Halakhah for Kiddushin 64:8
ת"ר (ויקרא יט, לב) מפני שיבה תקום יכול אפילו מפני זקן אשמאי ת"ל זקן ואין זקן אלא חכם שנאמר (במדבר יא, טז) אספה לי שבעים איש מזקני ישראל רבי יוסי הגלילי אומר אין זקן אלא מי שקנה חכמה שנאמר (משלי ח, כב) ה' קנני ראשית דרכו
shall be over thee.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Hence he cannot renounce the honour and reverence due to him.');"><sup>16</sup></span> Our Rabbis taught: Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lev. XIX, 32.');"><sup>17</sup></span> I might think, even before an aged sinner; therefore it is said, and honour the face of a zaken,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. E.V. old man.');"><sup>18</sup></span>
Sefer HaChinukh
The commandment to honor sages: To honor sages and to rise in front of them, as it is stated (Leviticus 19:32), "Before an elder rise" - and Onkelos translated [it as], "Before one who understands the Torah rise" - "and dignify the face of the aged (zaken)." They, may their memory be blessed, explained (Kiddushin 32b), "A zaken is only one who has acquired (shekanah) wisdom. And the reason that the verse expressed, the sage, with the language of "aged," is because the young sage has seen with his wisdom that which the aged has seen from his many years.
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