STANDING FOR THE ELDER OR THE ELDERLY?

IMPLICATIONS OF THE HALAKHAH

We see in this cursory review of the legal codifications that the rabbinic strategy of separating the biblical verse from its origi nal meaning is successful. The question we are left with is, Why di the rabbis choose to do this?

The answer is in the larger rabbinic agenda of placing the rabbis in a special position in society that raises their standing above that of the perceived natural order of things. It would be apparen for one to place one’s parents in a special position. Similarly, society places a value on the elderly. The rabbis turn these concepts on their head. One puts one’s rabbi before one’s parents, and on treats the rabbinic elder with more respect than the elderly.

This bias to honor scholarship even finds its way back int the laws of respect for the elderly. We see this explicitly If Nahmanides ’ elucidation of the reason he ascribes to Onkelos if interpreting seivah. An old person is respected by virtue of tht wisdom he has achieved through life experience. The effect of this is to leave the moral imperative of respecting the elderly inta while subtly changing the reasoning behind it, allowing the rabbs to affirm their privileged status.

Notes Sifra Kedushin 7:12.

Tosefta, Megilah 3:15. Leviticus 19:32.

Ibid.