GEN345 When to Honor Parents.  There are occasions when filial responsibility may temporarily be put aside in the name of a higher duty or for the purpose of fulfilling a more immediate obligation.  One such occasion is when filial duty conflicts with the responsibility one owes to one’s own wife and children.  In this regard, the Talmud quotes a popular contemporary proverb, “A parent’s love is for his child; his child’s love is for his own children” Sota, 49a. While marriage does not free an individual from filial duty, it does serve to supplant filial love with the love of a spouse.  In his commentary on [this verse], Nahmanides wrote, [Scripture] states that the female is the bone of the bone and the flesh of the flesh of the male … His desire is for her to be with him always, as it was implanted in human nature, beginning with Adam for all subsequent generations, for males to cleave to their wives, to leave their parents, and to see themselves as one flesh with their wives … Here [we see that] a man leaves the nearness of his parents and his relatives, and sees that his wife is closer to him than are they.  In certain cases not only could the love of parents be superseded by love for a spouse but the obligation of filial duty could be displaced as well.  For example, though men and women are equally obligated to honor their parents, the Talmud makes provision for an exception in instances in which filial duty causes tension in the marriage (Kiddushin 30b, Mishneh Torah-Hilkhot Teshuvah (Laws of Repentance), chap. 13, secs. 12-14.  … It is to be hoped that marriage can create a new family without causing tensions with one’s parents. However, if the formation of a new family does precipitate conflict, one may limit, but not deny, one’s filial responsibilities.  SHER20C