Plagiarism was recently in the news. A high school teacher in Kansas discovered that 28 out of 118 students submitted research projects containing large sections taken word for word off the Internet, without citing their sources. The teacher had previously warned her students about the illegal and unethical practice of plagiarism, and therefore felt justified in giving a failing grade on the assignment to the 28 students in question.

However, that would not be the end of the story. The parents of the 28 students protested the case to the school board. The school board overturned the decision of the teacher, allowing the cheating students to receive a passing grade. The teacher resigned her position in protest.

Shame on the parents for teaching their children the wrong lesson. Rather than admit their error, and learn from it for the future, these high school students have been improperly instructed that they can get away with cheating.

The concept of citing the author of one's words -- Ha'omer d'var b'shem om'ro -- is mentioned several times in the Talmud. The reward for properly citing sources is "to bring salvation to the world." Let's not debate the scientific reality of this cause-and- effect relationship. The message is self-evident. The world will be a better place if all of us embrace honesty, coupled with respect of our fellow human being.

The prohibition of plagiarism must not be misunderstood as a requirement to always be original. While students, academicians and journalists, among others, must be honest and accurate in their citations, we have also learned over the millenia of Jewish history that strength comes from being good at "copying."

We purposely read the same Torah, over and over again every year. We intentionally repeat our prayers on a daily basis. We strive to adhere to a lifestyle that is repetitive in nature. In so doing, we keep Judaism alive, and the Jewish people intact.

We are not robots, and we are not unchanging. The motto of Conservative Judaism is Tradition and Change. I'm not worried about our ability to respond and adapt to modernity. But I do hope that we can embrace Tradition with the same fervor with which we embrace Change.

The key to the success of the Jewish community and the Jewish religion is for us to be excellent imitators. It is our duty to imitate the lifestyle of our ancestors, and become at home with their way of life. It must be our goal to make their words of Torah and commentary come forth naturally from our lips, and enter into our ears.

It is not just forefathers and foremothers that we seek to imitate. In commentating on words, "Walk after the Lord your God," (Deut. 13) the Talmud (Sotah 14a) explains that we are to imitate God -- following God's examples of kindness by clothing the naked, visiting the ill, comforting the mourner and burying the dead.