Parashat Ki Tetze
One of the joys of youth is the opportunity to redefine the human experience, through introducing new styles and genres, especially in pop culture. Anybody who can or will not keep up is doomed to feel older in a hurry. One of the ways of carving out space by the emerging generation is through language. Words may acquire a new meaning, and the subtleties may be elusive to the older guard. I know that this thesis is totally random–oops, I slipped into the new usage of the word many of us still believe means “relating to, having, or being elements or events with definite and /or equal probability of occurrence.”
These days “random” is the fill-in-the-blank descriptor for anything used by those in the know, (or, as a frustrated online wordsmith quipped, it is a sophisticated new acronym for Rarely Adding New Dimension Or Meaning…)
Hello? Hel-LO? Sorry–that’s what I get from hanging out with my teenagers……
In this weeks parasha of Ki Tetze the Torah gives us a long list of seemingly “random” mitzvot–the hated wife, the wayward son, returning lost objects, relieving animals of their burden, prohibitions against interest, adultery, withholding pay from workers, cross dressing, mixing seeds, animals and fibers, oath taking; commandments concerning the treatment of captives, leaving the corners of the fields for the poor, levirate marriage, championing the causes of widows and orphans. Seventy four in all, more than any other parasha, covering mitzvot bein adam l’chavero (between a person and others ), where the results of our actions are readily apparent, and mitzvot bein adam l’makom (between a person and G-d), where the results are not revealed in this world.
Many commentators have written about one of the most interesting mitzvot in our parasha, sh’luach hakain (sending away the mother bird from the nest) and its plainly stated reward:
שַׁלֵּחַ תְּשַׁלַּח אֶת הָאֵם וְאֶת הַבָּנִים תִּקַּח
לָךְ לְמַעַן יִיטַב לָךְ וְהַאֲרַכְתָּ יָמִים:
You shall send away the mother, and [then] you may take the young for yourself, in order that it should be good for you, and you will lengthen your days. (Deut. 22:7)
According to the Rambam(Maimonades) this teaches us to have compassion for other creatures, just like the commandment to not slaughter mother animal and her young on the same day. The Torah clearly spells out the benefit for following this commandment. V’ha’arachta yamim, a life extension, is the reward promised for fulfillment of sh’luach hakain, and Rashi points out this is an easy mitzvah with no cost. Ironically, the only other mitzvah in the Torah with a stated reward is kibud av v’aim, honoring ones parents. Here too, the reward is lengthening of days, a long life. And this mitzvah is perhaps the most difficult of all of G-d’s commandments!
Sh’luach hakain is introduced with the words,
כִּי יִקָּרֵא קַן צִפּוֹר לְפָנֶיךָ בַּדֶּרֶךְ …….
Ki Y’karei kan tzippor l’fanecha baderech…
If you should happen upon a bird’s nest on your journey… (Deut. 22:6)
Y’karei-happenstance, totally random.
Are we prepared to fulfill even the easiest of our creator’s directives when we least expect it?
Can we think and act like loyal subjects of our King outside of synagogue, our homes, in the wilderness, when we are alone with our thoughts? Are we spiritually honest?
Our parasha closes with the mitzvah to remember Amalek, which we read again each year on Shabbat Zachor ,the shabbat before Purim:
זָכוֹר אֵת אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה לְךָ עֲמָלֵק בַּדֶּרֶךְ בְּצֵאתְכֶם מִמִּצְרָיִם:
אֲשֶׁר קָרְךָ בַּדֶּרֶךְ וַיְזַנֵּב בְּךָ כָּל הַנֶּחֱשָׁלִים אַחֲרֶיךָ וְאַתָּה עָיֵף וְיָגֵעַ וְלֹא יָרֵא אֱ־לֹהִים:
Remember what Amalek did to you on the way, when you were going out of Egypt. When they happened upon you on your journey, and hit you from behind, all the weak stragglers, and you were exhausted and wearied, and he had no fear of G-d.
(Deut. 25:17-18)
Asher karcha baderech…When they happened upon you on your journey….
Although the word kerech usually means ice, Rashi teaches us that here it means by chance.
Totally random…
The exact opposite of the mitzvah of sh’luach hakain, a random act of kindness.
This was terrorism- unprovoked violence against the unprotected.
Just as the Israelites were basking in their liberation from decades of oppression, their resolve was tested at random, and the collateral damage in loss of faith was severe. That generation did not live to see the promised land.
We are constantly being tested on our journeys, seemingly by complete happenstance. No matter how tough or trivial the trial, our test is to stay on course, knowing that our gift of the revealed Torah is not by chance. Our covenant with our Creator is a guarantee that our lives will be lengthened by our performance of the mitzvot, our spiritual and physical accomplishments, our honesty, and our faith . Not so random….
Hello?
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Greg
