God Values Age
We live in a society that values youth, money and independence. In such a society the aged are often devalued and considered a burden. However God has quite the opposite view.
… you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born. Even to your old age and grey hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will deliver you”. Isaiah 46:3-4
With these beautiful words God assures us that we are important to Him at all stages in our lives.
A further example of God’s opposite view of aging compared to our western culture can be found in the Hebrew Bible (or ‘Old Testament’ in Christian terminology). We are all familiar with the Ten Commandments, whether or not we are a Christian, and the Hebrew word for “commandment” is mitzvah. It is not simply a good deed to refrain from murdering and stealing; these are God’s commandments (or mitzvot, the plural of mitzvah). Judaism has 613 mitzvot, far more than our Christian Ten Commandments.
A core Jewish mitzvah (commandment) is hiddur p’nai zaken. Hiddur is difficult to translate but conveys the sense of ‘beauty, grandeur, awesomeness’. For example the Words and Commands of God are ‘hiddur’. P’nai translates as ‘faces’, and zaken as ‘aged people’. The mitzvah of hiddur p’nai zaken derives from Leviticus 19:32:
Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the LORD.
This is expanded in Judaism to ’you shall rise before an elder and allow the beauty and majesty of their faces to emerge’ (quotation from Danny Siegel).
The mitzvah also requires Jewish people to empower their elders and “enable them to find joy and meaning, and to shine their light outward into the world” (quotation from Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman).
This commandment does not require the aged person to have wisdom, or to have lived a productive life, or to being a good person. It is a respect that God confers based simply upon age, and a special radiance that comes with age. It is often overlooked that God’s commandment to ‘honour your mother and father’ was not delivered to children but was given as a commandment to adult Israelites. It is also a commandment to respect age.
Many other societies embrace hiddur p’nai zaken and our society is somewhat a sad exception. One such society is the central eastern Africa countries of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania (total population 130 million) who speak Swahili.
In Swahili the normal greetings cluster around the word ‘habari’ (what news of); habari za mchana – good afternoon, what news of the afternoon; habari kazi -how’s work, what news of work. Older people cannot be addressed in this form and can only be greeted with ‘Skikamoo’ that literally means ‘I hold your feet’. And ‘Skikamoo’ has only one permissible response; ‘Marahaba’, ‘I thankfully accept your respect’. If this was part of our culture it would fundamentally change and enrich our society, and we would be obeying God’s command.
A writer Stephen Greenwood describes an encounter in Tanzania (paraphrased):
“… a beggar, an old man with crutches … I slowed a little, and offered one word, Skikamze (mze for a very old man). It’s was the moment that followed that I wish I could have filmed, to play back for you right now. Instead, I’ll try to use words.
He … grasped both hands over his heart … bowed his head, a big smile came over his face, and he quickly offered back the obligatory response. In that short moment … I saw something powerful … I needed to offer him my respect … and even if he is now on the side of the road, begging for survival, he deserves my utmost respect”.
The aged beggar deserved my utmost respect.
http://stephengreenwood.wordpress.com/2008/09/14/shikamoo/.
Inspiration, quotations and paraphrasing from A Heart of Wisdom Making the Jewish Journey From Midlife Through To Elder Years Susan Berrin.
image: http://www.artisanchurch.com/series/sermon_on_the_mount
