SELECTED REFORM RESPONSA
All of this is, of course, well known. But these laws become especially difficult to follow in modern times. In earlier years, there was no place for a parent who was failing in health to be taken care of except in the family home, but nowadays the situation has changed. Now there are homes for the aged with hospital facilities, and there are nursing homes devoted especially to the care of the aged. If these institutions are well conducted by responsible people, there is no question that the old person can be taken care of(at least from the physical point of view) much better than he could be taken care of at home, but the difficulty is psychological or emotional. Often, or even most of the time, the parent does not wish to leave the home of his dear ones and become a stranger among strangers, and his or her unwillingness to go must be counted as at least one element in the parent's welfare. If the parent finally consents against his or her will and leaves the house in bitter resentment, there can be estrangement in the family and even the loss of the will to recover health on the part of the parent. So, basically, this situation, when it arises, is a hopeless one, and there can be no easy solution.
Does Jewish tradition give us at least a modicum of guidance in this matter? In this regard there is a discussion which is given most fully in the Yerushalmi(also toward the end of the first chapter of tractate Kiddushin; it is found more briefly in our Bab ylonian Talmud at the bottom of page 31a). The statement is as follows:“It may happen that a son will feed his father the finest of food and yet the son deserves the punishment of hell. On the other hand, it may be that the son will bind his father to the millstone to grind grain and yet that son will deserve the blessing of Paradise. How can this be? In the first case, the father asks the son,“Where did you get all these dainties, my son?” and the son
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