1975); The Goodman of Paris (Le ménagier de Paris): A Treatise on Moral and Domestic Economy
(c. 1393), trans. Eileen Power (London, 1928).
3.The basis for the different commentaries is BT Kiddushin 30b–31a. The commandment is
also explained in great detail in the Books of Commandments (Sifrei miz·vot) that were popular
during the Middle Ages in France: R. Moses of Couçy, Semag,Positive commandment, nos. 112–
13; R. Joseph b. Isaac of Corbeil, Semak, nos. 9 and 50; Book of Commandments of R. Abraham
b. Ephraim(student of R. Tuviah of Vienne), MS Parma 813, fol. 71a–b; Book of Commandments
by an anonymous student of R. Yeh·iel of Paris, MS Montifiore 136, fol. 26a, no. 125; Sefer Tosafot
haShalem, Jethro 20:12; R. Joseph Bekhor Shor, Perushei R. Joseph Bekhor Shor al haTorah, Ke-
doshim 19:2, “You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy”; Moshav Zekenim, Jethro
20:12, “Honor your father.”
- This point is made clear in discussions of children’s responsibility to feed and support their
parents: BT Kiddushin 30b–31a. Some Christian commentators discuss the same issues. For ex-
ample: Petrus Pictavensis, Sentientiarum libri quinque, PL, 211, 1108–109; Innocent III, Libellus
de elemosyna, PL, 217, 757. Shulamith Shah·ar, Growing Old, trans. Yael Lotan (London and New
York, 1997), 88–97, examines the obligations of children toward their parents as well. This was of
interest to both Jews and Christians, as it was part of daily problems and difficulties. In medieval
Jewish sources, see SHP, no. 126, 929–64, and, especially, 1319–38. In Responsa literature—R.
Meir b. Barukh, Shut Maharam(Prague edition), no. 16. See also Michael A. Signer, “Honor the
Hoary Head: The Aged in Medieval European Jewish Community,” in Aging and the Aged in Me-
dieval Europe, ed. Michael A. Sheehan (Toronto, 1990), 39–48.
5.Perushei Joseph Bekhor Shor, Jethro 20:12. The idea that the person who respects and hon-
ors his/her parents appropriately will know how to properly honor God appears in medieval Chris-
tian sources as well. See n. 9. - BT Kiddushin 31a.
- MS Vatican ebr. 123, fol. 64b.
8.Besides the three-part relationship of God-father-mother, we cannot ignore the status of teach-
ers/rabbis. The distinction between father and teacher is beyond the limits of our discussion, but
has much to do with the further education of boys. For our purposes, it is important to note that the
mother is always lowest in the hierarchy. In the Christian context this issue is discussed particularly
in light of Jesus’ words to his disciples: “He who loves his father and mother more than me is not
worthy of me” (Matt. 10:37–38). Many medieval Christian commentators discussed this hierarchy.
For example: Anselmus Lauduensis Expositio in Mattaeum, PL, 162, 1367–68; St. Bruno Sig-
niensis, Expositio in Exodum, PL, 164, 280; 1386; Hugo de St. Victoris, De sacramentis, PL, 176,
355; Barbara Newman, From Virile Woman, 76–107. After the Reformation, the superiority of the
father over the mother was emphasized further in this context. See Marianne Carbonnier-Burkard,
“Les variations protestantes,” L’histoire des pères et de la paternité, eds. Jacques Delemeau et Danîel
Roche (Paris, 1990), 169; Ozment, When Fathers Ruled, 150–53. - BT Kiddushin 30a–31a; Moshav Zekenim, Leviticus 19:3.
- R. Moses of Couçy, Semag, Positive commandment, no. 112. The reasoning given here is
slightly different from that of the Talmud (BT Kiddushin 31a), where one is supposed to fear the
father because he teaches his children Torah.
11.Moshav Zekenim, Lev. 19:3.
12.Midrash aseret hadibrot, Beit haMidrash, ed. Aaron Yellinek (repr. Jerusalem, 1967), 1:78.
On the Midrash, see Joseph Dan, HaSippur ha’Ivri beYemei haBenayim(Jerusalem, 1974), 79– - This idea is echoed in many commentaries from the Middle Ages. For example, MS Oxford
Bodl., Mich. 558, fol. 5b. - For example, in an early modern book of prayers for the dead, the mother is thanked for
bearing and caring for her children when they were small: Sefer Ma’aneh Lashon. Seder Tefillat
Ta’anit al Bet Almin(Amsterdam, 1678), nos. 6, 7, 9. - Shah·ar, Women in the Middle Ages, 98–106; Vecchio, “Good Wife,” 121–27.