NEW AND AUGMENTED EDITION

Judaism has always taught that sons and daughters must honor their parents. First encountered in the Ten Commandments, this teaching has remained characteristic of the Jewish ethos throughout the ages. Indeed, if the mores of the Jewish family merit special discussion, the responsibility of children toward parents must be isolated as a sensitive central value. This book describes and analyzes the teaching of filial responsibility and respect in Judaism. Inasmuch as the Jewish thrust has been to concretize and specify, to detail and debate, the honoring of parents was translated into the pattern and process of family life. How does one honor parents? What is expected of a son and a daughter? When is parental authority legitimate, and when is it not? What do halakhists and moralists say on the issue? And since we are dealing with a paradigm of Jewish thought and action, we must also confront the tensions between feeling and doing, loving and obeying, honoring and serving. Finally, what is the significance of this ethic?