Mother's Day, by now one of America's firmly established institutions, is one of the finest traditions of this country. Honoring one's mother, and his parents in general, is an ethical dictate with which no one will quarrel. Let us see what the Torah and Talmud have to say on the matter. In the sidra of this past week, we read: איש אמו ואביו תשמורו ואת שבתותי תשמורו.

[מתוך מאמר שכתבתי פדור דודי הראב״ד דקרא הוטס שליט״א: לכבוד Mother's Day] פרשת קדושים: קדושים תהיו כי קדוש אני וכו איש אמו ואביו תראו את שבתותי תשמורו וכו. בפסוק זה הודיעו ג׳ עיקרים: קדושה, יראת או״א (אבואם) ושמירת שבת. בעשרת הדברות הודעה משנות הא בתור ״כבוד״ ולא ״יראה.״ וצריל להבין ג״כ שבת ההשתלבות של שבת יראת או״א בפסוק אחד. וגם מעניין שחז״ל קשרו מצות יראת או״א וכבודם להמצוות המקבילות הקב״ה. בה הלכה הוקבע צביונם של ב׳ המצוות האלה,

Kiddushah or Holiness is by all means the most important principle of Judaism. The highest ideal to which any person can aspire is that of Holiness. All the commandments of the Torah were given so that Israel could become a goy kadosh, a Holy Nation. And if Holiness is really this important, if it is incumbent upon every person to try for Holiness – goy kadosh, “you shall be holy,” as the Bible puts it in today’s Portion – then it is important to us to understand the Meaning of Holiness. The first thing to be said about Holiness is that it means something higher and nobler. Our Rabbis explained k’doshim tihiyu as perushim tihiyu, “you shall be separated, above, higher”. Holiness means rising above the commonplace and the vulgar, being exalted above the everyday and the secular. It means taking the soul off to a side and purifying it from the dross which it gathers in the rough and tumble of daily existence. An idea is Holy when it is above other ideas. A human being is Holy when he is separated from and higher than other human beings.A corollary of this idea, is that we are not to tamper with that which is Holy if we are to keep it Holy. A Sefer Torah is not sacred in and of itself, but only because of what man gets from it and the attitude he takes towards it. No wonder, therefore, that Jewish law prevents us from touching the scroll with our hands. Take too free and liberal an attitude with what is sacred, and it becomes profane. The first of today’s portions records a commandment to the High Priest himself to keep that which is Holy above everyday use and common handling. va’yomer ha’shem el Moshe daber el aharon achicha ve’al yavo be’chol eis el ha’kodesh, G-d told Moses to speak to his brother Aaron and tell him not to enter the Holy Temple whenever he so wished at any time. That which is Holy is to be approached with reverence, it must be perushim, above, separated and isolated.The story is told of a young girl who had been studying at an American College and…

The theme of this morning’s Sidra, kedushah, is the keynote and goal of all of Torah. It is a hard doctrine to preach. Kedushah is so out of place in twentieth-century America. In the contemporary context of the Space Age, holiness seems an almost hopelessly outmoded ideal. We often wonder: is not holiness more indigenous to the life of the semi-hermit, confined to his little Paradise where, in tranquil isolation, he can meditate and achieve the saintliness of the high-minded recluse? Is not the ideal of kedushah irrelevant to an age of missiles and a life crowded with inventories and taxes, commuting and socializing?The answer is that the Torah’s command “ye shall be holy” was specifically directed to ordinary men and women engaged in trade and business, medicine and law, administration and caring for children. Our Rabbis pointed out that when Daniel speaks of the angels, he mentions kedushah only once, whereas the Torah, speaking of the here-and-now (tachtonim) mentions kedushah twice.ר' אבין אמר משל למלך שהיה לו מרתף של יין והושיב בו המלך שומרים מהן נזירים ומהן שכורים. לעת ערב בא ליתן להם שכרם נתן לשכורים שני חלקים ולנזירין חלק אחד. א"ל אדונינו המלך לא שמרנו כאחת מפני מה אתה נותן לאלו שני חלקים ולנו חלק אחד. אמר לו אלו שכורין הן ודרכן לשתות יין אבל אתם נזירין ואין דרככם לשתות יין לפיכך אני נותן לאלו שני חלקים ולאלו חלק אחד. כך העליונים שאין יצר הרע מצוי ביניהם קדושה אחת להם שנאמר ובמאמר קדישין שאלתא אבל התחתונים לפי שיצר הרע מצוי בהן הלואי יועל שתי קדושות הדא הוא דכתיב והתקדשתם והייתם קדושים.-ילקוט שמעוני על התורה תר"גOn earth and in the midst of life, where we are faced with the challenge of yetzer ha-ra, that of temptation and ambition, profit and greed, secularism and profanity, that is where true holiness can be forged – in double measure, for here is the fiery test of kedushah growing out of the encounter with real life. Not only is kedushah needed as a weapon to do battle with the yetzer ha-ra, but the evil in life is the very challenge which elicits the r…

