KI TEITZEI
29 Aug. 2009
Deut. 21:10-25:19
Isaiah 54:1-10
1 Cor. 5:1-5
We continue to look towards the High Holy Days, and remember we are in the
midst of the month of ELUL, when we are to look deeply into our soul and
ask ourselves where we are in our walk with HaShem.
There are many difficult topics here in this Parasha, including
seventy-two commandments, both positive and negative, as counted by
Maimonides.
In this portion we learn about commandments, precepts, statutes and
judgments. Some of these are laws about capturing foreign women, the
rights of the first-born, wayward and rebellious sons, caring for the
dead, returning lost objects, the care for birds and their young,
protecting people from injury by placing a fence around the roof. We are
not to mix wool and linen. An ox and an ass (donkey) are not to be yoked
together just as we are not to be unequally yoked. There are laws that
relate to penalties for adultery, rape and marriage to a Moabite or
Ammonite.
We are to keep the camp pure, pay workers on time and not turn in an
escaped slave. Proper treatment of a debtor and not charging interest on
loans are discussed. Finally, the portion ends with the commandment to
not forget who Amalek was and what he did to the Israelites when they came
out of Egypt.
Many of these regulations have to do with how we are to treat others. The
watchword of our faith, the Shema, is from Deuteronomy 6:4-8. It begins,
“Hear O Israel, the Lord is our G-d, the Lord is one.” Hertz states that
these words enshrine Judaism’s greatest contribution to the religious
thought of mankind. They constitute the primal confession of faith in the
religion of the Synagogue, declaring that the Holy G-d worshipped and
proclaimed by Israel is One; and that He alone is G-d. Who was, is, and
ever will be. That opening sentence of the Shema rightly occupies the
central place in Jewish religious thought, for every other Jewish belief
turns upon it; all goes back to it; all flows from it.
The Shema declares war against all of polytheism and paganism, the worship
of many deities. It excludes pantheism, the belief that all or many can
be divine, as being legitimate. The affirmation from the Shema rests in
the concept of the brotherhood of man and the unity of G-d. The
conception of Monotheism opened our eyes to the unity of the universe
under one G-d. Our one God is righteous and omnipotent, the Ruler of the
universe.
Our sages saw the ultimate war in this portion of Scripture, the battle
that rages within us. As 1Corinthians 5:7 tells us, we must get rid of
the old yeast (old nature) and put on the new nature.
As we look to a new year (Rosh Hashanah) and as the trumpet will sound,
let us awake from our slumber (Ephesians 5:14) and put on our new self.
Shavua Tov
Rabbi Z.
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