Foundations of Honoring One's Parents

Exodus 20:11

Honor your father and your mother in order that your days should lengthen on the land that God gives you.

Leviticus 19:3

A man shall be in awe of his mother and his father, and keep My sabbaths; I am Hashem your God.

Kiddushin 30b

It is said: Honour thy father and thy mother; and it is also said: Honour the Lord with thy substance: thus the Writ assimilates the honour due to parents to that of the Omnipresent. It is said: ‘Ye shall fear every man his father, and his mother’; and it is also said: The Lord thy God thou shalt fear, and him thou shalt serve; thus the Writ assimilates the fear of parents to the fear of God. It is said: And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death; and it is also said: Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin: thus the Writ assimilates the blessing of parents to that of the Omnipresent. But in respect of striking, it is certainly impossible. And that is but logical, since the three are partners in him [the son].

Our Rabbis taught: There are three partners in man, the Holy One, blessed be He, the father, and the mother. When a man honours his father and his mother, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: ‘I ascribe [merit] to them as though I had dwelt among them and they had honored Me.’

Rambam, Commentary to Peah, Chap. 1

And some concern the commandments that depend on relationships of people with one another, such as the warning concerning theft, overcharging, hatred, vengeance, the command to love one another, not to deceive one another, that one not stand by when a friend is injured, and to honor one’s parents and the scholars, who are the fathers of all...

Kuzari Section 3

But the laws involving one’s relationship [with others] include murder, illicit relations, theft, testifying falsely against a friend, honoring one’s father and mother, loving one’s neighbor, and loving the convert

Ramban Shemot 20

(11) Honor your father. Behold it completed all that which we are obligated in in the words of the Creator regarding Himself and His honor, and it returned to command us in regard. It returned to command us in regard to the matters of those that were created, and began from the father who is, due to his generations, as a creator who partners in the creation. For Hashem is our first father, and the one providing the seed is out final father. Therefore it states in Mishneh Torah, “as I commanded you in my honor, so too I command you in the associated honor with me in your creation. And the verse does not elaborate the honor, which is derived from the honor in regard to the first Father blessed be He…

(12) Do not murder. Do not engage in illicit relations. Do not steal. It says, behold I have commanded you to confess that I create everything with heart and action, and to honor the fathers, for they participate in creation.

Abravanel Shemot 20

And behold the foundation for this command is that that the acceptance of the parents should be important in the eyes of a person, and he should believe in it and rely upon it, as it says, “Remember the days of the world, comprehend the years of each generation. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders and they will convey to you.” And it was said to Job, “For inquire as to the first generation, and establish an inquiry of their fathers.” And since the strength of this statement is to believe in the transmission of the earlier ones, which is an overarching principle in the Torah, and [the Torah’s] existence is inconceivable without it, therefore this statement was included among the five divine commands, which were on the first tablet...

And afterward it says honor your mother and father, since it is known that the king who build a country does not appear daily to that country's inhabitants. And if the members of that generation remember having seen the arrival of the king in the country the acceptance of his rulership, and that the king built the country and redeemed them from slavery to freedom. Behold, those who come afterward who did not experience the servitude at all and did not witness the king's entry to the country, will come to revolt and think that the country was always theirs and that there is no ruler over them. There is no way to avoid this absurdity other than by being humbled before one's parents and accepting rebuke from them. For they shall convey to the children how they were enslaved, and that a single master redeemed them to freedom, and he was the one built the country and planted them in it. And for this reason it was essential in order that the rulership of the king shall not be forgotten from the country, and the goodness he performed by redeeming them. Through this the children in each generation shall be humbled toward their parents and shall accept their rebuke upon themselves. And for this reason the fifth commandment, namely "Honor your father and mother" to warn in regard to the tradition, meaning that one should continue to accept their tradition, which is an overarching tradition...

Meshech Chochma Devarim Chap. 5

One can further explain the verse "as Hashem your God commanded you" that is stated in regard to honoring one's father, that in regard to the Jews in addition to honoring the fathers, they bring their children to the ultimate success, and transmit the unintuitive commandments and the tradition from generation to generation.

Sefer Hachinuch and Minchat Chinuch, Mitzvah 33

The roots of this commandment are that it is proper that a person recognize and deal kindly to one who performed kindness on his behalf, and he should not be vile, distanced and rejecting goodness, which is an evil and utterly despicable quality in the eyes of God and humanity. Rather one should pay heed to the fact that his parents are the reason for his existence in the world, and therefore truthfully one should perform for them all honor and assistance possible, for they brought him to the world, and toiled hard on his behalf when he was small. And when he sets this characteristic in his heart, his will rise through it to recognize the goodness of God, who is the cause of him and all his parents until Adam...

Ketubot 103a

Our Rabbis taught: When Rabbi was about to depart [from this life] he said, 'I require [the presence] of my sons'. When his sons entered into his presence he instructed them: 'Take care that you shew due respect to your mother. The light shall continue to burn in its usual place, the table shall be laid in its usual place [and my] bed shall be spread in its usual place. Joseph of Haifa and Simeon of Efrath who attended on me in my lifetime shall attend on me when I am dead'.

'Take care that you shew due respect to your mother'. Is [not this instruction] Pentateuchal, since it is written, Honour thy father and thy mother? — She was their stepmother. [Is not the commandment to honour] a stepmother also Pentateuchal, for it was taught: Honour thy father and thy mother,' 'thy father' includes 'thy stepmother','and thy mother' includes 'thy Stepfather', and the superfluous waw includes 'thy elder brother'? — This exposition [was meant to apply] during [one's own parents'] lifetime but not after [their] death.

Rambam, Laws of the Rebellious, 6:15

A person is obligated to honor his father's wife even though she is not his mother throughout his father's lifetime, for this is included in honoring his father. Similarly, he should honor his mother's husband throughout her lifetime. After her death, however, he is not obligated to honor her.

It is a Rabbinical decree that a person is obligated to honor his oldest brother as he is obligated to honor his father.

Ramban Bereishit Chap. 32

And know that this honor that Yaakov offered his brother in his fear to say "my master" and "your servant," that this is because it is customary for the younger [sibling] to give honor to the firstborn as if he is his father, as the Torah also reminds us: "to include your older brother."

Pesikta Zutrati Shemot 20

And [the word] “et” includes your eldest brother.