A window on the Jewish perspective regarding the wisdom of elders can be gained from texts such as Leviticus 19:32, "You shall rise up before the aged and show deference to the old: You shall fear your God"; and Deuteronomy 32:7, "Ask your father and he will tell, your elders and they shall instruct you."
Fearing God in relation to our elders is understood in terms of respect; respect for our older adults models respect for our relationship with God. Zaken, the key Hebrew word for elder, has as its connotation a respected leader of a community, one who has lived life and has valuable experience. Indeed, some commentators suggest that zaken is an acronym for "he who acquires wisdom."
Such concepts of respect for older adults also are drawn from various interpretations of the Fifth Commandment. Honoring and respecting one's parents, we are reminded in Exodus 20:12, is a means through which we may have "length of days."
The Talmudic tractate Kiddushsin is filled with rabbinic discussions that revolve around the proper manner of honoring and respecting one's parents and elders. One such discussion speaks to the importance of maintaining the self-respect of parents as they age. In the development of Jewish ethical and moral tradition, the values of honor and respect for parents are then extended to the general category of older adults.
Respect for Life Experience
Respect for the wisdom of life experience -- the respect of one generation for another -- is seen as a means through which generations can be linked, appropriate behavior modeled and society maintained. Wisdom is gained not only through intellectual pursuit but also through life experience. Judaism honors and respects these aspects of existence as part of how we model the primary relationship we have with God. Applying this model means that each person is valued for the experiences he or she has accrued. Everyone, regardless of the individual's station in life, is still held responsible for the life he or she leads and for the performance of the mitzvoth (sacred actions) that are the guidelines for Jewish existence.
To be fair, Jewish tradition also takes into account the less-than-revered aspects of aging. Ecclesiastes 12 is among a series of texts that speak to the gradual losses of independence and functionality that we experience with age. Other classic texts, such as some found in the Talmud in tractate Shabbat, speak of other social and personal afflictions of old age.
While trying to emphasize the honor, respect and dignity of aging, Jewish tradition does understand that these values are fraught with real challenges and the individuals sometimes are not capable of fully realizing them. The ideal, however, remains: The values of honor, respect and dignity are all based on our understanding that as beings created in the image of God, we have a responsibility to model this sacred relationship with everyone, no matter what their stage of life.
This lovely, inspiring ideal offers us a great challenge. The reality of contemporary life within the North American Jewish community does not necessarily rise to the challenge. In reflecting contemporary secular culture, we may be ignoring or isolating our older adults. Many of our congregations and community organizations remain focused on the importance of children. Unless the Jewish community restructures its attitudes and institutions, the current generation of older adults may become increasingly marginalized in coming years.
This point is especially important to consider because close to 20 percent of the current Jewish population is age 65 or older, and the first wave of the baby boom generation will join that age group within a decade. A community that does not adequately value a group of people who make up nearly a quarter of its population sows the seeds of its own decline.
Guaranteeing the Future
Valuing the older adults among us is now more important than ever: This healthy, well educated, long-lived cohort contains a wealth of human resources the likes of which the Jewish community has never seen. Not to embrace fully these members of our congregations would be to fly in the face of the best of Jewish values and tradition, which see in the older adult the lessons and life experience that guarantee the future.
Jewish tradition does not call for the separation of generations and the division of communities according to age. Instead, it teaches community, family and the blending of generations to develop a cohesive and evolving society. This teaching is particularly challenging in our current youth-centered, mobile, individual-oriented world. The wisdom that elders bring to their congregations will only be recognized if the elders remain an active and vital force within those congregations.
As the number of active older adult communities and life care and assisted living facilities in the United States rise, we are seeing the expansion of the number of congregation-like entities developing within them. Our challenge will be in how we keep these new congregations from becoming isolated from other congregational communities.
A solution to some of these issues may be found in the centrality of the family system, which forms the foundation of Jewish tradition. No matter where the generations may find themselves today, the family remains central in our worldview. Thus, how we treat parents and the other older adults within our families is exemplary of the type of society we build.
If we choose to isolate older adults, we do so at the risk of our own social and spiritual contracts. If, however, we choose to imbue our structures of family with the respect and honor for our elders that we are taught in our sacred texts, we will build integrated and cohesive intergenerational experiences that fulfill the promise of the Torah that our days will be long.
Rabbi Richard F. Address directs the Department of Jewish Family Concerns for the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in New York City.
