DEUT1087 "Who is honoured?" asked Ben Zoma (Abot iv. i.) It was a rhetorical question, for he himself knew the only true answer. "He who honors others; as it is said (I Sam. ii. 30): For I will honour them that honor Me, but those that despise Me shall be held in contempt'." The Talmud is emphatic that the honour of others should be a prime concern (Ber. 28b). One is absolved of a command of the Torah if its fulfillment be at the expense of one's own prestige. For though we are told ... [this verse]..., in the case of an old man, a scholar or a woman, the fulfillment of such a command, involving effort and loss of dignity, is not expected (B. Metz. 30a. Cf. Hoshen Mishpat 263. Ber. 43b). Far better than a man throw himself into a burning furnace then put his friend to shame. This opinion is expressed several times in the Talmud (B.M. 59a; Sot. 6a).