My desire, when teaching the Torah, is that we learn not to rely solely on tradition but on the Torah itself, the Scriptures, because after a while we lose the meaning and the reason for doing it. Seeing what is happening in the world, it’s definitely time we return to the source of life…the Torah.
In the Torah, we encounter practices we don’t know how to apply today. It’s important to know that the Torah was handed down to us over 3500 years ago, when these practices were commonplace among the people. Today, we need to identify its principles so we can apply them. In Parashah Ki Tetze, the Creator is trying to protect women, animals and even the environment, which we think has only just now been discovered. Let’s not take things out of context or make laws without understanding the underlying principles.
Let’s examine the moral values of that day in comparison with today. Believe it or not, right now, we are more barbaric than 3500 years ago. The parashah begins with how the Israelite soldiers were to treat female captives of war. We have read the horrendous stories during the last century about the different armies that abuse their captives, capturing and raping the women. In 2020, ISIS kidnapped women and used them as sex slaves. Not long before that, Japan, a highly developed, civilized country, did that to the Manchurians and Koreans. Today, in 2023, we witnessed the horrors that Hamas perpetrated against Israeli women.
Here, the Creator says you must respect the woman. When a woman was taken captive, if the Hebrew soldier desired her, he was not allowed to rape her; he had to respect her. He had to take her to his home and allow her to mourn the loss of her parents for one month during which he would see her as she really was – no makeup, no fancy hairdo or no beautiful nails; then if he no longer desired her, he was not allowed to mistreat her or keep her captive; rather he had to respect her and let her go wherever she wanted. The woman also had the right to choose to marry him. If not, she could remain a captive, but she could not be abused.
The principles in the Scriptures are intensely profound. For example, in Judaism, marriage is a “brit”, a covenant between two people; it is not one-sided. The Creator made a brit with Israel when He presented His Commandments to them, and they said, “We will do, and we will obey.” Without two parties, there can be no covenant. In the Torah, when a father gave his daughter in marriage to a young man, if she refused, she could not be forced. See how the Creator protected the women, but He also protected the integrity of His people, Israel.
Sadly, two weeks ago (at the time of Rabbi’s message) in Eilat, there was a gang rape of a 16-year-old girl by Israeli boys between the ages of 17 and 23. This cast a dark cloud over Israel that had previously been unheard of. If Israel has fallen to this depth, what about other countries, especially since in Israel, the Torah was read in its original language in schools?
In this parashah, there are 74 of the 613 injunctions that teach very clearly about morality – respect for those who are weaker, for animals, and for farming. Moshe tells us not to plant two types of crops together, as one might weaken the other. The law of “Shatnez” forbids mixing textiles, one kind of fibre with another, since that would weaken the material. We were not to yoke two types of animals together, like an ox and a donkey, since one is weak and the other strong, to protect the weaker of the two and to not wear out the stronger.
We were not to take bird’s eggs until the mother has flown away or, as in the last parashah, to kill a calf in the presence of its mother. All these injunctions show us how much the Creator cares for even the tiniest of creatures and wants us to care for His creation. He wants us to begin with ourselves because if we do not care for ourselves, how can we care for anyone else? When you see a young person mistreating an animal, I can assure you that person will mistreat you too. Sometimes we see young people killing small animals, birds, and frogs with BB guns because they haven’t learned to respect living things. All these injunctions teach us that we cannot shame others, but we need to respect their dignity, including that of animals.
What is happening today worldwide? We are supposedly more advanced and more civilized than in ancient days, yet we are worse than ever. We see a booming sex trade in the world, even in Israel. If our own nation is involved in this, what can we expect from the rest of the world? The United Nations was created to defend those who cannot defend themselves, but the leaders of this organization are corrupt while the rest of the world turns a blind eye and deaf ear. At this time, in 2020, we see a human rights revolution in various countries, including the US, but while they are granting certain groups their rights, they are destroying the rights of others. Instead of allowing open dialogue about the actual issue, they are proclaiming, “It’s my time for vengeance; it’s my time to take my rights”, believing that they are “entitled” to take whatever they want from others.
