Mothers Day: Yes, Or No?

You don’t?!? What kind of son are you?? At least every Erev Shabbos I hope you do something nice for them.

what is wrong with celebrating mothers day? its very nice to say that every day is mothers day, but does every husband/child treat their wife/mother like a queen every single day? yes, she is loved and appreciated every day, but it is not necessarily demonstrated to her every single day. there is nothing wrong with demonstrating love and appreciation. mothers day is a halmark day- no religious/pagan/other reasoning behind it, at least to my knowledge, so we are not condoning something assur by “celebrating” it. and besides, even in your celebration, what are you doing already? telling her she has one day off from doing laundry? making her a nice breakfast? taking her out to eat? getting flowers? none of those things are terrible. perhaps if wives/mothers were shown a little bit more appreciation for their role, this would not even be a question.

The problem is that we’ve been brainwashed by popular thought to the point we don’t even recognize a goyishe idea. This is one of the (many) terrible effects of golus. There is no comparison whatsoever between a Torah given Yom Kippur and some “mother’s day” (which to us Yidden is everyday) initiated by some drunkard in Congress or wherever that doesn’t understand one iota of Kibud Av V’Eim.

We have Kibud Av V’Eim. We focus on this fully and completely everyday — it is one of the cardinal laws of Judaism and part of the Aseres HaDibros. They have “mother’s day.” When you have a “mother’s day”, every other day of the year is an excuse to kick your mother to the curb. Uch un vay, nebech, for the nochrim.

All the American Roshei Yeshiva worked on their Mother’s Days projects when they were kids (and all Yeshivos celebrated it); like Thanksgiving. I guess it them no harm.

And if a Mother expects a call, or card, or flowers; than it may be assur not to.

“Perhaps Chukas Hagoyim”

so many things we do is chukas hagoy and wats wrong with appreciating your mom once a yr at least its only flowers and maybe a box of chocolates and a kiss if you want i find nothing wrong with it

volvie, which KKK congressman proposed the legislation to create Mothers’ Day?

Volvie,

I wasn’t comparing Mother’s Day to the other holidays… I was showing that your argument was bogus. Your contention was that having a “Mother’s Day” means that every other day is an “excuse to kick your mother to the curb.” IOW, having one day set aside to honor someone gives you license to treat them badly the rest of the year. I simply showed you that it’s simply not true, based on examples from our own calendar.

The Wolf

volvie – “the physical characteristics of a Yid are different than a Goy”.

Can you give a few examples?

Yes Volvie, when one’s mother is feeling unappreciated and miserable on Mothers’ Day because nothing was done for her, I’m sure explaining to her about chukas ha’goyim will really bring a smile to her face. oh, brother…

He rules that we cannot assume that a medical treatment that was tested successfully on a Nochri will also be successful on a Jew.

Do you go to a doctor who follows this theory? Does your pharmacist? Or your dentist? If not, aren’t you endangering your life since perhaps the treatments he learned in medical school will actually harm you instead of helping you?

The Wolf

Let’s see… on one side of the scale we have the opinion of “Wolfish” and on the other side of the sale we have the combined weight of the Gemorah, the Chasam Sofer, and Rav Elyashev shlita.

Hmm…

Read it inside.

volvie – That’s not how it works around here; you posted some definitive statements, so back it up. Since you obviously read what you claim, give the CRers some examples.

I (being the wonderful son that I am) picked up both my father and mother from home, took them (and my Mrs) to dinner last night and drove them home afterwards.

Surprised? Don’t be. It was a shul dinner, and I would have done the same thing on a Tuesday. Get the point? EVERY day is mothers / fathers day and we Yidden wrote the book (ok, received the Book) on how to treat parents.

Hallmark and FTD say that yeterday was special, but they are not talking to us. If anything, they are talking ABOUT us (meaning: look at the Yidden and you’ll see how to treat parents)

BP,

Again, having one day set aside as special doesn’t detract from any other day… just as having Tisha B’Av set aside for mourning the loss of the Bais HaMikdash doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t observe it other days as well.

The Wolf

volvie – May I suggest to you that you read the texts yourself instead of posting verbatim what others have stated on the net. No examples are shown.

