Top Document: soc.culture.jewish FAQ: Observance, Marriage, Women in Judaism (4/12) Previous Document: Question 5.13: What happened to the observance on 14 Nisan as Passover? Next Document: Question 6.1: What is Kosher? Doesn't a rabbi just bless the food? See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge Answer: First, note that both Mother's Day and Father's Day are American holidays, not Jewish holidays. Although some congregations may recognize them, they are not Jewish holidays, as demonstrated by their being observed on a Sunday, a traditional Christian day for church worship. So, how to bless your mother. Listen to what she says; do what she asks. Find a nice Jewish person to marry. Seriously, although one may be able to develop a blessing for anything, in traditional Judaism, blessing one's parents is not the normal construction. In traditional Judaism, blessings are generally bestowed by the have to the have not: kohein to masses, Abraham's children to the rest of the world, parent to child, rebbe to student/chasid. To bestow a blessing implies having G-d's "ear". Everyone has G-d's attention, and "The blessing of commoners should not be a light thing in your eyes." This adds much meaning to wishing another "Mazal Tov!" or "Refu'ah sheleimah" (complete healing). However, codified blessings tend to run in one direction. A creative rabbi, of course, could craft something, but it wouldn't be a codified construction (i.e., standard in Judaism). By the way, what is a good day in Judaism for recognizing parents? We've noted above that Mother's Day and Father's Day are not (actually, they were created by the greeting card companies). Here's a suggestion: Shavuot is a great time for children to honor their parents, as the Torah portion for the week is a reading of the 10 commandments that includes the directive. It is also a great time for remembering all the other 9 commandments, and that we should be following them (as we do every week when we study Torah). User Contributions:Top Document: soc.culture.jewish FAQ: Observance, Marriage, Women in Judaism (4/12) Previous Document: Question 5.13: What happened to the observance on 14 Nisan as Passover? Next Document: Question 6.1: What is Kosher? Doesn't a rabbi just bless the food? Single Page [ Usenet FAQs | Web FAQs | Documents | RFC Index ] Send corrections/additions to the FAQ Maintainer: SCJ FAQ Maintainer <maintainer@scjfaq.org>
Last Update March 27 2014 @ 02:11 PM
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