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| Thu, 21 Nov 2024 04:18:41 -0600 — |
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D'var: Parashat Ki-Teitzei 5784 Commentary by Michael Goldstein Friday, September 13, 2024 |
| Ki-Teitzei Deuteronomy 21:10 — 25:19 |
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In this week’s Parashat, Ki Teitzei, Moses continues his final sermon to the
Israelites that began with the first portion of Deuteronomy. Ki Teitzei has a greater
number of the Torah’s 613 commandments than any other Parashat, 74 of them.
Second in line is Mishpatim (Exodus 21:1–24:18) with 53.
Ki Teitzei means When You Go and can be found in the first verse of the Parashat: When you go out to war against your enemies (Deut. 21:10). In it, Moses presents specific rules about the treatment of a female war captive, proper family relationships, a number of features of daily living, justice, family relationships and responsibilities, work, and sexuality. It is my belief that the Torah is not history, but rather a series of apocryphal stories written by any number of authors that, like Aesop’s fables, portray one or more morals. Each time I read the Parashats in the Torah, I look for these messages and try to select the one that I consider most important or most relevant to our daily lives, or some other reason to make it my choice. Ki Teitzei has several messages. Here are three. First, a great deal of this Parashat is given over to marriage and divorce, including this law that usually doesn’t get much notice: When a man has taken a bride, he shall not go out with the army or be assigned to it for any purpose; he shall be exempt for one year for the sake of his household, to give happiness to the woman he has married. (Deut. 24:5) The four verses that immediately precede it deal with divorce, suggesting that nurturing the marriage during its early stages is of crucial importance to its success. A husband should not be gone for an extended time during that first year so he can give happiness to the woman he has married. In essence, the law tries to blend two distinct personalities into a lasting union. The message here is that a love that does not deepen and expand with shared experience is destined to deteriorate. Second, Ki Teitzei offers perhaps the first building code in human history — well before requirements about insulation and electrical wiring. The Torah tells us, When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, so that you do not bring bloodguilt on your house if anyone should fall from it. (Deut. 22:8) Beyond demanding that we not harm one another, here the Torah prohibits a sin of omission. It is not enough for us to not push someone off a roof. We must also protect against someone accidently falling off our roof. Third, the last three verses of the Parashat (Deut. 25:17-19) talk to the unprovoked attack and slaughter of stragglers by Amalek against the Israelites as they left Egypt. Deuteronomy 25:17 says, You shall remember what Amalek did to you on the way, when you went out of Egypt. The final four words of the Parashat are; You shall not forget! (Deut.19) Why the need for both expressions? You shall remember and You shall not forget. They seem redundant. Some commentaries seem to imply that you shall remember is a command while do not forget is more of a prediction as in; the anti-Semites will not let you forget! I think of Jean-Paul Sartre’s memorable line from his 1946 essay on anti-Semitism entitled "Anti-Semite and Jew;" "If the Jew did not exist, the anti-Semite would invent him." Should we ever lapse into a false sense of security and forget our Jewishness, the anti-Semites of the world will be there to remind us that we are, as it says in Numbers 23:9, a people that dwells alone. Everything has a purpose and the purpose of an anti-Semite is to remind Jews that they are Jewish. There are a million good, positive reasons to be proud of being Jewish. If less that 100 years ago, being Jewish carried a death sentence, today it promises a meaningful life. And when we have meaningful, fulfilling lives as Jews, we find that when we respect ourselves, others also respect us. Judaism is not a burden. We should be proud of and celebrate our heritage. Michael Goldstein |
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