Readings for Saturday, September 14, 2024
Ki Taytzay (When you will go out)
Ki Taytzay is the sixth sedrah in the book of Devarim (Deuteronomy). It takes its name from the first two Hebrew
words in the first sentence of the sedrah.
“When you will go out (Ki Taytzay) to war against your enemies.…” (
Categories
War:
532-535
A
captive woman;
556-567 Latrines;
581-582
Military
exemptions for grooms;
603-605 Remember Amalek.
Family:
552 Marriage before
cohabitation;
553-554
False
accusation of adultery;
557-558 Rapist and marriage;
559
Prohibited
marriage;
560
Mamzer;
561-564
Prohibition
against Moabites, et al;
565
Emission;
579
Divorce;
580
Remarriage;
589
Punish
children for parents;
597-599
Childless
widows;
600-601
Female
interference in disputes.
Justice
System:
535-536 Capital
punishment and corpses;
Dispose of a corpse;
555 Death for a false
witness;
556 Absolution for
violations under duress;
584
Kidnapping;
594-595
Lashing
a criminal.
Commerce:
538-539
Returning
lost objects;
546-547
Building
a guardrail;
572-573
Ban on
interest;
602 Honest weights and
measures.
Social
Justice:
540-541
Raising
fallen animals;
544-545
The
bird’s nest;
568-569 Runaway slaves;
574-575
Promptly
carrying out vows;
576-578
Workers
eating in the vineyards where they labor;
583 Ban on necessary
utensils as collateral;
585-587
Rules
about taking a pledge;
588
Prompt
payment of workers;
590-593
Protecting
the weak;
595-596 Prohibitions against
muzzling animals.
Sex/Idolatry:
542-543
Prohibition
on wearing clothing of the opposite sex;
570
Prohibition
against Jews as prostitutes;
571
Banned
donations.
Mixing:
548-549
Sowing
seeds;
550 Yoking animals;
551
Wool
and linen.
Different sages and
writers have chosen to emphasize different aspects of the commandments in the
sedrah. Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson
focuses on the commandments concerning divorce.
He “analyses the concept of divorce” and then cleverly shifts it to
discuss the concept of unity with God, which is the essence of the
universe. Rabbi Weisblum centers his
comments around the commandment regarding chasing the mother bird away from her
nest. He sees the law as teaching the
concepts of acceptance, compassion and “measure for measure.” Rabbi Telushkin puts special emphasis on the
commandments dealing with First Born Sons (
Themes
Commandments
532. Procedures regarding a beautiful woman taken
captive during a war including the delineation of her rights during the first
month of captivity (
533. The prohibition against selling such a woman
as a slave (
534. The prohibition against turning such a woman
into a slave after having been sexually intimate with her (
535. The commandment to execute one guilty of a
capital offense (
536. The commandment against letting the corpse
of a hanged criminal remain on the gallows overnight since you must bury him
the same day (
537. The obligation to promptly bury a criminal
after his execution (
538. The obligation to return a lost object to
its owner (22:1).
539. The obligation not to pretend that one has
not seen the lost object (22:1).
540. The prohibition against ignoring a fallen
animal’s suffering (22:4).
541. The obligation to help the owner raise a
fallen animal (22:4).
542. The prohibition against women wearing male
apparel (22:5).
543. The prohibition again men donning women’s
clothing (22:5).
544. The prohibition against taking a mother bird
with its young in a nest (22:6).
545. The obligation to send the mother bird away
when one wishes to seize her young (22:6).
546. The obligation to build a guardrail on one’s
own roof (22:8).
547. The obligation to avoid leaving anything
about that could cause serious injury (22:8).
548. The prohibition against sowing together
mixed seeds (22:9).
549. The prohibition against eating produce
resulting from the planting of mixed seeds (22:9).
