הלכה אויף במדבר 26:9

Even as a man is under command to honor his father and fear him, so is he obliged to honor his master, but fear him yet more than his father; his father brought him to life upon this world but his master who taught him wisdom, brings him to life in the world to come. If he chances upon a lost article of his father and a lost article of his master, reclaiming that of his master precedes the one of his father. If his father and his master are burdened with a load, he should unburden the load of his master first and then that of his father. If his father and his master be incarcerated in a prison, he should free the master first and afterward free his father. If his father was a disciple of the wise, he should free his father first. Likewise if his father be a disciple of the wise, even though not weighty alongside his master, he should reclaim the lost article of his father first and after that reclaim the lost article of his master. There is no honor greater than the honor due a master, nor awe greater than the awe due a master. The sages said: "The awe of thy master is likened to the awe of Him Who is in heaven." (Pirke Abot, 4.15). They have, therefore, said: "He who differs with his master is likened unto one who differs with the Shekinah, even as it is said: 'When they strove against God'" (Num. 26.9; Sanhedrin, 110a). Whosoever strives with his master is like unto one who strives against the Shekinah, even as it is said: "Where the children of Israel strove with the Lord and He was sanctified in them" (Ibid. 20.13); and whosoever murmurs against his master is like unto one who murmurs against the Lord, even as it is said: "Your murmurs are not against us, but against the Lord" (Ex. 16.8); and whosoever has suspicious thoughts against his master is like unto one who has suspicious thoughts against the Shekinah, as it is said: "And the people spoke against God and against Moses" (Num. 25).¹Baba Mezi’a, 33a; Horayot, 14b; The text herein is that of the Talmud Yer. C. G.

From the laws of the commandment is that which they, may their memory be blessed, said that there is no need to say that someone who is not a sage is obligated in the honor of a sage, but rather even a sage is obligated in the honor of [another] sage; as they, may their memory be blessed, said (Bava Metzia 33a), “The Torah scholars in Babylonia get up for one another.” And that which they also elucidated that with the honor of a teacher upon his student, there is a great addition upon the honor that he is obligated to any other sage. And they emphasized this to the point that they said (Avot 4:12) “The reverence of your teacher [should be] like the reverence of Heaven.” And in the explanation, they said [between] his father and his teacher, his teacher has precedence in honor, in a lost object, in a load and in captivity. But if his father was a sage — even though he was not equivalent to his teacher — his father has precedence. And in the chapter [entitled] Chelek (Sanhedrin 110a), they said, “Anyone who disagrees with his teacher is as if he disagrees with the Divine Presence, as it is stated (Numbers 26:9), ‘in their quarreling with the Lord.’” And they spoke at much length about this matter there.