At what age does a girl have the authority to plan her life and do what she wishes, without her parents' approval?
ANSWER:
So why only a girl, same is with a boy? The answer is, it starts at the age of one day. At one day you are responsible for yourself. Of course you are not able to do much, but you see if a child is wet, and the mother hears that the child is crying out, and the mother says I'm busy now, the child doesn't listen to the mother, he keeps on weeping, he makes a fuss, he's wet, and finally the mother comes running to change the diapers.
So we see that everybody has a responsibility of taking care of himself or herself as soon as possible. However, to take the parents' instructions into consideration is essential not only up to a certain age, up to the time that your parents leave the world.
If the parents are Torah parents, and they are capable of guidance, then you should always listen to them. If they are not capable, if they are anti-Torah, then you should never listen to them. So there is no age boundary at all.
You should ask, at what age should a person stop listening to his Rebbe, to his mentor, to his counselor? There is no age, all his life he should listen... teshua b'rov yoeitz, there is a salvation in having sufficient counsel.
Good Shabbos To All
This is transcribed from questions that were posed to Harav Miller by the audience at the Thursday night lectures.
To listen to the audio of this Q & A please dial: 201-676-3210
Important Numbers