550. The prohibition against yoking together two
different kinds of animals (
551. The prohibition against wearing clothes that
contains both wool and linen (
552. The obligation to marry a woman before
living with her (
553. The commandment establishing that a woman
whose husband falsely accuses her of adultery can insist that he never divorce
her (
554. The commandment that a husband who lodges
such a false accusation is never permitted to divorce his wife (
555. The commandment that those who commit a
capital crime are to be executed (
556. The prohibition against punishing a person
who is forced to commit a sin against his or her will (
557. The commandment that a rapist is obligated
marry his victim if she so desires (
558. The prohibition against the rapist ever divorcing
the victim of the rape (
559. The commandment excluding from the Jewish
community for the purpose of marriage a man who is sexually mutilated (23:2).
560. The
commandment classifying a Jewish child resulting from an adulterous or
incestuous union as mamzer and as forbidden to marry any other Jew except
another mamzer (23:3).
561. The prohibition against Ammonites and
Moabites ever becoming Hebrews (23:4-10).
562. The prohibition against concerning oneself
with the well being of Ammonites and Moabites (23:4-10).
563. The prohibition against hating Edomites and
Egyptians (23:4-10).
564. The positive stipulation that Edomites and
Egyptians can be admitted into the Israelite community in the third generation
(23:4-10).
565. The prohibition against a man who is
ritually unclean remaining in the Israelite camp (
566. The commandment to maintain sanitary
conditions within the Israelite army by using a latrine outside the camp (
567. The commandment requiring soldiers to carry
an implement with which to dig and cover a latrine (
568. The prohibition against returning a runaway
slave to his master when he comes to live among the Israelites (
569. The prohibition against oppressing an
ex-slave when he comes to live among the Israelites (
570. The prohibition against an Israelite man or
woman becoming a prostitute (
571. The specification forbidding offerings to
the sanctuary donations that are unacceptable (
572. The prohibition against taking interest on a
loan to an Israelite (
573. The permission to take interest from a loan
to a non-Israelite (
574. The obligation to promptly carry out a vow (
575. The commandment to fulfill what one has said
one will do (
576. The permission to a worker to eat what he
can take with his hands while working in a vineyard or field (
577. The prohibition against loading food in a
vessel and taking it away while working in a vineyard or a field (
578. The prohibition against stopping work in
order to eat from the crops of one’s employer (
579. The obligation of a man divorcing his wife
to issue her a legally binding bill of divorce (24:1).
580. The prohibition against remarrying one’s
former wife, if she has married another since the divorce (24:2-4).
581. The right of a groom not to be drafted into
the army for a year after his marriage (24:5).
582. The responsibility of a groom to make his
bride happy in this first year (24:5).
583. The prohibition against taking as collateral
for a loan a utensil needed by the borrower to prepare food (24:6).
584. The community’s obligation to execute a
kidnapper who enslaved or sold into slavery a fellow Israelite (24:7).
585. The prohibition against entering the
borrower’s house to take the pledge (24:10-13).
586. The prohibition against sleeping in a
pledged garment (24:10-13).
587. The obligation to return the pledge, if it
is a garment, to the borrower when he needs it (24:10-13).
588. The obligation to pay a hired day worker
promptly (24:14-15).
589. A prohibition against punishing children for
their parents’ sins or parents for those of their children (24:16).
590-591. The
obligation to treat justly society’s weakest members (24:17).
592-593. The specifications of responsibility toward
society’s weakest members (24:19).
594. The
commandment to lash those convicted of doing evil (25:2-3).
595. The
prohibition against degrading a criminal by administering too many lashes
(25:2-3).
596. The
prohibition against muzzling an animal working in a field (25:4).
597. The
commandment to a deceased husband’s brother to marry a “yevamah” in what is
known as a levirate marriage (25:5-10).
598. The commandment to treat the firstborn son
of a levirate marriage as the son of the dead man (25:5-10).
599. The specification of the procedure to be
enacted if the brother-in-law refuses to marry the widow (25:5-10).
