world. For some of these Jews it may be the first time they've experienced a real Shabbos. The Rebbetzin told me of a conversation she once had one of these students. One Shabbos this young girl came over to her and said to her "What's the code for the Wi-Fi?" The Rebbetzin said, "It's Shabbat!" Said the student "How do you spell that?" The four sons that the Haggadah speaks of: The wise son - the wicked son - the simple son - and the son who doesn't know how to ask - they represent four generations of Jews. The first generation is the generation that was privileged to have received from their parents the Torah that came all the way from Sinai, but, if that father doesn't teach the wise son properly, teaching him the minutiae of halacha and its underpinning meaning and beauty down to the smallest law, that at the Seder one may not eat anything after the afikoman, then the next son, the next generation, will be the generation of the Rasha - the ‘wicked’ son - who sees no spirituality in Judaism, just a lot of sweat. As he says: “What is this work to you?” Now, although the Rasha has some connection, albeit negative, to his Judaism, the next generation, the son of the Rasha, will be Jewishly a simpleton. A Tam. All he will remember is a grandfather with a white beard and a yarmulke who sat him on his lap, chucked him under the chin and asked him questions in a foreign language. All he can say is, "What is this?" The next generation however will have no direct memory of a ‘frume zeide’, a religious grandfather. The connection of that fourth generation to Judaism will only be the sentimental second-hand 'Fiddler on the Roof' warmth of his father’s memories. That son has no idea what to ask. He is the Eino yode’a l’ishol. Notice there is no fifth son at the Seder. Cultural memories last four four generation and that's that. And yet... all is not lost. Something deep in the sense memory, something deep in the soul still calls, "These are the appointed festivals of God, the holy convocations which you shall designate in their appropriate times." The root of the word 'convocation' is the same as the word 'vocal'. They 'call' to us. However far away we are from Shabbat and the Chagim, the festivals, they call us to holiness however far the distance. And even if the only question in our minds is, "What's the code for the Wi-Fi?" The code word will always be, 'Shabbat'.