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Subject: Torah Weekly - Ki Seitzei
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Subject: Torah Weekly - Ki Seitzei
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* TORAH WEEKLY *
Highlights of the Weekly Torah Portion
with "Fatherly Advice" Tidbits from The Ethics of our Fathers
Parshas Ki Seitzei
For the week ending 11 Elul 5757
12 & 13 September 1997
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Overview
The Torah describes the only permissible way that a woman captured in
battle may be married. In a case where a man is married to two wives, one
of whom he hates, and she gives birth to the firstborn son, this son's
right to inherit a double portion is protected against the father's desire
to give this to the children of the favored wife. The penalty for a
wayward and rebellious son who will inevitably degenerate into a monstrous
human being is death by stoning. The body of a hanged man must not be left
on the gallows overnight -- as it was the dwelling place of the soul which
is holy, it too has become holy. A person finding lost property has a
responsibility to track down the owner and return it. Men are forbidden
from wearing women's clothing and vice versa. A mother bird may not be
taken together with her eggs; rather the mother must be sent away first. A
fence must be built around the roof of a house to prevent people from
falling. It is forbidden to plant a field with a mixture of seeds; or to
plow using an ox and a donkey together; or to combine wool and linen in a
garment. A four-cornered garment must have twisted threads (tzitzis) on
its corners. Laws and penalties in regard to sexual offenses are detailed.
When Israel goes to war, the camp must be governed by rules of spiritual
purity. If as a result of the battle a slave escapes, he must be freed and
not returned to his master. Promiscuity is prohibited to men and women
alike. Taking any kind of interest for loaning money to a Jew is
forbidden. Bnei Yisrael are not to make vows even in a good cause. A
worker may eat of the fruit he is harvesting, but not take it home with
him. Divorce and re-marriage are legislated. A new husband is exempted
from the army and stays at home the first year to make his wife happy until
the relationship is cemented. Collateral on a loan may not include tools
of labor for this may prevent the debtor from earning a living. The
penalty for kidnapping for profit is death. Removal of the signs of the
disease of Tzara'as is forbidden. Even if a loan is overdue, the creditor
must return the debtor's collateral every day if the debtor needs it.
Workers must be paid immediately. The guilty may not be subjugated by
punishing an innocent relative. Because of their vulnerability, proselytes
and orphans have special rights of protection. The poor are to have a
portion of the harvest. A court has the right to impose the punishment of
lashes. An ox must not be muzzled in its threshing, but be allowed to eat
while it works. It is a mitzvah for a man to marry his brother's widow if
there were no children from that marriage. Weights and measures must be
honest. The Parsha concludes with the mitzvah to wipe out the name of
Amalek, for in spite of knowing all that happened in Egypt, they ambushed
the Jewish People after the Exodus.
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Insights
The Sin Of The Cheese Danish
"An Ammoni or Moavi may not enter the congregation of Hashem; even to their
tenth generation they may not enter into the congregation of Hashem
forever. The reason is that they did not come out to meet you with bread
and water on the way, when you were leaving Egypt." (23:4-5)
What was so terrible about Ammon and Moav not coming out to meet the Bnei
Yisrael with bread and water on their way out of Egypt?
Just because they didn't rush out to meet the Jewish People with "cheese
Danish and coffee?" Is that such a terrible sin?
Even an Egyptian may convert, and, after three generations, marry a Jew.
And their ancestors used Jewish children for bricks in their palaces and
mausoleums! Just because of a lack of hospitality, an Ammoni and a Moavi
can never join the Jewish people?
The reason is that the Ammoni and the Moavi nations owe their very
existence to the Jews. For it was Avraham Avinu -- the father of the
Jewish People -- who rescued Lot from being killed when Sodom was
destroyed. Lot was the father of Ammon and Moav. Were it not for Avraham,
there would never have been an Ammoni or Moavi People. When the people of
Ammon and Moav didn't come out to greet the Jewish People, the descendants
of Avraham, they showed the essence of their character -- lack of
gratitude.
Ingratitude cannot be allowed to infiltrate the Jewish People, because to
give thanks -- to admit that one is beholden -- is the essence of being
Jewish. The word Yehudi is from the root to give thanks, to be grateful.
When looking for a spouse, this can be a yardstick for us: If chronic
ingratitude makes a person unfit as a marriage partner, then the greatest
`catch' is someone who is always grateful.
It is impossible to make an ingrate happy. But someone who is always
grateful, who sees everything as a gift -- that's the easiest person in the
world to make happy.
That's the ideal spouse.
Only Connect
"Remember what Amalek did to you, on the way when you were leaving Egypt,
that he happened upon you upon the way, and he struck those of you who were
hindmost...." (25:18)
The head and the heart are like two different people. A concept can be as
clear as daylight to the mind, but if we don't send it down the
`information super-highway' to the heart, it's as though two different
people are inhabiting the same body.