600. The commandment to punish a woman who uses
impermissible and obscene means to help her husband (25:11).
601. The commandment to show no mercy to a woman
who uses impermissible and obscene means to help her husband (25:11).
602. The prohibition against ever possessing, let
alone using, dishonest weights and measures (25:13-16).
603. The commandment to remember the evil Amalek
did to Israel in the desert (25:17-19).
604. The commandment to wipe out Amalek
(25:17-19).
605. The commandment not to forget the evil
Amalek did to Israel (25:17-19).
Biblical Literacy by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin (as edited by this author)
The Oral Law
The sedrah provides several instances of the Oral Law softening or making the Written Law more accessible and/or more reasonable. For example, the injunction concerning the man with crushed testes was interpreted to mean only those who had intentionally mutilated themselves. Such behavior was often associated with pagan rituals. The death penalty connected with the rebellious son was probably never carried out, in part, because the Rabbis made imposition of the sentence so difficult. The commandment certainly gives support to the concept of the traditional family unit i.e., a mother and a father. Both parents had to come together and both parents had to condemn the child. This is in keeping with the verses in Shoftim about needing two witnesses in a capital case. It is also in keeping with the concept that both parents, together, are responsible for raising a child. This may fly in the face of modern American values, but this may be one of those examples of “being a separate or holy people.” The commandment about building a guardrail around the roof has been interpreted as an injunction to maintain your property and possessions in a way that is calculated to protect others from injury.
Now let’s see what
it would be like to create a little modern Halakah of our own. Of course only sages can create real
Halakah. The attempt here is to see how
these ancient laws might be applied to modern situations. After all, that is how much of the Oral Law
seems to have developed. The two
situations are my own invention and are in no way related to any actual
situation of which I am aware here in
A Jewish man marries, has a son and then gets a divorce. The man marries for a second time and has a son by the second wife. Should he be able to reduce his child support payments to help support the child from the second marriage? When the child from the first marriage graduates high school, child support stops. The child goes to his father and tells him he wants to go to college and needs financial help. Should the father be able to reject the request because he needs the money to support the son from the second marriage? We no longer have polygamy. Could a liberal interpretation of the laws concerning the first-born son of the unloved wife provide us with guidance? Or should we say that since the since the sedrah talks about laws pertaining to divorce (21:15-17) and does not mention this issue, the laws concerning the first born son are not applicable?
Chukim
When we read in earlier sedrah about the laws pertaining to the Red Heifer, we were introduced to the concept of Chukim - those ordinances that we obey even though we really do not understand the reason for their existence. The prohibition against mixing wool and linen is another example of this.
Remembrance of Amalek
“Remember what
Amalek did to you on the way as you were leaving from
Remembrance of Miriam
“Remember that
which the Lord your God did to Miriam on the way when you were leaving from
Devarim, Ruth and Henry VIII
This week’s sedrah
contains the rules about the Levirate Marriage.
This is the marriage between the widow and the brother of her deceased
husband who is called the “levir” which is the root of the word Levirate. This type of marriage was designed to ensure
that the deceased name would not be “blotted out” which meant, among other
things, that his property would not go somebody not directly related to him. As demonstrated in the story of Judah and
Tamar, the custom of the Levirate Marriage must have been an ancient one. Once again, there is a difference between the
world before the giving of the Torah and after the giving of the Torah. For it is only after Sinai that a method of
release came into existence. This
sedrah provides for this ceremony of release, which is called halitsah. With so many other laws, why waste time on
this one, which is not even operative among Reform and Conservative Jews? The simple answer is that this law figured in
at least two events of far-reaching consequence. First, in the Book of Ruth, Ploni Almoni, had
to renounce his claim to Elimelech’s property before Boaz and Ruth could
marry. Their marriage ultimately
resulted in the birth of King David.
