LEV305 Both Mother and Father Should Be Treated Equally with Respect: "Honor your father and your mother." I might have understood that because the word "father" proceeds in the text, he should actually take precedence over the mother. But in another passage it states, "You shall each revere his mother and his father" [this verse]; the mother precedes. Scripture thus declares that both are equal [Mechilta of Rabbi Ishmael, Pisha, Chapter 1].