KI TEITZEI, DEVRAIM
21:10–25:19
Seventy-four of the Torah’s 613 commandments are in the Parshah of Ki Teitzei. There are 27 positive and 47 negative commandments in the Parasha.
In Ki Teitzei we learn among other things:
The Law of the Beautiful Captive.
The
prohibition against turning in an escaped slave.
The
prohibition against charging interest on a loan.
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
Ki Teitzei
concludes with the obligation to remember “what Amalek did to you on the road,
on your way out of Egypt.”
I hope that the few which are mentioned will whet your Neshama's appetite.
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We are now in the month of Elul, the New Year and Day of Atonement rapidly approaching. We are obligated to review what we did or did not do during this past year. We have to recognize and regret past mistakes, and then commit to improve, to do better, not an easy task.
We begin reading Psalm 27 twice a day until Hoshanah Rabbah for 51 days...Why? Is there a connection to the up and coming Holy Days?
"The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?
Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice.
Do not hide Your face from me…
Hope in the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage,
Hope in the Lord".
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The 1st Aliyah of Parshat Ki Teitzei, beginning at 21:10, is very difficult, but gives us plenty to talk about. It discusses the incident of raping a non-Jewish woman who is captured in battle.
The commentators seem to agree that a one-time-only assault is permissible. They disagree as to the timing: whether it is permissible directly after the heat of battle or only after a 30 day cool down period.
Even a Kohen is
given a pass despite the fact that Kohen will not be permitted to marry the
captive even if he likes her and even if she undergoes conversion. And for what it is worth, the captive does
not have much of a say in what goes on.
Hashem knows what He is doing. But what is going on here?
As to the Sages, they say no good will come from it: In the case of David when he went into battle he desired Ma'aca the daughter of Talmi, king of Geshur. Their union produced Abshalom, who rose up to kill him. Abshalom slept with David’s wives in the presence of all Israel and in broad daylight. And do not overlook the fact that Abshalom was responsible for the killing of some tens of thousands Israelites.
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It happened this way: It was not unusual for Chabad
to have cash flow problems: a bill was due this week, but money to pay the bill
was not available until the following week. One day while in his office, the
Rabbi said to me: “Mick, Chabad has a bill that is due today, but I will not
have enough money to pay the bill until next week. Is it possible for you to advance me some
money to pay the bill, and in return I’ll give you a post-dated check”?
It wasn’t a large sum; I had enough shekels in my account to cover the amount. So I agreed; gave him what he asked for, and the Rabbi gave me a check in return.
He said to me in a serious tone: “Mick, I’m not going to
say thank you”.
I looked at him quizzically; what was going on?
Then Rabbi Butman said: “A Jew is not permitted to charge
another Jew interest on a loan.
Moreover, a Jew who has borrowed money from another Jew is not permitted
to pay interest on the borrowed money.
If I was to say Thank you, it would be as if I extended a benefit to
you, and that benefit would be regarded as if I was paying you
interest…something not permitted.
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MAX’S PARSHAT KI TEITZEI QUIZ QUESTIONS
My friend Max in Nahariya has come up with a quiz that relates to Parshat Ki Teitzei. Attached are his questions. Do your best. Answers are found at the end of the post.
1-WHERE IS THE TORAH SOURCE FOR BAR MITZVAH AT
AGE 13 ?
2-WHY DO SNAKES HAVE SPOTS ON THEIR SKIN ?
3-WHEN CAN A FATHER OVERRIDE GIVING HIS BECHOR
DOUBLE ?
4-WHY
WAS A REBELLIOUS SON CALLED "BEN SORER U MORER"?
5-WHAT DO THE 5-KNOTS OF THE TZISIS SYMBOLIZE
?
6-DID A BEN SORER U MORER EVER GET KILLED ?
7-WHEN IT IS MITZVAH TO RETURN A DIFFERENT
OBJECT THAN FOUND ?