Secondly, Henry VIII, the marrying king of
The Beautiful Woman
Why does the text
talk about the “beautiful woman?” Why
not just talk about “a woman?” Was a
woman who was not beautiful to be treated differently? According to Rashi, the enemies of the
Israelites would take special pain to make their women as physically appealing
as possible so that they might tempt the Israelite warriors and lead them away
from God. (Remember what happened at
Baal-Peor.) Hence, any woman who would
be seized would be viewed as a “beautiful woman.” It seems to be more a term of art than an
actual physical description of the woman.
There are numerous laws in this sedrah concerning the treatment of women. In the culture of the Bible, dating was an unknown concept. Certainly on-line and speed dating would be totally foreign concepts to our ancient forefathers and mothers. However, the Torah does offer guidelines for those who look beyond the plain meaning. Women, even foreign women taken as spoils of war, were to be treated with respect. This means that women regardless of how you make their acquaintance are to be treated with respect and sensitivity. They are not disposable items or toys. Regardless of how a woman may see herself or view her relationships, the Torah sets a standard of behavior for men that would make them all gentlemen.
Civil Disobedience
The Torah has survived because it is a living document, not just the dead hand from the past. Look at the injunctions concerning runaway slaves and then decide how a Jew should have reacted just before the Civil War when the Federal Fugitive Slave Act was the law of the land. The Federal Fugitive Slave Act required people to return “runaway slaves” to their owners.
Mourning Customs
The female captive is to spend the first thirty days mourning her father and mother. The first thirty days after the death of a loved one are special period called the Shloshim. The corpse of a criminal is to be buried on the day of his death. Jewish custom is to bury as soon after death as is practicable; on the same day if possible. The period of mourning cannot begin until after the burial has taken place.
Social Justice
When you read the Prophets, you will find them drawing on many of the concepts presented in this sedrah as they pertain to treating the needy. The prophets specifically seem to quote these verses as they take future generations of Israelites to task for seizing the pledge and for “sleeping in the pledge.” The similarities in message and language would seem to provide further support for the antiquity of the Torah.
Getting Involved
We are reminded over and over again that part of being Jewish to be responsible for what goes on the world. We first see that in Bereshit with the classic question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” We see it again in this sedrah at the end of 22:3 where the last phrase is translated as “you may not hide yourself” or more colloquially as “you may not remain indifferent.”
Business Ethics
Based on the
readings in Devarim, the ideal economic society was one of subsistence
farmers, herdsmen, artisans and the attendant commercial activities necessary
to support them. The accumulation of
great wealth was not a virtue and poverty was to be a temporary thing. Workers were to be paid promptly (24:
14-15). Since you were not supposed to
even own dishonest weights, let alone use them, business dealings were not only
to be proper, they were to be beyond reproach.
Obviously, the modern business community would do well to follow the
examples set out in the Torah since it really covers everything from paying
your workers what they have earned (including not cheating them out of their
pensions and benefits) to not “cooking the books” when providing information to
investors and regulators. The issue of
loans and interests has led to some confusion.
Loans to a fellow Israelite were not seen as a commercial matter. Loans were made to those in need. Therefore you never took basic utensils or
garments from the needy. (This might be
seen as the forerunner of the modern
Free Will
Chapter 22:25-26 in
Devarim talks about rape. But the
underlying meaning of the verses is that you cannot punish anybody for
committing sins against his or her will.
