Rav Avigdor Miller on Fathers 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 – they attach some significance to the day – 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, then what can you do?! After all, it’s not a gentile holiday so you’ll have to do something.  But really it’s nothing to us. It’s nothing at all.

Every day on the Jewish calendar is Father’s Day and Mother’s Day. And that’s not just words. Hashem tells us how to treat a mother and father. Anyone who learns, anyone with a Torah mind, understands that the Torah attitude towards kibud av v’eim is far away from the hollow concept of a Father’s Day and a Mother’s Day. 

And by the way, Father’s Day is only a joke anyways. You know that. After all it’s Mother’s Day that count! Did you ever see a picture of what Mother’s Day means? The mother looks so beautiful, with flowers. She’s looks like an angel. And look at the picture of Fathers Day – a silly fellow with a grin on his face. He looks like a fool. That’s the American picture of a father. The old man in America doesn’t get a break.

And so whatever you can do 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)