8-WHY CAN'T WE TEAM UP 2 TYPES OF ANIMALS TO
WORK TOGETHER ?
9-CAN YOU PUNCH A FRIEND , IF HE LETS YOU ?
10-WHICH TWO CREATURES ARE TZITZIS MADE FROM ?
11-WHY
IS A BLIND PERSON STILL REQUIRE TO WEAR TZITZIS ?
12-MUST WE VERBALLY MENTION MIRIAM'S MISTAKE
DAILY ?
13-WHICH MITZVAH SEPHARDIM PERFORM AND NOT
ASHKENAZIM ?
14-WHO CAN MARRY A CONVERT BUT NOT ONE WHO IS
BORN A JEW ?
15-CAN A MAN WEAR HIS WIFE'S SLIPPERS OR VICE
VERSA ?
16-WHAT
SHOULD THE EIGHT STRINGS OF THE TZITZIS ATONE FOR ?
17-WHAT
GOOD HABIT CAN WE LEARN FROM A CAT ?
18-HOW LONG IS POSSIBLE FOR BOY TO BE
SENTENCED AS REBELLIOUS ?
19-HOW
MANY MISHNAYOS ARE THERE IN PIRKEI AVOS ?
20-WHEN
DOES HASHEM BLESS YOU FOR DOING A MITZVAH ?
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The 3rd and 4th Aliyahs of Parshat Ki Teitzei speak to gratitude:
In the 3rd and 4th Aliyahs of Parshat Ki Teitzei, beginning at 23:4 we are commanded not to detest the nations of Edom and Egypt because:
Edom is descended from Esau, so they are our brothers. Family is important.
As to Egypt, despite being enslaved by them for 100’s of years, evidently we owe a debt of gratitude to Egypt because we lived in their land. Perhaps the score was evened out somewhat with the slaying of their first born and the gifts that our Egyptian neighbors bestowed upon us
Edom and Egypt are
not permanently banned from freely marrying with us. Any restriction against them is lifted in the
third generation, provided that the Edomite or Egyptian converts to
Judaism.
This is not so for Moabite or Ammonite men who are permanently banned from marriage and conversion. That’s what happens when someone is mean to us.
Question: How do you square that Ruth the Moabite is King David's ancestor?
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The 7th
Aliyah of Parshat Ki Teitzei speaks to remembering Amalek -
25:17-19. “You
shall remember what Amalek did to you on the way, when you went out of Egypt.
how he happened upon you on the way and cut off all the stragglers at your
rear, when you were faint and weary, and he did not fear God… you shall
obliterate the remembrance of Amalek from beneath the heavens. You shall not
forget”.
Amalek is
characterized as irrational and totally unresponsive to reason. I do not think this is true.
Amalek was a
mugger, thug. Amalek saw an easy
target, tired and weak unprotected stragglers.
Moshe was low on the learning curve; he lacked experience and wisdom
when it came to matters military. But he
learned, and when we moved our encampment from Har Sinai, it was the tribe of
Dan, the lion cub, who formed the rear guard and the incident was not repeated
However, Hashem tells us not to forget, and whether it falls to the us as individuals or the Jewish Defense League or the IDF we always must be prepared to protect ourselves.
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My friend Elliot Katz passed away a year ago.. Elliot had a
specific passage in the Torah that he would obsess about. Inasmuch that we will be reading that passage
this Shabbat I thought it would be of interest to you.
At Deuteronomy 23:14
-
וְיָתֵ֛ד
תִּֽהְיֶ֥ה לְךָ֖ עַל־אֲזֵנֶ֑ךָ וְהָיָה֙ בְּשִׁבְתְּךָ֣ ח֔וּץ וְחָֽפַרְתָּ֣ה
בָ֔הּ וְשַׁבְתָּ֖ וְכִסִּ֥יתָ אֶת־צֵֽאָתֶֽךָ:
“And you shall keep a spike in addition to your
weapons; and it shall be, when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it, and
you shall return and cover your excrement”.