(1) Both beg. 2nd portion, + haftorah emphasize same idea – differentness Jew. (2) That concept one of most maligned, misunderstood, misinterpreted: a. non-Jewish world: if enlightened, as founding fathers in this country, knew that there are similarities, also differences... must respect... also, that is what makes each human unique and supremely valuable, irreplaceable. If bigoted, if insensitive, used it as a weapon to ridicule us and persecute

Both beg. 2nd portion (Kedoshim) & Haftarah emphasize same idea – differentness Jew, that concept one of most maligned, misunderstood, misinterpreted: A) Non-Jewish world: If enlightened, as founding fathers this country, knew that there are similarities, also differences; must respect... Also, that is what makes each human unique and supremely valuable, irreplaceable. If bigoted, if insensitive, used it as weapon to ridicule us and persecute – Haman, Cicero down to modern day tyrants and bigots... “Alien”, “foreigner”... no toleration differences. B) Reaction obsequious Jew: Because fear anti-semitism, also denied differences... thought would save him... so copied, mimicked, imitated, cut self off from own roots, imagined his act would be taken seriously... thus came to deny own faith, religion, history, very identity – all because denied differentness. Result? Discovered that instead of becoming acceptable, sustained double loss: lost his identity and contact with spiritual, historical and cultural roots – and gentile ridiculed him even more for his sycophantic, sniveling, self-degrading attitude. Beadle metaphor: tried to get under a goose on home-plate even thru sacrifice, discovered he had hit into a double-play. Letter to editor Nat’l J Post from a Christian who enlightened, intelligent, insightful: “I feel that one of the major causes of Jew-baiting and anti-s is the apologetic inferiority complex of many Jews & unfortunately their own elected leaders which manifests itself in the distasteful sacrilegious burlesque of their most sacred rites in an attempt to sheepishly assimilate with the many.”

It may come as a surprise to some of us that criticism is not only regarded as a virtue by Judaism, but is included as a full biblical commandment, one of the 613 mitzvot. "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart, hokheiach tokhiach et amitekha – Thou shalt surely rebuke thy neighbor, and not bear sin because of him" (Lev. 19:17). As long as a man is rational he will form opinions about his fellow men; and as long as his fellow men are human they will be imperfect. It is natural, therefore, that our judgment of each other sometimes be adverse. If we cannot and do not express these criticisms, then our neighbors will never know their own faults and we shall grow to dislike them more and more – in our hearts. It is better for them and for us that we express these criticisms and articulate the rebuke – hokheiach tokhiach – and thus prevent all of society from falling into sin. Indeed, not only is criticism one of the important commandments, but it is one of the main functions of all religion. Torah was meant to serve as the spiritual leaven in the life of man and society. It was meant to raise us higher and higher. This it does by serving as our critic, by focusing the spotlight of attention on the distance between the ideal and the real, by revealing to us our imperfections and thus urging us to strive for the perfect. Moses and Balaam were both prophets. They lived at the same time and preached to the same people of Israel. Moses was incisive, merciless in his criticism of his people, and caused them great unhappiness by making them painfully aware of their inadequacy. Balaam, the gentile prophet, spoke only kind words to them. He hailed them, complimented them, blessed them, flattered them. While Moses berated them as stubborn and corrupt. Balaam greeted them with Mah Tovu – "how goodly are thy tents, O Jacob." Yet Moses is the archetype of the nevi ha-emet, the true prophet, while Balaam is the nevi ha-sheker, the prophet of falsehood. Moses, who criticized, …