On the other hand, this would also infer that when duress is absent
people are capable of, and responsible for, making their own choices. The sedrah also contains laws concerning the
right of inheritance of the first-born (
The Ox and the Donkey
The prohibition against yoking an ox and donkey together when plowing has given rise to several interesting amplifications and/or explanations of the rule. Some see it as part of a whole series of laws prohibiting “unnatural combinations.” Rashi interprets it to mean that animals of different species should never be joined together “for any kind of work.” Rabbi Telushkin sees it as part of a whole series of Biblical injunctions relating to kindness toward animals. People are allowed to use animals, but they are not allowed to abuse them. While animals are not at the same level as people, abusing them makes it easier for some to abuse their fellow human beings. Rabbi Artson sees it as a lesson about personal development. The ox and the donkey are not to be yoked together because they move at different speeds and have different levels of endurance. By the same token, each individual develops at a different speed and has different strengths and weaknesses. Just as we would not expect an ox and donkey to move in the same manner, so should we expect children to not develop in exactly the same manner? The trick to parenting (or adult group dynamics for that matter) is acknowledging the uniqueness of the individual, allowing him or her to develop at his or her own pace, while still conforming to group norms. One simple sentence and so many lessons - and people wonder why the Torah is read over and over and over again.
Mamzer
Contrary to popular misconception, the term “mamzer” (23:3) does not refer to a child “born out of wedlock.” Rather it refers to a child born out of a forbidden union i.e., incest or adultery. This stringent pronunciation would seem to run counter to the statement we find later in the sedrah that children are not to be punished for the sins of their parents (24:16). There are those who contend that the intention of the law is not to punish the child, but to provide an extremely strong incentive for people not to engage in illicit sexual relationships. Regardless whom you believe authored the Torah, He or they knew that the “flesh is weak especially where matters of the flesh are concerned.” The family unit was of such great importance that it apparently was felt that this strong admonition would keep people from engaging in a momentarily pleasurable act that could have far-reaching destructive consequences. Various sages have been struck by the stringency of the command and the seemingly unfair burden it places on the “innocent” child. Over the centuries, Rabbis have developed a variety of “legal fictions” designed to mitigate the impact on the child. The Conservative Movement has gone so far as to adopt “evidentiary procedures to render this rule inoperative, because it penalizes children for the sins of their parents” which is contrary to 24:16.
Ki Taytzay and Assimilation
Ki Taytzay is filled with laws designed to protect workers, those without fathers and the strangers in your midst as well as injunctions to keep honest business records. These laws in Ki Taytzay deal with issues that were once summarized under the title of Social Justice. In fact, there was a time that many American Jews thought that Social Justice was a substitute for Judaism or all that there was to Judaism. Moshe Ktsav, the President of Israel, writes in I Am Jewish, “Social Justice and concern for the weak are cornerstones of Judaism and of Torah of Israel…for the Jewish People to live successfully in its historical homeland, it must take care of the weak, the orphan.” He continues that “charity is equal to all the commandments of the Torah, which is why the State of Israel as a Jewish democratic country, is also an advanced welfare state, confronting social needs.” Of course, it is “convenient” to espouse the doctrines of Social Justice when you are weak, powerless or marginalized and need this protection yourself. This sedrah raises the question as to how American Jews are doing now that they are the judges, the business moguls and media magnates. Leo Botstein writes in I Am Jewish that “American Jews have become complacent, lazy, and unengaged with learning and public service…. Jews have become too allied with a narrow conservative view of social justice and have broken with a traditional historical alliance with the poor and the oppressed against the entrenched vested interests in government and the marketplace.” If Ktsav is right, the laws of Ki Taytzay are critical to the survival of the State of Israel and the Jewish People. But if Botstein is even only partially right, then American Jewry has turned its back on Ki Taytzay and faces the worst kind of assimilation; not the assimilation of intermarriage or those other bogeyman Jewish leaders like to talk about but the assimilation of being like everybody else in the dimensions of social morality and ethics.
Best offer
“You shall not
have…alternate weights, larger and smaller.
You must have completely honest weights and completely honest
measures.” These words from chapter 25
of Devarim have been interpreted in many ways including the need to deal
fairly, to give value for value, and measure for measure. In a town beyond the
Honest Weights, Honest Measures and Israel’s
Final Redemption
How important is it that we use only honest and weights measures? The Author or authors of the Bible must have considered it extremely important. When the prophet Ezekiel describes the conditions for Israel’s final redemption and the vision of the re-built Temple, he said explicitly “You shall have just balances, and a just ephah and a just bath.” (45:10) He then goes on to describe exactly what those measures shall be. In other words, honesty in business and commercial dealings are a critical part of final redemption and the arrival of the messianic era.