Wolf, I was just asking who proposed Mothers Day because I didn’t know that information. Personally I don’t believe that everything a politician does is tainted because I don’t agree with his beliefs (though perhaps it should raise one’s index of suspicion).

cherrybim, who knows how much greater those Roshei Yeshiva would’ve been if their pure neshomos had not been tainted by tracing handprint turkeys and coloring mothers’ day cards in their innocent childhood years?

The Chasam Sofer states that we cannot assume that a medical treatment that was tested successfully on a Nochri will also be successful on a Jew. The Chasam Sofer does not state that it will most certainly be ineffective.

I do not profess as to being the expert on the Chasam Sofer. For further inquiries on this matter, please read the Chasam Sofer and direct your shailos to your local Ultra-Orthodox Talmid Chachom. (This shall serve as my final statement on this matter. For all further inquiries relating to this issue directed toward me, please re-read the preceding paragraph. Yours Most Sincerely, Volvie Gumpel)

Wolf-

I will step in to point out that the comparison to Tisha B’av is not a good one. In this point, volvie is correct in saying that yiddin do not have a “singled out” day for demonstration of X. The closest we do have is Tisha B’av and the 3 Weeks. Chazal recognized that it would not be healthy for us to be in constant state of mourning throughout the year and therefore designated a small period of time during which to express mourning (and many hold that they also confined all future communal mourning to be observed during this period). They established a specific day (or weeks, as it were) only to limit our mourning to a healthy amount of time. The same could not be said for singling out one day over another for positive expression, such as kibbud av v’em.

That aside, I do agree with cherrybim who said that if your mother expects something on the day then that is your chiyyuv of kibbud em for the day 🙂

On the subject of Chazal/Science, it has already been established here over and over again that there are two camps. One camp, of the latter day yeshiva movement believes in the infallibility of Chazal in all matters of knowledge. The other camp believes (as expressed clearly by R’ Hirsch in the introduction to Horeb) that Chazal were experts in Torah and in addition were on par with science experts of their time (i.e. not infallible in that regard). Neither camp will be convinced to change its views since both obtained said view from their own halachic sources. In that, it is no different than the eruv debate, or the question of the kashrus of bugs in the water. Hence, the debate here is pointless.

Regarding medical treatments found in the gemara – we are expressly forbidden to use them these days (except for one – fish bone stuck) precisely because they may not work today. Again, why they may not work would be explained differently by the two camps.

Volvie, you cropped the quote. I saw this quoted in Yalkut Yosef, and roughly quoted from memory: “I have always questioned why we do not have our own medical schools but rely on the goyish institutions and their experts who are naught and their knowledge is naught for their experience is based on goyim who eat shkatzim urmasim,, how does this apply to a Jew who avoids (d’d’igi) skatzim uremasim.” Now if we held by the Rema, why would we need medical schools when we can access the big medicine from the bais medrash? Clearly few people trumpet this viewpoint ( shitta) and fewer still act by it. Personally, I don’t like the word infallible. We (some Jews) have the concept shegga for the Nasi and Par Helem Davar for the Bet Din.

Wolf, squeak responded well to your inquiry.

squeak, I don’t think it is limited to the latter day Yeshiva movement, unless you are including the Rema, the Maharal, and the Chasam Sofer (to name some) amongst that group.

rob, A few posts back I cited the Rema (for one) who mentions Chazal’s infallibility.

volvie-you are quoting the “remo’ who (you say) says that “rabbinic science is infallible”. i will haver to check that quote but if I maintain that no Chochom -as big as he is- is infallible, then the Remo falls in that category and he too, may be mistaken. so what he said (if indeed he said it) about rabbinic science is not correct.Note again, that I do not dispute the remo’s authority in the area of Psak but I can certainly assert that I do not accept his version of rabbinic infallibity in the matter of science.

To be clear – regarding the issue of Mother’s Day I was responding from the perspective of those against observing. I merely stated that there is no similar day of observation in our religion (Shavuos, Y”K, and the like being commandments themselves and not merely a day to stress observance of a particular commandment).

That said, I fail to see why that should deter any of us from observing MD. If for no other reason, do it so that “we” are no less involved in showing respect for our parents than “they” on ANY day of the year. There is surely no call to specifically avoid calling your mother on MD. And while on the subject, another day of the year stands out – YOUR BIRTHDAY – as a day to call and thank your mother for giving you life.

ROB – While volvie and perhaps others will claim that Chazal’s infallibility is a tradition inherited from earlier generations, I preempted this by saying “latter day yeshiva movement”.