Honoring Parents

A brief treatise on the significance of the mitzvah of honoring one’s parents.

I am disgusted by the things my mother has done. She is old now and needs me, but there is nothing in her life that deserves respect. How can I respect her without losing my dignity?

No matter how much respect we give our parents, we can never repay them for their part in bringing us into this world . . .

I have written before about not judging others for doing more or less than me. The words may have sounded good at the time, but now I realize that I hadn’t really internalized them...

The connection between "Honor your father and your mother" and "Do not covet... anything of your fellow's": both straddle the distinction we commonly make between the human and the divine, the physical and the metaphysical, between desire and deed

Adam and Eve's children learned from them, by example, how a parent cares for a child. But they couldn't be an example to their children of how to look after one's parents

Some children focus on all the good they received from their parents. Others focus on what they feel they should have received

With Father's Day approaching as a Rabbi I am frequently asked, "Do you observe the holidays of Thanksgiving, Mother's Day and Father's Day?"

An in-depth look at the precept to honor our parents. Drawing from the stories of the Bible and Talmud we can learn how to create a balanced relationship between parent and child.

I remember hearing a comedian describe his feelings on finally having children: "I was less willing to put up with fools. I was like, 'I don't need this, I can make my own people now...'"