When You Go Out
This week's reading, Ki Teitzei, contains 74 commandments, more mitzvot than any other Torah portion. Some of the commandments discussed include the wearing of tzitzit, the obligation to bury the dead without undue delay, the requirement to return a found object, the prohibition against causing pain to any living creature, the punishment for adultery, the laws of marriage and divorce, the prohibition of lending with interest, the evidence of relatives in a court proceeding is inadmissible, and the obligation to eradicate the memory of Amalek.
There are two issues I would like to reflect on this week. First, is the wearing of tzitzit. According to tradition, our tallit were to have an indigo blue strand on each corner, representing G-d. The color itself was obtained from the pigmentation of a particular shellfish that was available in biblical times. That meant that we would be wearing a holy garment on ourselves that had touched a forbidden animal. I prepared a drash during our study of Leviticus that addressed the forbidden animals to us; not because they were unhealthy, but because they are beneath us to touch or eat. I say touch in particular because to simply touch the carcass of an animal that is beneath us to eat, is as bad as eating the flesh of the animal. Which brings me back to my original point that we used to don holy garments that contained the coloring from a forbidden animal. If shellfish are forbidden, and simply touching the carcass of the animal is forbidden, why then are we to make a holy garment from the coloring of the shell of this animal? There are lots of conundrums like these in the Torah, and not being a torah scholar, I’m not able to answer but we can discuss this during our Oneg.
The second issue I would like to discuss is the commandments themselves. The words Ki Teitzei mean “When you go out”. This is not necessarily a reference to going out to dinner, or attending a party, but rather, when we enter the land given to us by G-d. The parshat is specifically addressing what we have to keep in mind as we go from freed slaves, to a free nation. In this parsha, there is a time when Moses says to the people of Israel, “Remember that mitzvoth and Torah are the only effective guarantee of Jewish success and survival even while engaged in building and defending Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel.”
What is Moses really saying to us in this passage? It takes time to build a nation. We have to move into the land, and according to G-d rid it of idolaters, and build places to live. We are to build the temple where G-d will reside, and we need to establish an entire rule of law and government. We need to maintain an army for protection, begin establishing farms to provide food for ourselves and our livestock, and generally do what is necessary to create a place for us to live freely. In the midst of all of this, we must remember that for us to be successful, we have to maintain the laws and mitzvoth that G-d has given us over the last 40 years.
As a board member, I am constantly reminded that it takes time and energy to accomplish the work of the temple, to make sure that our children have activities to do as part of the Youth Group, the Ritual Committee addresses the issues of the temple, and touching base with the Building and Grounds committee to ensure that the lights work, and what needs to be repaired are indeed maintained. Driving my decisions are not only what is good for this congregation, but also what G-d has commanded us to do, and in particular me as a member of this Jewish community. To love thy neighbor as thyself. To help the poor, to be open to all ideas and thoughts, and to be honest and comforting to those in need.
So, as we go through life, from the entering of the Land of Israel, until eternity, as long as we remember the commandments and keep them holy, our lives will be filled with success and good health.
SHABBAT SHALOM
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