I recently had a conversation with a non-religious coworker who’s a single father to a teenage girl with mental disabilities. They go to a non-kosher restaurant every Shabbos morning, and they sit together. His daughter usually stares at the food and no more. He told me that this past Shabbos, his daughter ate the entire meal, for the first time. He was very emotional about it, and obviously very proud of her.
He then said “And that’s why the going to Chris’s Steakhouse on Saturday morning is the best method. Families should spend time together. If we had been Orthodox I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy that moment.”
I wasn’t sure what to say at that point. So I said something like “yes, for you it is clearly the best method.”
What would you have said?