על החוקים לפרטיהם, ספר ב ל״חOn the Special Laws, Book II 38
א׳
1[224] In my previous remarks I have sketched the four divisions which both in order and importance stand undoubtedly first. They comprise the assertion of the absolute sovereignty by which the universe is governed, the prohibition against making any image or likeness of God and against perjury or vain swearing in general and the doctrine of the sacred seventh day, all of them tending to promote piety and religion. I now proceed to the fifth, which states the duty of honouring parents, a matter which, as I have shewn in the discussion devoted to this in particular, stands on the border-line between the human and the divine.
ב׳
2[225] For parents are midway between the natures of God and man, and partake of both; the human obviously because they have been born and will perish, the divine because they have brought others to the birth and have raised not-being into being. Parents, in my opinion, are to their children what God is to the world, since just as He achieved existence for the non-existent, so they in imitation of His power, as far as they are capable, immortalize the race.