These additional resources that we have culled from around the web are meant to enhance the NLE Morasha Syllabus class entitled, Honoring Parents. We are certain that these resources can help you further impact your audience! If you know of any additional resources that we should add on to this page, please let us know by contacting us here.


Articles

Meaning in Mitzvot: Honoring Parents – by Rabbi Asher Meir
The Torah obligation to honor our parents includes two basic aspects: honor and reverence.

Honor Your Parents – from  TorahLab.com
Out of 613 mitzvos, this is one of the two that carry with it a longevity incentive. If I honor my parents I will live long.

Maimonides’ Laws of Honoring Parents and Loving God – by Moshe Ben Chaim
In Mamrim 6:1, Maimonides writes, “Honoring one’s father and mother is a ‘Great Positive Command’, as is fearing them.” In Yesodei HaTorah, 2:1, defining the law of fearing God, Maimonides simply writes, “This honored and feared God, it is a command to love and fear Him.” No mention of the term “positive” command, or of the term “great”. Why is the language of a “Great Positive Command” reserved exclusively for parents – absent in connection with the command of our fear of God?

Honoring Our Parents 3 – by Rabbi Yehonasan Gefen
The fifth commandment, which is part of the ‘man and G-d’ section is ‘honor your parents’. It would have seemed that this command is purely one that helps develop our relationship with our fellow man and has little direct relevance to improving our relationship with G-d. However, on deeper analysis it is clear that keeping this command properly will greatly enhance our relationship with G-d.

Honoring Parents: Parental Guidance – by Rabbi Osher Chaim Levene
Respecting parents in all its details is a formidable task. It is not for nothing that this mitzvah is termed “the stringent of the stringent” (Midrash Tanchuma, Eikev 2).

Honor Your (Difficult) Father and Your (Difficult) Mother – from TorchWeb.org
Sometimes our parents act in such unpleasant and abusive ways that we begin to wonder if the Torah still expects us to honor them and treat them with respect and reverence.

YitroRelationship between Parent & Child – by Rabbi Yitzchak Seltzer
The Torah places great emphasis on the commandment to honor and fear one’s parents. The commandment is among the Ten Commandments, which seems to imply that it is of integral importance and defines the Jewish people. This prompts the question; what makes this commandment more important than others.

Blogs

Three Reasons to Honor Your Parents – by Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburg
The sages teach that God placed the honor of one’s parents even before His own honor.

Honoring Parents Who Are Abusive – be Dr. Benzion Sorotzkin
A frequently quoted Talmudic passage regarding the extent to which one is obligated to honor even an abusive parent is the story in Kiddushin (31a) where a Roman officer (Dommah Ben Nesinah) is praised for maintaining his composure even after his mother tore his clothes off and spit in his face in public.  It is unfortunate that this Gemara is cited as evidence that a child is required to passively submit to chronic abuse by a parent (who is not meturefes b’daata) in the name of kibbud av va’eim!

Ramban on the Torah: Honoring Parents and the Ten Commandments – from WebYeshiva.org
Many question the placement of the commandment to honor parents in the first half of the asseret hadibrot. Assuming the dibrot divide evenly between commandments between man and God and interpersonal mitzvot, why does honoring parents appear in the first category?

Shabbos and Honoring One’s Parents-Yisro – by Rabbi Yehonasan Gefen
The fourth Mitzvo is to remember the Shabbos , and the fifth is honoring one’s parents . This juxtaposition may not seem to be of great significance, however, this is not the only time in the Torah that these two seemingly unrelated Mitzvos are juxtaposed.

Parshas Ki Seitzei: Kli Yakar – Honoring Parents And Honoring Birds – from Revach L’Neshoma
By the Mitzva of Shiluach HaKen the torah tells us (Ki Seitzei 22:7), “L’maan Yitav Lach V’Haarachta Yamim”, in order that it will be good for you and you will live a long life.  By Kibud Av V’Eim in the second Dibros (VaEschanan 5:17), the torah promises the same reward that we don’t find anywhere except for these two mitzvos.  What is the commonality between them?

Links

Introduction to the Study of Talmud: Kiddushin 13b – by Rav Michael Siev
We left off last week with the beraita that listed the obligations incumbent upon a child due to the mitzvot of mora and kibbud av va-em. We resume with the gemara’s analysis of these obligations.

Honor Your Father and Mother – from Ahavat-Israel.com
The Mitzvah of Kibud Av va-Em (the precept to honor father and mother) may be a self-evidently rational, ethical principle. But the Talmud refers to it as the most difficult Mitzvah.

Torah Table Talk-What Children Owe Their Parents: Respect and Honor – by Rabbi Mark B Greenspan
The fourth commandment: Honor your father and mother, what does it say and what does it leave unsaid?

Honor and Fear Your Parents – Rav Pinchas Ben Aharon Shofet
It is well known that the Mitzvot to honor and to fear our parents are one of the most difficult to accomplish.

The Fifth Commandment: Honoring Parents – by Rabbi Moshe Lieber
The commandment of honoring parents, interestingly, appears among the first five. This comes to teach us that honoring parents is not merely an interpersonal duty incumbent upon children in their relationship with parents, but rather it is also a mitzvah which impacts upon man’s relationship with God.

Kibbud Av V’Em: a Sample Teacher’s Guide – from Shluchim.org
There are three partners in creating a person: the mother, father, and Hashem. If we honor our parents who created our finite bodies, then Hashem also considers it to be honoring Him, the Creator of our infinite souls.

Children

Parshat Kedoshim: All Rise – from Simcha’s Stories
A story for children about honoring parents.

Parshat Vayishlach: The Home – from Kinder Torah
See the vort on honoring parents for children.

Honor Thy Father and Mother – from TorahTots.com
There are certain mitzvos that all civilized people can understand and appreciate. One such mitzvah is that of honoring one’s father and mother.

Honoring Parents – from Chabad.org
A audio story for children on honoring parents

Audio

Honor Your Father and Mother-The Hardest Mitzvah in the Torah! – by Rabbi Avrohom M. Alter
Our sages teach us that the Mitzvah of honoring parents is “Chamur Sh’bichamuros” the most difficult of the difficult! What exactly does that mean?

Introduction: Honoring Parents – by Rabbi Dovid Kaplan
This mitzvah actually includes both honoring and fearing your parents.

Honoring Parents 2 – by Rabbi Dovid Kaplan
What are the peramters of having to listen to your parents?

Kibbud Av V’Em – by Rabbi Hershel Schachter
What is the nature of Kibbud Av V’Em.

Halachic and Ethical Obligations Towards Grandparents and Stepparents – by Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb
How does the kavod we are supposed to show grandparents and stepparents related to the mitzvah of Kibbud Av V’Em.

Honor Your Father and Mother and its Connection to Don’t be Jealous – by Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff
If you see the full extent of this mitzvah you will realize how difficult it is to fulfill what is expected of you.

Video

Honoring Parents in Model and Difficult Relationships – by Rabbi Ari Kahn

Kibud Av V’aim – by Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller

Honoring Your Parents After Their Passing – by Rabbi Yisroel Jungreis

Gratitude: Honoring Your Parents Properly – by Rabbi Zecharia Wallerstein

Parashat Chukat: Honoring Your Parents Part 1 – by Rabbi Avraham Nissanian

Honor and Respect – by Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller

 

Please note: The views expressed in the articles, links, videos, etc. reflect the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the thinking of NLE Resources.