Everyone has the right to grow and prosper, but no one has the right to abuse or blame others for their lot in life. We are asking people to do something about what is wrong rather than simply complaining about it. Instead of acting and working for what they want, various groups demand that everything be handed to them on a silver platter out of a false sense of entitlement.
Many of us have fled our countries in search of a better life and have worked hard to achieve success, while certain new immigrants fleeing disaster in their countries have brought the unjust ideals of those nations with them and now want to impose their systems upon us. The Torah teaches us that before the Israelites could take over the new land, they had to cleanse it of pollution, including ideologies and practices that would harm them. Children who have had everything handed to them without working hard for it don’t appreciate that their parents worked hard so that they could help their children in a new country. This is the idea of “entitlement”. The Creator, through Moshe, tells us not to be spoiled. He wants us to serve others instead of looking to be served by others, to remember the widow, the orphan, and the foreigner…those who cannot take care of themselves. He starts with the simple things, like taking care of birds, the soil, animals, and the less fortunate.
Chapters 24 and 25 tell us that divorce was instituted to protect women. The husband needed to cover her expenses until she could be independent. In ancient Israel, women could not work and therefore were not able to provide for themselves as they do today. Divorce was very devastating for a woman; if she had no family, she could be left homeless. The Torah provided for a “get”, a document given to the woman allowing her to divorce and giving her financial provision. A woman was not allowed to be mistreated.
Our society has lost its moral compass today. We have accepted the lie that confuses freedom with being libertine, blurring right from wrong. We do not need to be accepted by the world; we need to be right with the Creator, the Bore Olam. We need to constantly ask ourselves…in Whom do I place my trust?
Right now, we have lost the protective rights for those who cannot defend themselves. We have women’s lib, sexual lib, mental lib…all the libs, but the problem is we forgot that with freedom comes responsibility. You cannot impose your way of living on others. Today’s governments are imposing values upon us that are contrary to the moral values of the Torah; the worst part is that the majority remain silent out of fear of reprisal.
Do you think that you live in a free society? Let me bring you back to reality. No longer are we free to speak up and disagree with these groups; we are accused of being “phobic”, full of hate. We are immediately silenced. Moshe told us to prepare ourselves to be strong, chazak, not only physically but also mentally and spiritually, and not to allow others to entice or force us to follow their ideals. It is not an easy thing to do, but we do not need to please the world; we need to please our Creator.
I mention all this to you because I am going through my time of personal evaluation and I want to be sure that I have been honest first with myself and then with all of you, that I have been speaking out of truth not convenience, and that I have been sharing with you what the Creator wants from us; not about being religious, not about following tradition, not about false gods, but to have a relationship with the Creator who wants us united. When the Creator is in us, I can assure you that we are together in His Truth. We don’t need to be uniform in our expression, but we need to be united in our love of God and His morality. It is good for everyone, or it is not good. We can no longer be tied to the fact that the Torah is wrong and the world is right. We are either with Him or against Him. All week I have been searching for the areas where I have been too polite and too lax, or I don’t want to rock the boat. It is time to say things as they are. We are not judges, but we are representatives of the Creator – He is the ultimate Judge.
These days before the High Holidays are called Yamim Norayim, the terrible or awesome days when we are called to recognize God’s mercy and love for us. During this period, it is always good to do a personal evaluation of our past year, not financially but how we have grown as a human being, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Ask yourself these questions: Am I a better person? Have I been following false gods, or am I presentable to the Creator? Am I for or against our Creator? There is no neutral ground. Am I being too polite when it comes to standing up for what is true? Have I become too comfortable? There are no choices when it comes to moral values. Either they are good for everyone, or they are good for no one.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Netanel ben Yochanan Z” l