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Drash for Shabbat Ki Tetzei By Dr. Kenneth Adler - August 24, 2007 Ki Tetzei, Hebrew for "When you go…" is the sixth reading in the book of Deuteronomy and the 49th parshah in the annual Torah reading cycle. It is a legalistic parshah, replete with numerous laws and rules for living. This single portion expounds 72 different mitzvot. Rules and laws related to treatment of female captives, animals, wives, criminals, laborers, widows, and various ancient ethnic groups can be found here. Rules and laws regarding proper sexual behavior, clothing, the return of lost property, commerce, and other activities are described as well. The commandments here are very detailed and specific. General principles can often be inferred, but not always. Commandments to return lost property to a stranger, or to use only accurate set of weights in commerce, sound noble and true. A commandment to stone to death a wayward, defiant, disobedient son seems to take the dictum to honor thy mother and father a bit far. Women are required to remain chaste until marriage or risk being stoned to death. Men need not be so careful. Read from our modern context, women are clearly treated as second class citizens and punishments often sound barbaric. Read in historical context, limits are applied to those with power over others, and victims are given a measure of rights. Reading this ancient list of rules and laws I felt transported several thousand years back in time to a society very different than ours. It's fascinating, but how does this segment of Halakhah apply to me? Halakhah, or Jewish law, is not just a set of beliefs but a way of life. Halakhah offers rules for every aspect of living and is derived from three sources: Mitzvot from the Torah, rabbinic rulings, and customs. The rules carrying the most weight are the 613 Mitzvot from the Torah. We are told as Jews to follow the mitzvot. Of the 613 mitzvot, less than half are even theoretically observable in modern times due to the absence of three things - a central Temple with animal sacrifices, a theocracy, and a primarily agrarian society. One estimate is that we can observe 271 of the mitzvot. How do we choose? If you are an orthodox Jew, I suppose you try to follow as many as you can. As a reform Jew, a number of the remaining commandments conflict profoundly with our modern sensibilities. So, I'm confused. What does it really mean to follow God's commandments, to be a good Jew? As Reform Jews are we saying we can pick which of the 613 mitzvot make sense in modern times and adhere only to those? Are some mitzvot indisputable? Who decides? Shabbat Shalom. |