My dear Rabbi Lamm, May I congratulate you most sincerely upon the outstanding sermon “Let Criticism be Welcome” which reached me recently together with the Jewish Center Bulletin. In view, however, of the title and subject of the sermon I am taking the liberty of offering a criticism of it and I am sure that you will accept it and be of those who are not only סופרים but also אוהבים את התוכחות. In the second paragraph of page 2 you write – “The freedom to criticise the government is what determines whether the government is a democracy or a dictatorship. The difference between a good democracy and a poor one is the extent to which it encourages and invites dissent and right. No nation, society, or people can live a high moral plane if criticism is discouraged or suppressed. That is why when one of our outstanding citizens is not afraid of treachery he should be considered a national hero.” Surely the words “the United States” would have followed should have been “the Government of the United States.” A more peculiar non sequitur than that which you have given, it would be difficult to find. Surely what is of great national and moral importance is not whether there is criticism of Israel or of America but as you say in your next sentence “of Israel to criticise the government of the State of Israel.” I am writing this to you for two reasons. Firstly because I have very recently come across an American who was ever the possible exception of the late Shmarya Levin, who has ever made such trenchant criticism of Israel and its failings, as a non-Jew. He is now dead, but when I read from time to time of the unconscious acceptance by Americans of Israel I feel that it is because of people like you who have the courage to criticise her government that they feel for you statements that are not correct, who say that for you statements that are correct. Israel might have yourself authorised the criticism of the State of Israel which you has felt yourself compelled to make re…

The principle of neighborly love, ahavat re’im, has become a central theme of all Western civilization. The other religions of the West have taken over our mitzvah of ve’ahavta le’reiakha kamokha, “thou shalt love thy neighbor – or fellow-man – as thyself,” mentioned in today’s Sidra, elevated it above all other religious commandments and precepts, and declared it the Golden Rule.Indeed, our Sages too considered it a most important mitzvah. It was R. Akiva who taught that ve’ahavta le’reiakha kamokha – zeh klal gadol ba-Torah, that the love of fellow-man is a great principle in the Torah. It is the very heart of so many other laws which regulate man’s social behavior and ethical conduct.Yet remarkably, the Rabbis were not unanimous in their enthusiasm for “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” as the cardinal principle of Judaism. Amar lo Ben Azzai, bi’demut Elokim asah oto zeh klal gadol mi-zeh – Ben Azzai said to R. Akiva, the verse “in the likeness of God made He him” is a yet greater principle, she’lo tomar ho’il ve’nitbazeti yitbazeh Haveri imi, ho’il ve’nitkalalti yitkalel haveraimi – for were we to rely only on “love thy neighbor as thyself,” then a man might say, since I have been disgraced let my fellow-man be disgraced with me, since I am accursed let my fellow-man be accursed with me (text as quoted from B.Rabbah in Rekanti, unlike that of J. T. Nedarim 9:4; see too Torah Shelemah, Ber. 5:1).What penetrating insight Ben Azzai had! “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” is a noble, sublime ideal. But in practice it cannot work as the most abiding principle of Judaism for most people – because too many people despise themselves, and if they related to their neighbors kamokha, as they think of themselves, hatred and contempt would reign in the world. Love your neighbor – yes; but not necessarily “as thyself.” Instead, love of man must be based on the fact that man is created in the Image of God – bi’demut Elokim asa oto. We must value man not because …

The Torah's moral code is the accepted cornerstone of Western civilization. Unfortunately, however, despite its widespread acceptance in theory, statistics in recent years indicate that it is honored more in the breach than in the observance. Moral laxity and marital infidelity have become part of a matter-of-fact way of life not only amongst the idols of the amusement world, but for an ever larger number of ordinary people. The most corrosive aspect of this situation is not what it does to those who do not care, but what it has done to the morale of those who are truly moral. Since they are in the minority, or a gradually diminishing majority, they tend to think that perhaps they are wrong. They are afflicted with self-doubt: perhaps unchastity is normal, and those who abstain are not normal. Maybe, as some statisticians have suggested, our whole moral code needs revamping. Since much of what has been previously condemned as immoral and degenerate is now widely practiced, perhaps they should no longer be regarded as wrong and reprehensible.It is against this devious kind of reasoning that the Torah, centuries ago, proclaimed in clear words, in its introduction to its moral code, the doctrine: "Like the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein you dwelt, shall you not do; like the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I am bringing you, shall you not do; neither shall you walk in their statutes" (Lev. 18:3). What the Torah is saying is that what is being done – whether in Egypt or Canaan – is no guide for what should be done – whether in those places or London or New York or Tel Aviv or anywhere else. The “is” should not limit and determine the "ought."A distinguished American man of letters, Joseph Wood Krutch, has brilliantly analyzed our contemporary dilemma as a semantic obfuscation of two concepts which are most pertinent to our discussion. They are, "average'' and "normal."A new phenomenon in our modern age – with its democratization, its penchant for measuring a…