Many years ago, a student of mine, a G-d-fearing American talmid chacham studying at the prestigious Mir Yeshivah, asked me a question. His father was soon to arrive from abroad for a brief visit to the Holy Land, and he anticipated needing to accompany his father on tours and trips across the country. He sought to clarify how obligated he was, according to the Torah, to join his father in all these excursions.
I referred him with his admirable question to the rosh yeshivah, the esteemed gaon Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz zt”l, to rule on the matter. (The inquirer was a distinguished talmid chacham, while his father was a simple businessman.) Additionally, the talmid chacham required permission from the yeshivah for some days of absence to fulfill the mitzvah of honoring his father.
The rosh yeshivah‘s response astonished him: “You must honor your father,” the rosh yeshivah ruled, “just as you would honor the greatest Torah leader of the generation, a renowned tzaddik and gadol hador, if he visited you! Even if your father is not a great talmid chacham, the honor you owe him as your father is comparable to that shown to a gadol hador.”
This is a breathtaking concept!
