Ki Tetze

Hi,

This week's portion is Ki Tetze.

Last week's portion concluded with military issues, and this week's portion begins with the same - the law of "Eishet Y'fat Toar," governing treatment of female POW's. Jewish men were allowed to bring them home and marry them, provided they first went through a "cooling-off" period in which the women would mourn for their families and accept Judaism. The women could not be forced to accept Judaism.
There is debate among the authorities as to whether the Torah permitted the soldier to live with his intended wife once before he brought her back from the battlefield, or not.

The commentators understand this law as an outlet for the soldier, preventing brutality in the heat of battle by forcing him into a holding pattern to give him a chance to discover whether his feelings are simply the effect of the battlefield.

The portion then discusses inheritance law, dealing with a case where a man has two wives and loves one more than the other, and would like to have her children inherit the greater portion of his wealth. He is instructed to follow the Torah's prescribed structure of inheritance.

The portion then discusses the law of Ben Sorer UMoreh, a rebellious son who develops addictions to meat and alcohol, and steals from his parents to feed that habit. If he refuses to listen to repeated warnings, and he continues this pattern even after being lashed in court, and the parents come back to the court requesting capital punishment, that punishment is administered.

The Talmud points out that the Torah's rules for the child's age as well as the parents' physical stature and mental state, and the requirements for what the child and parents have to do in order to get into this case, render this case an impossibility. Rather, the Ben Sorer UMoreh is introduced here in order to warn parents to keep an eye on their children, and nip addictive and destructive behavior in the bud.

The Torah now deals with social law, presenting laws regarding everything from burial and human dignity, to respect for property, to prevention of cruelty to people and animals. There are laws of local government, too - laws governing marriage and fidelity, and financial institutions.

The portion concludes with a reminder of our war with Amalek. Amalek attacked the Jews when they first came away from the Red Sea, even before the Jews received the Torah at Sinai. We are instructed to remember this battle by a nation which was so adamantly against the basic beliefs of Judaism, that it attacked even though it knew it would lose - Gd had just split the Sea and drowned the Egyptians! We commemorate this with an annual reading of these verses during the winter, right before Purim, and this week those verses are a part of our Torah portion. Someone who missed the special annual reading during the winter can still make it up by hearing this reading, and concentrating on fulfilling that Mitzvah.

Have a great day,
Mordechai