How a Disciple Must Honor an Elder and the Rise of Jacob

(Numbers 11:16:) "And the LORD said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel." Let our master teach us: Within how many cubits is a person obligated to stand up before an elder when he sees him? Thus our masters taught: Within four cubits a person is obligated to stand up before an elder, as it is said (Leviticus 19:32), "Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head"; and he bows before him and inquires after his welfare within four cubits. And what is the honoring of which the Torah spoke, "and honour the face of the old man" (ibid.)? That he should not stand in his place, nor sit in his place, nor contradict his words; and when he asks about a law (halakhah), he should ask in reverence, and not jump to answer, and not break into his words. For everyone who does not conduct himself toward his master (rav) by all these measures is called a wicked person before the Omnipresent, and his learning is forgotten, and his years are shortened, and in the end he comes to [poverty], as it is said (Ecclesiastes 8:13), "But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God." As for this fear, I do not know what it is. When it says, "Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head [and honour the face of the old man], and fear thy God," you must say: this is the fear of the disciples of the sages. But might I say that this is the fear of usury and the fear of weights? Rather, said Rabbi Eleazar: It is said here, "the face of the old man, and fear thy God," and it is said there, "he feareth not before God" (Ecclesiastes, ibid.). And one is obligated to give him precedence over every person in entering and in leaving, and to conduct himself toward him with fear and honor, as it is said (Deuteronomy 6:13), "Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God" — to include the masters of Torah, for you have no measure comparable to it. And likewise it says, "And I made them heads [over you]" (1 Samuel 15:17). From here you learn that you should conduct yourself toward him in the manner of princely office: to stand before him, and to give him precedence in every matter of greatness, so that a person should not hold himself back from standing before an elder. Said Rabbi Abba the Priest bar Pappa: When I would see a band of people, I would walk by another way, so as not to trouble them, that they should not see me and stand up before me. And when I said these things before Rabbi Yose bar Zevida, he said to me: You are obligated to pass before them, and they should see you and stand up before you, and you bring them to the fear of Heaven, as it is said (Leviticus 19:32), "Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head [and honour the face of the old man], and fear thy God." Why? Because the ascent of the righteous is an ascent that has no descent. But the ascent of Esau the Wicked is an ascent that is wholly descent: today a prefect, tomorrow a commoner, tomorrow a count, tomorrow a soldier; and so it is with all their great ones. And so the prophet says (Obadiah 1:4), "Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD." But the ascent of Jacob is an ascent that has no descent, and their holiness is never profaned. And so you find that the elders are one of thirteen things that are written down to the name of the Holy One, blessed be He. These are they: the silver and the gold, and the priests, and the Levites, and Israel, and the firstborn, and the altar, and the heave-offering (terumah), and the anointing oil, and the tent of meeting, and the kingdom of the house of David, and the offerings, and the land of Israel, and the elders.