A. STANLEY DREYFUS

that praises the one who has sanctified us by His mitzvot and commanded us to do what our minds have already directed us to do. Perhaps this accounts for the fact that berakhah is provided for a popular domestic pastime that often results in piryah verivyah in the perpetuation of the species, an activity that, though originally enjoined by the Deity upon Adam and Eve, may also be traced, if not invariably to the exercise of human reason, at least to the inducement of some elemental and universal drive.

The nineteenth chapter of Leviticus presents a melange of mitzvot, both ritual and ethical, some of which virtually recapitulate the Ten Commandments . All these mitzvot are subsumed under the grand summons to imitatio Dei, to the emulation of God ’s holiness. “You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God , am holy.” The injunction to treat the aged with deference can be understood in the light of the biblical sentiment that those who are granted long life are to be seen

as the recipients of Divine grace, the reward of those who fear God , keep the commandments, and pursue wisdom.” Thus, when those in their prime show respect to their elders, who have earned longevity by reason of their virtue and who are thereby favored of God , they(the juniors) are, as it were, walking in God ’s ways by respecting people whom He cherishes.’

“You shall rise before seivah(the aged), and show deference to the zaken(the old); you shall fear your God : I am the Lord.” The Torah prescribes special recognition for the elderly, although the age required to attain that favored status is not stipulated. Zaken and the related ziknah are used in the Bible to describe an older person; seivah designates one whose hair has turned white as a consequence of his years, Our verse does not amplify its intent further. The old rabbis | held as a basic tenet of faith, however, that underlying the peshat, the manifest content of Scripture, profound truths lie concealed that only

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