CHAPTER SIX - The Aging Process: Late Life Questions

A: BACKGROUND

4. Institutionalising respect

Biblical society reflected this basic principle of respect towards the elderly with a number of laws that attempted to institutionalise the respect into norms of behaviour. Best known in this Category is the commandment to honour one’s parents which is centrally placed among the “Ten Commandments”, these being, of course, the focal precepts that the Israelites accepted upon themselves.

This is not the only example, however: a more general formulation of the need to show respect towards the elderly appears in Vayikra.

Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your G-d. I am the Lord.
Vayikra 19:32

There is no question that the Bible makes an attempt to instill respect towards the elderly in society, but this does raise an important question. It could be taken as a proof that Biblical society was a society that venerated its elders; it could also be taken as a proof of the opposite.

Historians are always aware that when a society emphasises a certain idea or value through legislation and this value is found to be repeated a number of times in the law books of the society, it is usually a sign that there is a problem regarding the implementation of the said norm in that society. In other words, the emphasis on respect for the elderly and its centrality (the Ten Commandments) in the legal texts of the culture might well indicate a problem in relations towards the elderly.