Q&A: Regarding the commandment “You shall rise before the aged and honor the presence of an elder”
Regarding the commandment “You shall rise before the aged and honor the presence of an elder”
Question
Hello Rabbi Michael, I wanted to ask several questions regarding the commandment “You shall rise before the aged and honor the presence of an elder”:
- Maimonides writes, “One who is very advanced in age—even if he is not wise—one rises before him.” Can one say from here that nowadays, when people in their 70s are more common (and are no longer considered very advanced in age), only people who appear exceptionally old (say, age 90 and up) would be included in the obligation to stand?
- There is a well-known halakhic ruling that it is enough to stand before an elder once during the day and once at night. Suppose someone is learning with his father, his rabbi, or an elder during a lesson between Mincha and Ma’ariv. Does he need to stand before him at the beginning of the lesson (during the day) and at its end (at night)? Or is one standing at the beginning of the lesson enough?
- Maimonides writes: “Even before a non-Jewish elder, one speaks respectfully to him and gives him a hand to support him.” If that is the law for a non-Jewish elder, then all the more so for a Jewish elder. If so, suppose a person meets an older person in the marketplace— is there an obligation to honor him verbally (for example, by greeting him), or to give him a hand for support?
- Following up on my question about “do not show them favor” (which also includes the prohibition on gratuitous gifts and praise), according to those who do not hold like Meiri, how does the prohibition of “do not show them favor” fit with the obligation to honor a non-Jewish elder verbally and give him a hand for support?
- Is there an obligation to stand before people engaged in performing a commandment? Does that include someone reciting the Shema, or putting on tefillin? Or studying Torah? Or giving charity? Or should this obligation perhaps be limited only to rare commandments? Or maybe even only to the commandment of first-fruits?
- Is there an obligation to rise before the aged / an elder even when a person is in the middle of a Torah class or prayer? Or should we say that one engaged in a commandment is exempt from another commandment?
Answer
Hello.
I’ll give one general answer that covers everything.
As I understand it, the commandment to rise is derived from accepted social norms. Therefore today most people do not observe the details that appear in Jewish law literally as written (except for clear-cut traditionalists).
In principle, one must distinguish here between an elder and a sage (and even a young scholar), since one must rise before both. The age of an elder is a function of accepted norms, and indeed it seems that today age 70 really is not considered old age. But if he is a sage, age is irrelevant.
From here on, these are all assessments based on my own reasoning, not actual halakhic rulings. In this, you can know just as much as I can.
1. Indeed.
2. Standing at the beginning of the lesson is enough (somewhat like saying Ya’aleh VeYavo or Retzeh during a meal that began in the daytime, and this is not the place to elaborate).
3. Indeed.
4. The honor is for his old age, not for his being a non-Jew (like the blessing, “who has given of His wisdom to flesh and blood,” recited over non-Jewish sages). This is not a gratuitous gift for several reasons: a. The blessing is “given in return” for his old age. b. This rising is done also for our sake (to train us to respect old age and wisdom), and therefore it is not a gratuitous gift. The Sages already said that we support the poor of the nations together with the poor of Israel, and this is indeed the halakhic ruling. It is like the case of Rabbi Eliezer, who freed his slave to complete a minyan, and Nachmanides wrote about this that it is permitted because it is done for his own benefit, and therefore it is not a gratuitous gift. (By the way, some later and earlier authorities understood Nachmanides to mean that the prohibition against freeing a slave is based on “do not show them favor,” but that is of course a mistaken reading of his words, since we are speaking about setting aside the positive commandment “you shall work them forever.” He only meant to draw an analogy to the law of “do not show them favor.”)
5. I don’t recall any obligation to stand before people performing a commandment. Where did you see that?
6. No. Common sense. There is no need here for the rule that one engaged in a commandment is exempt from another commandment; rather, when you are standing before the king, it makes no sense to honor someone else, even if he is the most honored of his subjects. Showing respect to the lecturer and those attending the class means not interrupting them in the middle of the lesson. Still, when the head of the yeshiva enters the room during a class being given by the rebbe, the practice is indeed to stand (since both he and they are obligated in his honor), though even that is open to question.