Elul - The Days of Awe - 72
Pity the poor Jew. He is but a few days into Elul. He hears the sound of the Shofar each morning reminding him of the coming of the “Days of Awe.” He yearns for Teshuvah. He seeks to assure his Master that this time he will turn and return for real - no halfway measures this time. And then boom - the second sedrah of Elul confronts him with seventy-two laws. Maimonides himself counted them up. Seventy-two laws! You’ve got to be kidding. There is no way. The Jew is lost; the return is impossible. But wait the seventy-two commands are not a barrier; they are a beacon of hope. For what is seventy-two except Chai times four? Who knows four? Four are the number of the matriarchs, the first women of the Jewish people. What do we seek at this time of the year? We seek God’s mercy. And is not God’s mercy connected with the Shechinah; what the mystics consider the “feminine side of God.” Instead of despair the Jew is filled with hope. If he breaks down seventy-two they are not a barrier to keep him from returning, they are sign of hope that with God’s mercy he shall be able to return. The secret came in being able to break the number seventy-two down into its components. That is also the path to Teshuvah. Do not despair and say that since I cannot do all seventy-two I will do none. Take it step at a time; one commandment at a time and like stones they will become a pathway to that which you seek.
The Talmud and Labor
Rabban Gamliel the
son of Rabbi Judah HaNassi would say: An excellent thing is the study of Torah
combined with some worldly occupation, for the labor demanded by them both
makes sin to be forgotten. All study of the Torah without work must in the end
be futile and become the cause of sin Chapter 2, Verse 2)
Many of us know the
quote from Pirke Avot – Sayings of the Fathers about the need for labor. But as
the attached article by Hershey Friedman demonstrates, Jewish tradition has a whole lot more to say about dignity of
labor and choosing the correct occupation.
http://www.jlaw.com/Articles/idealoccupa.html
Haftarah
54:1-10 Isaiah
The Man/The Book: The prophetic portion is attributed to the Isaiah of the Exile, a personage who lived in the sixth century B.C.E. His was a vision of hope and redemption. Unfortunately, we know nothing of the personal life of this person other than that he was alive at the time of Cyrus the Great.
The Message: This
is reputed to be the shortest haftarah of the year. Not only is it a mere ten sentences, but the
sentences are short ones as well. During
the year, these first ten verses are the introductory part of the Haftarah for
the sedrah of Noah. The prophet uses a
marriage motif to describe the relationship between God and the
Israelites. In images reminiscent of
Hosea and Gomer,
Theme-Link: According to traditionalists, the link is not between the sedrah and haftarah. The link is with the calendar. This is the fifth of the Seven Haftarot of Consolation which we began reading on the Shabbat after Tisha B’Av and will finish on the Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah. However, one cannot help but notice that the haftarah uses the Husband and Wife Motif while the sedrah includes marriage and divorce. Is this a coincidence or a secondary message from the sages who compiled the readings? The connection between Isaiah and Lechah Dodi that we saw in last week’s haftarah continues in this week’s reading. The seventh verse of the hymn welcoming the Sabbath Queen begins with words from Isaiah 54:4 “Do not be ashamed, do not feel humiliated.” The ninth verse begins with words from Isaiah 54:3, “Rightward and leftward, you shall spread out mightily.” While this hymn is commonly viewed as a welcoming ode to the Sabbath Queen, it contains a strong message concerning the redemption of the Jewish people. According to Etz Yosef as cited in the Artscroll Siddur, these words from Isaiah in verse nine are meant to convey that at the end of the exile, the rightful heirs to Jerusalem, the Jewish people, will overcome their enemies regardless of where they come from (rightward or leftward).
Copyright;
September, 2024; Mitchell A. Levin
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