All of
this activity takes place outside of the camp, the reason being that God is in
the camp. The camp is holy, and nothing unseemly is to be within the confines
of it.
Among
other things we would argue about what a ְיָתֵ֛ד
was. He said it was a spike; I said it was a
shovel. It did not really matter; we
were learning Torah.
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MAX’S PARSHAT KI TEITZEI
QUIZ
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Max has come up with a quiz that relates to this week's Parshah. Attached are his questions and answers. How did you do? Maybe you have to study more; I do.
1-WHERE IS THE TORAH SOURCE FOR BAR MITZVAH AT
AGE 13 ?
Shimon and Levi waged war against city of
SHECHEM , Shimon was 13
> 2-WHY DO SNAKES HAVE SPOTS ON THEIR SKIN
?
The infamous Snake spoke Lashon Hara, he was
hit with Tzoraas
> 3-WHEN CAN A FATHER OVERRIDE GIVING HIS
BECHOR DOUBLE ?
If his first born is wicked, he can choose to
give to another righteous child
> 4-WHY WAS A REBELLIOUS SON CALLED
"BEN SORER U MORER"?
Sorer=Turning away from Mitzvots, MORER
=Committing AVEIROS
> 5-WHAT DO THE 5-KNOTS OF THE TZISIS
SYMBOLIZE ?
To Reminds us to keep the Five Books of the
Torah
> 6-DID A BEN SORER U MORER EVER GET KILLED
?
Rabbis said that Beit Din never actually
executed a Ben Sorer U'Morer
> 7-WHEN IT IS MITZVAH TO RETURN A
DIFFERENT OBJECT THAN FOUND ?
If you find produce that will rot, you should
sell it and give the money instead
> 8-WHY CAN'T WE TEAM UP 2 TYPES OF ANIMALS
TO WORK TOGETHER ?
They may have different strength, and that was
cause pain to weaker animal
> 9-CAN YOU PUNCH A FRIEND , IF HE LETS YOU
?
You may not punch , because the body is on a
loan from HASHEM
> 10-WHICH TWO CREATURES ARE TZITZIS MADE
FROM ?
The Sheep and the Snail are needed to make
Tzitzis
> 11-WHY IS A BLIND PERSON STILL REQUIRE TO
WEAR TZITZIS ?
Others will see the Tzitzits he is wearing and
remind them of the Mitzvots
> 12-MUST WE VERBALLY MENTION MIRIAM'S
MISTAKE DAILY ?
Yes, to make more careful not to speak Lashon
Hara every day
> 13-WHICH MITZVAH SEPHARDIM PERFORM AND
NOT ASHKENAZIM ?
Sephardim would opt to perform Yibum instead
of Chalitzah
> 14-WHO CAN MARRY A CONVERT BUT NOT ONE
WHO IS BORN A JEW ?
A Mamzer can only marry a convert , not a
genuine Jew
> 15-CAN A MAN WEAR HIS WIFE'S SLIPPERS OR
VICE VERSA ?
A man may wear his wife's slippers and vise
VERSA
> 16-WHAT SHOULD THE EIGHT STRINGS OF THE
TZITZIS ATONE FOR ?
Atone for 8-parts of the body with which
people sin, eyes, ears, nose,
Mouth, hands, feet, heart, and male organ
> 17-WHAT GOOD HABIT CAN WE LEARN FROM A
CAT ?
Cats are very clean and modest creatures,
never defecate in public
And always cover their waste
> 18-HOW LONG IS POSSIBLE FOR BOY TO BE
SENTENCED AS REBELLIOUS ?
For a period of three months after the Bat
Mitzvah
> 19-HOW MANY MISHNAYOS ARE THERE IN PIRKEI
AVOS ?
There are 108- Mishnayos in Pirkei Avos
> 20-WHEN
DOES HASHEM BLESS YOU FOR DOING A MITZVAH ?
All Mitzvots bring Blessings to those who
fulfill them
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