Amalek is the arch-enemy of the Jewish People. He is a master of ambush.
He lies in wait along the highway between the head and the heart. His
intent: To kidnap the idea on the way to its destination -- to the place
where it will be crystallized into conviction -- the heart.
Why does the Torah have to tell us here "that he happened upon you upon the
way?" Upon which "way?"
The way from the head to the heart.
Intellect that is devoid of emotional conviction leads to cynicism and
hedonism. Amalek's two great proteges.
As E.M. Forster once put it: "Only connect the prose and the passion...."
Only connect the head and the heart, and Man will reach his true vocation,
offering his mind on the altar of the heart to his Maker.
Giving It All Away
"When a camp goes out against your enemies" (23:10)
Look around. We have a genuine claim to the Land of Israel. And yet all
our valid arguments sound like rhetoric and propaganda. And our enemies --
with claims as tenuous as thread, steal the sympathy of the world --
usurping the moral high-ground. And every day Jewish blood is spilled.
Jewish blood is still cheap. Why is this all happening? Why, in spite of
having perhaps the best armed forces in the world are we giving back land
to people we defeated thirty years ago? Look around. Do you see unity
amongst the Jewish People? Do you see love and tolerance?
It is only when we go out as "a camp" -- united as one -- "against your
enemies" -- that we succeed. But while sinas chinam -- baseless hatred --
rules in our camp, we will be forced to give and give and give...
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Haftorah: Yishayahu 54:1-10
Torah And Kindness
"...and My kindness shall not be removed from you..." (60:10)
The words "shall not be removed" appear twice in our tradition. Once here,
and once in Yehoshua 1:5 -- "This book of the Torah shall not be removed
from your mouth." It is the merit of learning the Torah -- its not being
removed from our mouths -- that gives us the merit that "My kindness shall
not be removed from you."
Reasons to Sing
"Sing out O barren one, who has not given birth..." (54:1)
The Talmud asks a question about this verse:
Because she hasn't given birth, she should sing? Rather (this is the
meaning) -- `Sing, Congregation of Yisrael, who is like a barren woman,
because she has not given birth to children (who will be sent) to Gehinom.
(Berachos 11)
Why does the Talmud ask its question based on the phrase "because she
hasn't given birth, she should sing?" Surely the question should have been
asked on the first phrase -- i.e., "Because she's barren, she should sing?"
The Mothers of the Jewish People, Sarah, Rivka and Rachel, were `barren'
because "Hashem desires the prayers of the righteous." (Yevamos 64) and He
withheld progeny from them.
However, they are called `barren' because after all was said and done, it
was as a result of their prayers that they eventually conceived and gave
birth to children. At that point it was evident that they weren't barren
at all, rather that Hashem had wanted their prayers and had therefore
withheld children from them.
However, if they had not merited children even after they had prayed, one
couldn't say that their `infertility' was because Hashem desired their
prayers.
Therefore the Talmud couldn't have asked its question on the phrase
"because she's barren, she should sing?" For it could well be that her
infertility is only a sign that Hashem desires her prayers. She herself
has cause to sing, because her infertility is a sign that she is a very
elevated and righteous soul.
However, if "she has not given birth" -- and this, even after all her
prayers -- then the question becomes highly relevant -- "because she hasn't
given birth, she should sing?" What cause does she have for singing?
It is to this question that the Talmud answers "Rather, sing, Congregation
of Yisrael, who is like a barren woman, who should sing because she has not
given birth to children who will be sent to Gehinom."
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Sources:
o The Sin Of The Cheese Danish - Ramban; Rabbi Moshe Carlebach
o Only Connect - Rabbi Yehoshua Bertram in the name of Rabbi Yosef
Tzeinvort
o Giving It All Away - Sifri and Mayana shel Torah
o Reasons to Sing - Rabbi Mahari Hakohen, zt"l, in Mayana shel Torah
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Fatherly Advice - tidbits from the Ethics of the Fathers traditionally
studied on Summer Sabbaths
How fortunate is she who gave birth to him.
Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai's praise of his disciple,
Rabbi Yehoshua, Avos 2:8
Rabbi Yehoshua's mother was responsible for his becoming a great sage.
When she was expecting, she visited all the houses of prayer and study in
her city, imploring the rabbis to pray that the child to be born would
become a scholar. From the day her son was born she did not remove his
crib from the Beis Midrash so that no sound but the words of Torah should
enter his ears.
Rabbi Yehoshua's mother took extraordinary measures to achieve an
extraordinary goal for her son. But all Jewish mothers throughout the
centuries have followed her example in modified form, utilizing both prayer
and environment to achieve the best for their children.
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