Jewish Life Digital Edition January 2014 | Page 20

HaRishon that he had taken from Nimrod)
in order to serve his father, as he believed
that nothing less than such elegant clothing was befitting the honour of Yitzchak!
Our sages teach that the mitzvah of
kibud av v’eim (honouring father and
mother) is counted among those mitzvos
that are logical and obvious to all of the nations of the world. Moreover, they tell us
that even those who are kofrim (deniers of
Hashem’s existence) are careful with honouring their father and mother, because it
is logical and natural to do. We, the nation
of Israel, are commanded regarding all such
mitzvos that are logical that we not perform these mitzvos because of their inherent logic, but solely because Hashem commands us to do them. And this is true for
all mishpatim (mitzvos that are discernible
via our logic, eg, not stealing, not murdering, etc).
Accordingly, what appears to others as
merely falling under the category of ‘secular’ or ‘civil’ law becomes elevated for the
Jew into something ‘kodesh’ (holy), laws
that were commanded by G-d. Our sages
teach that the second set of luchos (tablets), which were given to Moshe, stated:
“Honour your father and your mother because Hashem, your G-d, commands you.” In
other words, do not honour them because
logic dictates that a person should do so;
rather honour them because Hashem commands you in this action! With the first set
of luchos, it was unnecessary to add this
phrase, as the Jewish people were holding
on an extremely e ]