[Avodah] Spouse vs. parent

[Elazar M. Teitz]

>>>As long as we're asking, how do you understand only shloshim for
a spouse?<<<<

>>>The usual explanation is that aveilus for parents is 1 year because
of kibud av ve-em, not because the loss is greater than that of a spouse
or a child<<<.

>>I have heard that the reason is that a parent is the only individual
that can never be replaced (whereas a spouse or a child can be).<<

>I think R'YBS gave the loss of the link in the mesorah chain.<

These answers all were given at a nichum aveilim visit to RYBS, in the
year when he had three losses -- mother, brother and wife -- in six
months. The question came up while my father and Rav Hutner were there.
Rav Hutner gave the mesora-chain answer. (His wording was that when
a father passes away, the son is one generation farther from Sinai.)
My father's answer was that parents can have more than one child, while
a child has only one of each parent. RYBS gave the answer of the extra
months being for kibbud av va'eim.

EMT