Rabbi Tarfon was one of the great sages of the Mishnaic period, a man of wealth, learning, and considerable stature. But his most famous act had nothing to do with scholarship or legal rulings. It was an act of raw, physical devotion to his mother.
His mother was old. Getting in and out of bed had become difficult for her — the bed was high, her legs were weak, and there was no step to help her climb. Every night was a small ordeal, and every morning the same.
Rabbi Tarfon solved the problem in the most direct way imaginable. Every evening, when his mother was ready to sleep, he would walk to her bedside, bend down, and place himself on his hands and knees on the floor. His mother would step on his back — on the back of one of the most respected rabbis in Israel — and use him as a human stepping stone to climb into bed.
Every morning, the same thing. She stepped on him to descend.
He did this without complaint, without resentment, without any sense that the act was beneath his dignity. He was a sage who debated the fine points of law with Rabbi Akiba. He was a priest who had served in the Temple. And every night, he got on his hands and knees so an old woman could get into bed.
The Talmud in Kiddush (the sanctification blessing over wine)in (31b) holds up Rabbi Tarfon as the supreme example of kibud av va-em — honoring one's father and mother. When the other sages heard what he did, they said: "He has not yet reached even half of the honor that the Torah commands." If bending your body into a step for your mother is only halfway, then the commandment to honor parents is essentially bottomless.