For the source text click/tap here: Kiddushin 33
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The passage, “Mipnei seivah takum ve-hadarta penei zaken” commands us to stand up before an elderly person and revere the elder (see Vayikra 19:32). Nevertheless, the Gemara understands that honoring the zaken obligates us to stand before a Torah scholar.
Isi ben Yehuda comments that the obligation to stand before the elderly applies to all old people.
The Gemara records that Rabbi Yohanan who accepts Isi’s ruling made it his business to stand before elderly non-Jews, saying, “Kamah harpatkei adu alayhu d’hani – how many adventures this man must have experienced!”
We explore the ethics of elderly care.