DailyHalacha.com for Mobile Devices Now Available

Click Here to Sponsor Daily Halacha
"Delivered to Over 6000 Registered Recipients Each Day"

      
(File size: 834 KB)
Respecting One’s Father When He Visits on Shabbat

If one’s father visits his home, or if he moves in with the child, the child should offer the father to sit at the head of the table. If the father declines the offer, then the son may sit at the head of the table, but it is proper to first offer the seat to the father as an expression of respect. The exception to this rule is when the father’s position at the head of the table will violate proper standards of Seni’ut (modesty), such as if he will then be seated next to somebody else’s wife.

One should also show his father respect by inviting him to wash his hands first after Kiddush on Shabbat, and by serving and offering him food first. It is proper etiquette not to begin eating until one’s father has begun eating. One may, however, begin eating before his mother has begun eating, since mothers generally want the people at the table to begin eating as soon as they receive their food.

If one’s father visits for a Shabbat meal, the father should be given the honor of reciting Kiddush on behalf of everyone else. If, however, the father slurs the words or is unaware of the basic Halachot – such as the requirement to have particular intention to fulfill the obligation on behalf of the others – the son should recite Kiddush. Even in such a case, if the father will feel slighted by not reciting Kiddush, then he should be allowed to recite Kiddush, and everyone present should recite the Kiddush by himself.

According to some authorities, the host should recite the Beracha of "Hamosi" over two loaves of bread on Shabbat and Yom Tob, even if his father is visiting. Others, however, maintain that this requirement does not apply nowadays, and therefore one should invite his father to recite the Beracha over the bread when the father visits.

In all these cases, if the father expresses "Mehila," meaning, if he foregoes on his honor, then the child is exempt from that requirement.

(These Halachot are taken from Yalkut Yishak – Honoring Parents, beginning on p. 356.)

Summary: When a father visits his child’s home, the father should be invited to sit at the head of the table, to wash his hands first, and to receive his food first. He should also be invited to recite Kiddush and, according to some opinions, to recite the Beracha over the bread. Furthermore, one should not begin eating before his father. If, however, the father declines any of these offers, the son is no longer bound by that requirement.

 


Recent Daily Halachot...
The Halachic Status of Non-Jewish Brandy, and of Wine Containing Other Ingredients
The Status of Wine Touched by a Non-Jewish Child; The Status of Products that May Have Been Mixed with Non-Jewish Wine
Setam Yenam – The Severity of the Prohibition Against Non-Jewish Wine
Setam Yenam – The Prohibition Against Drinking the Wine of Non-Jews
To What Temperature Must Wine be Heated to be Considered “Mebushal”?
The Status of Utensils Used by a Gentile for Cooking
Does the Prohibition of “Bishul Akum” Apply to Tuna Fish?
May One Eat Food Cooked by a Non-Jew if a Jew Kindled the Fire?
Eating Dairy at a Meat Meal Six Hours After Eating Meat; Starting a Dairy Meal Within Six Hours of Eating Meat
What is the Status of Parve Food Cooked in a Meat or Dairy Pot?
Converting Meat Utensils Into Dairy Utensils Through Hag’ala
May One Eat Fish with Milk or Other Dairy Products?
Kashrut of a Giraffe
Selling a Gid Ha'nashe to a Gentile, and Using it to Stitch the Parchment of a Sefer Torah
Washing One's Hands in Between Fish and Meat; Drinking Water Immediately After Eating Fish
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found