I am asking this question in light of a situation I witnessed recently:
When the senior rabbi of our shul--a very righteous man who was keeping his wife's yahrzeit that night--walked past the audience to come to the stage, a few people seated on the end of the front row nearest him stood halfway up, or possibly stood up and bowed.
What were they doing and what are the details of this custom? Who, what, when, and where do we do it?
Answer
מִפְּנֵי שֵׂיבָה תָּקוּם, וְהָדַרְתָּ פְּנֵי זָקֵן
Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man
The Talmud (Kiddushin 32b) understands this to refer (in addition to the elderly) to any Torah scholar, and so it is codified in Shulchan Arukh (YD 244:1) that one must stand to honor a Torah scholar who passes within 4 cubits of him.
This is likely what the people you witnessed were doing.
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