Rav Judah said in the name of Shmuel: They asked Rabbi Eliezer: How far does the honor of parents extend?
He said: Go out and see what a certain gentile, Dama ben Netinah is his name, did in Askhkelon. The Sages sought jewels for the breast-plate, at a profit of six-hundred thousand [gold dinars] but the key that unlocked his chest with the jewels was lying under his father's head. The did not wish to wake him from his sleep.
The following year the Holy One, blessed be He, gave him his reward. A rare red heifer was born in his herd. When the Sages of Israel went to him to buy it, he said to them, "I know you, that even if I asked you for all the money in the world you would pay me. But I ask of you only the money which I lost through my father's honor." -Kiddushin 31-2
Honoring one's parents is a paramount mitzvah in the Torah. It is also the undergirding of civilization.
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