Kiddushin, Daf Lammed Gimmel, Part 4
א"ר אייבו אמר ר’ ינאי אין תלמיד חכם רשאי לעמוד מפני רבו אלא שחרית וערבית כדי שלא יהיה כבודו מרובה מכבוד שמים
R. Aibu said in the name of R. Yannai: A Torah scholar may rise before his teacher only morning and evening, so that his honor may not exceed the honor of Heaven.
Jews recite the Shema in praise of God twice a day. A Torah scholar should not rise before his teacher more than twice a day so that the teacher s honor not supersede that of God. I think we can sense here that rabbis were accorded a high level of honor, and that there was a fear that this honor would exceed proper boundaries and perhaps the students would revere their teacher s more than God. It is this mentality that R. Yannai is trying to curb.
מיתיבי ר’ שמעון בן אלעזר אומר מנין לזקן שלא יטריח ת"ל זקן ויראת
ואי אמרת שחרית וערבית בלבד אמאי לא ניטרח חיובא הוא
אלא לאו כולי יומא
לא לעולם שחרית וערבית בלבד ואפ"ה כמה דאפשר ליה לא ניטרח
They objected: R. Shimon b. Elazar said: How do we know that a Sage must not trouble [others to rise in his presence]? From the verse: Elder and you shall fear. But if you say, [he rises] only in the morning and evening, why should he not trouble [them]. It is an obligation!
Rather it surely follows [that one must rise] all day?
No. After all, [he should rise only in] the morning and evening, nevertheless, as far as it is possible, one should not trouble [others to rise in his presence].
R. Shimon b. Elazar had stated that a sage should not trouble someone to rise before him too often. But if the obligation exists only in the morning and evening, then this would seem not to be a problem. Thus it seems that according to the baraita, one should stand in front of a sage whenever in the sage s presence.
The Talmud resolves the difficulty by saying that even though this obligation is only at most twice a day, still the sage should not trouble others to stand in his presence.
אמר ר’ אלעזר כל ת"ח שאין עומד מפני רבו נקרא רשע ואינו מאריך ימים ותלמודו משתכח שנאמר (קהלת ח, יג) וטוב לא יהיה לרשע ולא יאריך ימים כצל אשר איננו ירא מלפני האלהים
מורא זו איני יודע מהו כשהוא אומר (ויקרא יט, יד) ויראת מאלהיך הרי מורא זו קימה
ואימא מוראת רבית ומוראת משקלות
ר’ אלעזר פני פני גמר
R. Elazar said: Any Torah scholar who does not rise before his master is called wicked, will not live long, and he will forget his learning, as it is said, But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days which are as a shadow, because he fears not before God (Kohelet 8:13). Now, I do not know what this fear is, but when it is said, [Before the hoary head you shall rise] and you shall fear your God, behold this fear means rising.
But perhaps it means the fear of usury and [false] weights!
R. Elazar derives this from the use of pene [ before ] in both cases.
R. Elazar reads a verse in Kohelet in light of the verse about standing before a sage in Leviticus. Both contain the phrase fear God and while other verses talk about fearing God in the context of other mitzvoth (not having false weights, and not lending to other Jews with interest) only these two verses use the word pene. The verse about rising reads מפני שיבה and the verse in Kohelet says, מלפני אלוהים.
R. Elazar derives that he will forget his Talmud from the phrase Good (tov) will not be good is a code word for Torah, as in the phrase, For I have given you a good teaching.