Honoring Father and Mother
29. Traditionally, when reciting the blessings over food (after a meal), it is customary to bless one’s parents.
30. When one’s father or mother enters the house, one must stand fully upright. According to one opinion, if they have seen one another but the parents are in another room, there is (as yet) no obligation to rise for them.
31. A son is not obligated to rise every time, but only when he first sees and greets his parents, and when he takes leave of them (that day). However, if someone present did not see the first encounter with his parents, he must also rise. If the children live with their parents, they must also rise when their parents return from work or study, and the like.
He may sit down as soon as they have taken their seats or gone out of sight.
32. According to one opinion, a son is obligated to rise as soon as he hears their footsteps, just as it is customary to rise before a Torah scroll.
The obligation to rise for one’s parents applies to daughters as well as sons.
34. If a father studies together with his son and considers himself his son’s student, they are both obligated to rise when they meet (the son rises when he sees his father, and the father rises when he sees his son). However, if they wish, they may ask each other not to rise when they meet. But if the son has become a renowned Torah scholar and the local people are not acquainted with his parents, he may not allow his father to remain seated before him, since this might appear to show disrespect for the Torah and its scholars. In such a case, some advise avoiding meeting in a crowded place. For precisely this reason, the famous Maharam of Rothenburg was unable to meet his father in a crowded place for a long time.
35. If the parents themselves express a wish to help their children in various ways (for example, around the house), the children may accept, since by fulfilling their parents’ wishes they are thereby showing them honor. But if the father has devoted himself to Torah study, this is forbidden. In that case, one should thank him for the offer and ask him not to insist on this in the future.