Is there a mitzvah to stand for an elderly woman or a woman who is a חכמה בתורה?

Question: Is there a mitzvah to stand for a woman who is aחכמה בתורה  or elderly just as there is a mitzah to stand for a Rabbi who is a Talmid Chacham or elderly? Similarly, is there a special mitzvah for a girl to give kavod to her Morah? Is it permitted for her to call her Morah by her first name?

Answer: It would seem that we can deduce from the Talmud that there is an obligation to stand up for an אשה חכמה בתורה based on the passage in Mesechet Shavuot (30b) where Rav Nachman stood up in respect for the wife of Rav Huna since אשת חבר הרי היא כחבר , the wife of a talmid chacham is treaded like a talmid chacham herself. The Rishonim on this passage explain that this obligation to stand for a talmid chacham is Biblical in nature. One might argue that the same obligation should exist when the woman is a talmid chachama in her own right. However, one might also distinguish and say that the obligation to stand for the wife of a talmid chacham is due to the respect required for the husband who is a talmid chacham and we say אשתו כגופו, the wife is treated as a partner of her husband. Rav Ovadia says it would seem clear from Maran Beit Yosef in Shulchan Aruch that there is no independent mitzvah to stand for the wife of the talmid chacham, but rather it is only as she is an extension of him and part of respecting him. In fact, he rules that one only stands for her while the husband is alive, but after his death one would not be obligated to do so.

However, the Sefer Chasidim argues that the obligation to stand for an אשה חכמה בתורה stems from another source, the obligation to stand for the elderly. The pasuk says מפני שיבה תקום והדרת פני זקן, and he says this applies not only to an elderly man, but even to an elderly woman. Thus just as you must stand for an elderly woman, you have to show the same respect for an אשה חכמה בתורה. Rav Ovadia quotes poskim who say this obligation begins when a woman is seventy years old. Whereas the obligation to stand for the wife of a talmid chacham stems from the need to give respect to her husband, the obligation to stand for a elderly woman comes from the need to show her respect in her own right. Similarly, an אשה חכמה בתורה deserves to be show kavod as well.

While Rav Ovadia quotes the Ben Ishe Chai who argues with the above, he quotes a litany of other poskim who agree that there is an obligation to stand and show proper respect to an אשה חכמה בתורה. If this were even to be a halchic doubt, a safek, Rav Ovadia concludes we would say ספק דאורייתא לחומרא, that a doubt in a Biblical law must move us to be strict.

Rav Ovadia further states that there is definitely an obligation to stand for your Morah who teaches you Torah. This is because the source for a standing for your Rabbi is that his teaching you Torah is leading you to עולם הבא; the same is true when it is your Morah who is teaching you Torah. With this in mind, Rav Ovadia concludes that just as you cannot call your Rabbi by his first name, you cannot call your Morah by her first name.