Today the Talmud tells us about Rebbe Yehoshua ben Levi and Rava, who give fatherly advice to their children. One piece of advice Rebbe Yehoshua ben Levi gives his children is to always treat a particular type of elder properly: a wise person who has unfortunately forgotten the Torah they learned against their will. That means it is out of their control; it could be due to dementia or Alzheimer’s. They should always treat that elder—a wise person who used to know so much, even though they no longer do—with proper respect, as if they still knew. What is the reason for this? The Talmud explains that not only were the tablets kept in the ark, but the broken tablets were also kept there. The broken tablets were the first ones that Moses brought down. Even though they were destroyed, their pieces were put in the ark to show that they still have sanctity, holiness, and something very special about them, even though they no longer contain what had been written on them.
This is a very big lesson in respecting our elders unconditionally, no matter what. When we respect our elders, we are respecting them for who they are and what they have accomplished. We know that there are laws about how we need to respect our parents, and that also continues and overflows into the way we need to respect our rabbis. But it also applies to elders, again at a different level and in a different category. There are laws about how one has to treat one’s elders. There is a specific law that when a parent walks into the room, a child is supposed to stand. When one’s own personal rabbi is in the room, one should also stand up. This law also applies to an elder. When an elder comes within six feet of an individual—not necessarily into the room—the individual who is sitting should stand and rise in honor of the elder.
At what age? Halacha lema'aseh, according to the letter of the law, it is from age 70 and up. As long as the person is older than you and has reached age 70 and up, we are obligated to rise for them. What are we honoring them for? We are honoring them for being our senior, for their maturity, and for the very fact that God has blessed them with longevity. We are also standing and honoring them for God’s decision. So we ask ourselves: How are we going to reach a ripe age, an old age? One of the answers is on the Talmud page today, a little earlier in the first part of the page. Earlier in the first part of the page, Rabbi Yochanan was told that there are elders, that there are old people in Babylonia. This is interesting. He was very appalled, taken aback by the fact that there are old people outside the land of Israel, even in Babylonia. The Torah says that when we fulfill the Torah and fulfill God’s will, God will grant us long lives and long lives for our children. It says, “On the land.” Which land is it talking about? It is talking about the land of Israel.
Then he was told that these elders come early to the synagogue every morning and leave late every evening. And that is what granted them the gift of a long life. So the Kli Yakar, one of the main commentaries on the Torah, looks at the Talmud and asks, “How does that answer the question? Rabbi Yochanan was bothered by the fact that there are people who live a long life outside the land of Israel. And, oh yeah, because they come early and stay late at the synagogue, that’s why they live long? What does that have to do with anything? That doesn’t answer anything.” So he tells us that, really, this is very, very strong and powerful. Really, anybody who is in a synagogue, a yeshiva, or a kollel, a study house of Torah, outside the land of Israel is as if they are in Israel, even though geographically they are outside the land of Israel. They get the same benefits as if a person were in Israel, even though right now they are not.
When does this apply? When a person is in a synagogue, a yeshiva, or a kollel, even outside the land of Israel. Why is this? The Kli Yakar explains this based on the Talmud in Masechet Megillah, page 29a. It says that during the times of Mashiach (Messiah), all of the synagogues will be transported to the land of Israel. The Kli Yakar explains that it is so now, too. Even before they are transported, they have holiness. The land that the synagogue is on has holiness as if it were already in the land of Israel.
So, my friends, spending extra time in the synagogue—coming a little early, staying late, learning Torah there, doing more than just praying, learning Torah, and fulfilling mitzvot (commandments) there—that is what can grant us longevity. May Hashem bless us, our spouses, our children, our grandchildren, our entire family, and our friends with long lives and this wisdom of the day.