In this weeks Parsha, Acharei Mot and Kedoshim, the pasuk says, "Every man shall fear his mother and his father" (19:3).
What is the reason that fearing your mother is written before fearing your father?
The Gemara in Kiddushin Daf 31A says that in Shmot 20:12 it says to honor your father and your mother. The reason behind this is due to the fact that a person admires their mother more, and fears their father more. For this reason, the Torah writes the opposite of human nature in the Torah to show that a person should honor and fear both of their parents equally.
What other reasons are they written in that specific order for?
According to Rashi, a child tends to fear his father more than his mother. Therefore, the pasuk places the mother first in order to emphasize her role in the child's life.
ReplyDeleteIt says every man. Meaning that a man is always able to fulfill the mitzvah, but that sometimes a woman may not always be able to, because of her own family.
ReplyDeleteTo answer this question I thought, who better to ask a question about honoring ones mother than my own mother? So I asked my grandmother. She was excited to answer because it is an answer that she knew offhand. She explained to me that in the original ten commandments that are read in parshat yitro, it says "fear your father and your mother" as in father is written before mother. But here it is written "honor your mother and your father". She said the reason for this change is to "level the playing field". By having the fathers name written first in regards to fear and having the mothers name written first in regards to honor, it doesn't mean we should fear or honor in that order, but fear and honor them equally.
ReplyDelete