THE ETHICS OF AGING
in Bet Yosei, that a sage who is preeminent in scholarship may rise before a ba’al ma’asim, though Caro does not consider this display of deference obligatory, as does the 7ur, because the act can be construed as a diminution of the sage’s superior status. Epstein notes, however, that the later decisors concur with Jacob b. Asher that there is, indeed, an obligation for all to show respect to a baal ma asim.”
Epstein offers a novel interpretation of our verse to the effect that seivah, which is attained at seventy, and ziknah, which is reached at sixty, have nothing at all to do with the number of a man’s years.” The key word, he insists, is zaken, which, as we have seen, refers to one who, though even a youth, has acquired wisdom and who alone is entitled to kimah vehiddur. There is thus no mitzvah to show recognition to seivah, to one whose sole achievement is his longevity. Still, one owes some respect to a zaken muflag beziknah, a man of remarkable age, and that is demonstrated by half-rising, whereas in the
presence of a scholar one rises to full height? Hayyim Attar(d. 1743) adds in his Or ha-Hayyim on our verse that the only proper recognition of the zaken is to offer him hiddur, whereas kimah is reserved for the chronologically aged, since obviously one who has accumulated wisdom by means of his unremitting efforts is more deserving than the man who has merely lived beyond the ordinary span
The requirement to rise comes into force when the zaken is 10 more than four cubits distant, so that his status can readily be ascertained. If he is farther away, kimah can be interpreted as nothing more than a casual, meaningless act rather than as the manifestation of respect in compliance with the mitzvah.*!
Since the root kadar, as used in Exodus 23:3 and Leviticus 19:15, can imply some financial consideration, the Sifra and the Tak mud[Id.] insist that showing respect(both kimah and hiddur) is to be
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