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“And you shall show respect to elders and fear your G-d.” (19:32)

The honor and respect afforded to a Torah scholar and teacher is expressed in the following statement: “The fear of your teacher shall be similar to your fear of Heaven” (Avos 4:15). Chazal in various places have described in clear terms the severe punishments for those who do not show proper respect to their Torah teachers. Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz Zt”l explains that the rationale for this is because improper respect for teachers and elders weakens their leadership and diminishes their overall influence on us. Lack of respect for elders means, in effect, the elimination of Torah leadership over Klal Yisroel….

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“You shall not round off the corners of the hair of your head.” (19:27)

This posuk clearly forbids the removal of sideburns, the place where one’s hair ends at the temples, and which marks the division corresponding to the cerebrum and the cerebrellum respectively. This prohibition teaches us the following. The hair at the temples is a natural veil which hides the view of the back of the head. The relation of the frontal part of the skull containing the cerebrum to the back part with the cerebellum is that of the human element to the animal element within us. In order to maintain a strict degree of sanctity within ourselves, the animal factor…

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