“One must revere his mother and father and observe my Shabbos, I am Hashem your L-rd” (19:3)
By combining the mitzvos of respecting parents, the Torah begins the first of the myriad commands between both man and his fellow man, and man and his Creator, that fill Parshas Kedoshim.
Rashi notes this curious combination of Shabbos observance and parental respect. It interprets the juxtaposition to mean that Shabbos observance is so important that it overrides parental request for its desecration.
But in addition to the halachic directive inferred by the proximity of the two laws, perhaps there is a moral lesson, too.
Dr. James David Weis had been attending Rabbi Berel Wein’s classes for a while, and though he was not committed to Yiddishkeit in all its aspects, he was truly fascinated by the amazing insights and the spiritual impact that Torah study had made on his life. In fact although he was a shiur regular, and his wife was committed to Torah observance as prescribed by the Shulchan Oruch, the doctor had not yet made the commitment to observe Shabbos.
Towards the summer, Dr. Weiss mentioned to Rabbi Wein that shortly he would be visiting Israel. The doctor had heard Rabbi Wein’s stories of his experiences, as the Rabbi of Miami Beach, having chauffeured Rabbi Yosef Kahanamen, the Ponovezer Rav on his fund-raising missions in the United States. In many of his lectures, Rabbi Wein had related his close relationship with Rav Kahanamen, and Dr. Weiss excitedly told Rabbi Wein that he would soon visit the Ponovez Yeshiva. Dr. Weiss did not know that the Rav had passed away a decade earlier, so he enthusiastically offered to send Rabbi Wein’s regards to the Ponovezer Rav. Not trying to discourage the visit, Rabbi Wein smiled and said, “you could try.”
Dr. Weiss arrived at the Ponovez Yeshiva and after marveling at the beauty of its
