Parshat Ki Tetze, Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19

by: Rabbi Shawn Zevit

Fri Sep 12, 2008 at 10:04:49 AM EDT

This parshah continues Moses' second address with some of the Torah's most profound social laws, laws which have found their way into many democratic nations and legal systems today. In fact the RaMBaM, or Maimonides, calculated that 72 of the 613 mitzvot in the Torah are in this parshah alone!

Within the parshah many of the laws refer to situations that we still struggle with in our society today such as abusive relationships, rape, treatment of foreigners, workers' rights and wages, honesty in business, humane treatment of animals, military conduct, and many others. As we move through the Hebrew month of Elul, opening the doors of our heart and soul to the teshuvah we need to do ahead of us, this parshah can act as an audit for our own actions.

While, at the same time the Torah exhorts us to live a Godly life, there is a tradition that the very laws we interpret or create in our quest for a sacred and secure existence, should themselves be developed in such a way that their observance is not so out of reach of the majority of people that we set up a society pre-disposed to moral failure.

In a Talmudic commentary Rabbi Yehoshua advises his community not to establish such strict laws of observance that it will be impossible to faithfully observe them, "A restriction should not be imposed on a community unless the majority can follow it." (B. Talmud, Bava Natra 60b). This sets up an acknowledged tension between inherited law that may need to be reconstructed in light of contemporary values, which most liberal Jewish movements have done around the role of women, gay, lesbian and interfaith household inclusion, halachik interpretation, and so on. We do the same in the realm of civil law all the time.

This tension is not by definition a negative one, and some of our passion for creative expression and work for social, environmental, and economic justice stems from the Jewish commitment to engage in the world from a values-based foundation, and advocating for change when the structures or laws themselves no longer uphold the evolving sense of ethical behavior and spiritual life. In fact, democratic societies such as ours can often present greater challenge and require more intense commitment in both Jewish and American culture, because of the emphasis on choice over obligation.

As Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, states in Questions Jews Ask, "Democracy does not dispense with authority; it merely transfers the source of authority from the past to the present… It does not permit a person to follow the path of least resistance and consult only in selfish convenience… law (in a democracy) may call for even greater hardship than sacrifice than authoritarian rules, but the fact that it is understandable makes it endurable."

Ultimately we are judged by how we treat the most vulnerable in our community as to whether any laws are truly egalitarian or only circumstantial, whether they are part of a covenant of the individual soul and communal bond, or whether they are "inconvenient truths" we try to circumvent or ignore.

The parshah concludes with a well-known reference to remember how Amalek attacked the weak that had fallen behind when we left Mitzrayim, "You shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under the Heaven. Do not forget!" (Deut. 25:17-19). In a powerful interpretation of this pasuk (line), a later Hasidic teaching from the Iturie Torah collection states, "Had the Israelites not forgotten about the slower ones in back but instead, brought them closer under the protecting wings of God's Presence, binding the slower to all of Israel, Amalekites would not have succeeded in their attack. But because you allowed the slower ones to be aharekha (Meaning both "behind you" and "other")… Amalek could viciously attack them. Therefore the Torah tells us to remember Amalek, so that we never forget to bring our brothers and sisters who need special attention into our midst.

Even the planet itself is asking not to be left behind and for us to change our way of living because it is no longer sustainable. I am delighted that all major Jewish organizations and denominations in the United States are partnering in  major ecological, hunger, and poverty challenges as well as the ongoing genocide in Darfur and working for a just peace in the middle east .

As we move towards our own inner-spiritual audit in the weeks ahead, taking stock of how we have acted individually and collectively in the year past, I pray we all look to how we are in relationship to the most vulnerable parts of ourselves, our families, our community and the world. Whether it is in our own backyards, or Darfur, the Middle East, or our own hearts- we are asked to remember those who have not "kept up".