Q:
How should a frum Jew view Father’s Day and Mother’s Day?
A:
He should view them like they don’t exist.
However, if he has a father and a mother who insist on some sort of observance of those occasions, then he should pay some kind of superficial service to them in order to be yotzei, to fulfill his duty. If you have a foolish parent who feels hurt by not being noticed on that day, so what can you do? After all, it’s not a gentile holiday. But it’s nothing at all to us. Every day on the Jewish calendar is Father’s Day and Mother’s Day.
And by the way, Father’s Day is only a joke after all – it’s Mother’s Day that counts! Did you ever see pictures of Mother’s Day? The mother looks so beautiful, with flowers. And look at the picture of Father’s Day – a silly fellow with a grin on his face. That’s the American picture of a father. The old man in America doesn’t get a break.
And so whatever you can do in order to ignore non-Jewish festivals, it’s a mitzvah to do it. And if you can’t get away with it so buy your father a pair of cufflinks and forget about it.
TAPE # 599 (May 1986)
