Honoring Parents

Question

In Confucianism, obeying one’s parents is very important. Throughout history, Northeast Asian goverments had rewarded the people who obey one’s parents well. I also heard that obeying one’s own parents is an important mitzvah in Judaism too. What should I do to obey my parents according to Torah?

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Answers

  1. The Just Ask! - AskTheRabbi.org Team

    Honoring parents is so fundamental to Judaism that it is included in the Ten Commandments. The fifth Commandment is the command to honor one’s parents.

    The Commandment to honor one’s parents has nothing to do with feelings for parents but, rather, it is to do with how one speaks and behaves around parents. What is allowed to be said and what one can, or cannot do.

    The Talmud describes the Commandment as being the most difficult Commandment to keep in its entirety and due to its complex detail it is not easy to define in this format. Subsequently, I would suggest that you try reading two books that are dedicated to the subject. The first is called The Fifth Commandment: Honoring Parents by Rabbi Moshe Lieber and the second book is called My Father My Mother and Me by Yehudis Samet. Both books are published by ArtScroll and should be easily available either through ArtScroll (www.artscroll.com) or through a large Jewish bookstore like Eichlers (www.eichlers.com).

    Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team