By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the 5TJT.com Is sixty the new forty?  Or is sixty considered elderly?  This has been a debate raging in America since the birth of the expression in 2003. Our question, however, is the halacha.  Is it true?  Is sixty the new forty?  The World Health Organization does not seem to think so, as they delineated this secular decade of 2020-2030 the Decade of Healthy Aging – they defined elderly as, yes, you guessed it, age sixty and up. So what does halacha say?  Here goes. There is a Mitzvah in the Torah to arise before an older person and to respect Torah scholars. The Mitzvah (see Sefer HaChinuch #407) includes arising in their presence. The source for this Mitzvah is in VaYikrah (19:32), “Before a Saivah you should rise, and you shall honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your G-d – I am the L-rd.” The Hebrew word “Saivah” has been translated as everything from gray-haired, to white-haired, to hoary-headed, to elderly and aged. Most people think that the term “Saivah” applies to someone who has reached the age of seventy years. This is based upon the Rosh in Kiddushin (33a).  The Tur, Shulchan Aruch, and the Beis Yosef (YD 244:1) rule that it is age 70. THE SIXTY VIEW The Rashbatz (in Magain Avos Kiddushin 5:21), however, cites a Targum Unkelus that the age is actually sixty years old. The Minchas Chinuch (#407) writes that one should, in fact, be stringent and arise for someone who is sixty years old. The AriZal in the Shaar HaMitzvos on Parshas Kedoshim is also of the opinion that the correct age is sixty. [It is interesting to note that there is a correlation between the hair color and to whom the Mitzvah applies – the hair color is a means in which we can tell whether the person is old. Indeed, the third Lubavitcher Rebbe (Responsa Tzemach Tzedek Yore Deah #93) forbids the shaving of the beard precisely for this reason because the Mitzvah of arising before an older person would be negated – as we will be unable to tell who is old!] WHO IT INCLUDES The Mitzvah applies to all elderly people whether they are scholars or not. The matter, in fact, was debated in the Talmud (Kiddushin 33a). The halacha was established in accordance with Issi Ben Yehudah who ruled that Saivah includes all older people. The reason, presumably, is the life experience that the elderly person represents. A SECOND MITZVAH TOO This Mitzvah is an extremely important one, because whenever it is being fulfilled one fulfills another parallel Mitzvah called Vehalachta bidrachav, and you shall walk in His ways… The Talmud in Shabbos states that just as Hashem is merciful and kind so too must you be merciful and kind. The Jerusalem Talmud (Bikkurim 3:3) states that Hashem Himself honors the elderly. Since this is the case, we are walking in the ways of Hashem each time we perform this Mitzvah. OTHER QUESTIONS There are numerous other questions about this Mitzvah, however. What about an older woman? Does it apply during Davening? Do elderly people have to rise for each other? Are there any exemptions? As far as whether it applies to a woman, here is where we […]

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