Why the Duty to Honor Parents Binds Everyone Alike

Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 298:2

Another interpretation: "Honor your father and your mother" — why is it stated? Because it says "Any man who curses his father" and so forth; from this I would know only a man. A woman, a person of indeterminate sex, and a person of double sex, from where? Scripture teaches, "Honor your father and your mother," in every case. Just as concerning honor it made no distinction between a man and a woman, a person of indeterminate sex, and a person of double sex, so too concerning fear you shall make no distinction between a man, a woman, a person of indeterminate sex, and a person of double sex. These are the words of Rabbi Yishmael. Rabbi Yehudah ben Beteira says: It says "Each of you shall fear his mother and his father" (Leviticus 19:3), and it says "and keep My Sabbaths" and so forth. Just as concerning the Sabbath it made no distinction between a man and a woman, a person of indeterminate sex, and a person of double sex, so too concerning fear you shall make no distinction between a man, a woman, a person of indeterminate sex, and a person of double sex. "Honor your father": I might think that whoever comes first in the verse comes first in deed. Scripture teaches, "Each of you shall fear his mother and his father" (Leviticus 19:3), that the two of them are equal one to the other. "That your days may be long": if you honor him, your days will be long, and if not, your days will be shortened, for words of Torah are read by notarikon [the implied inverse], since words of Torah are derived from the implication of a positive — its negative, and from the implication of a negative — its positive [a stated reward implies the opposite penalty for its neglect]. "Upon the land which the LORD your God gives you": from here they said, any commandment whose reward is stated beside it — the earthly court is not commanded to enforce it.

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