“A Man’s Own Household His Enemies”

Himmelfarb, Gertrude. "A Man’s Own Household His Enemies." Commentary Magazine. July/August, 1999.

Excerpt:

A passage in the Talmud reads:

Rabbi Eliezer the Great said: . . . As the footsteps of the messiah approach, shamelessness will spread. . . . Schoolrooms will be used for lechery, . . . scholarship will degenerate, those who shun sin will be despised, and truth will be banished. Boys will insult the elderly and the elderly will defer to children—“son spurning father, daughter rising up against mother, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law—a man’s own household his enemies” [Micah 7:6]. The face of that generation will be like a dog’s face, men not being abashed before their fathers.

 

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