Parashat Ki Tetzé - English

Devarim – Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19

Rabbi Joshua Kullock

Kol Hakehila Synagoge

Guadalajara, México

One of the most delightful virtues of our tradition has always been its openness to interpretation, which played an essential role in making it meaningful and relevant, from generation to generation.  In this sense, reading classical commentaries on the Torah is a worthwhile weekly exercise, since it is not only an entry to different levels of understanding of our scriptures, but also helps us realize that our most renowned scholars embraced the text with such fervor that they were not afraid of sharing daring and radical commentaries, which often went beyond the literal sense of the writing.  

By reading such commentaries, we are captivated by the creative freedom displayed by these interpreters as to their readings of the text, a freedom that should continue inspiring us to this day, so as to open for us these same texts, to find new and renewed meanings in them.

A clear example of creative freedom appears in the commentary written by Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Leib 

Alter of Gur (1879-1905), on the first verse of our parashah:  “When thou goest forth to battle against thine enemies, and the Lord thy God delivereth them into thy hands, and thou carriest them away captive…” (Deut. 21:10).  In its original context, there is no doubt that the text refers to the protocol that the people of Israel had to practice in times of military confrontation with the Canaanites.  

Consequently, the beginning of our parashah originally covered important information for a specific generation at a particular time.  And nevertheless, it was thanks to the interpretations of the Rebbe of Gur and others that these verses can continue enlightening us to this day.

So, what does the Hassidic commentary of the Rebbe of Gur say about our verse?  In his book Sefat Emet, the Gerrer Rebbe does not insist on the historical war of Israel against the Canaanites, but rather reads the Torah in the light of the internal existential struggle that each one of us has to face, against certain restrictions that are part of our being.  It is written in the Sefat Emet:  “All a person's movements and vitality, even though they derive from his or her will, ultimately come from God's kingdom. And therefore, war and six days of work are necessary to find this inner-point.”

Rephrasing the mystical language of our Hassidic commentator, the struggle we are called to do implies the effort to acknowledge that everything around us is permeated with divinity.  The inner-point to which he refers, is the point that every one of us shares on the same origin, which unites us far beyond the veils and differences we may find when we look lightly at our reality.

This acknowledgement of the common origin, at least on what pertains to human beings, refers to the creation itself of mankind, since according to the Torah, Adam and Eve were created “ in His own image, in the image of God…” (Gen. 1:27).  This means that each man and woman on earth have in them the image of God, so that when we denigrate, slander or discriminate against our fellow beings, we are doing the same to the divinity nested in them (and likewise nested in ourselves).  Each time we do not recognize ourselves in the other, denying that which unites us beyond every difference, we are desecrating God’s name.  The Sefat Emet reminds us that we should never give up our struggle against that.

However, the common origin of the entire reality not only refers to the unity of all human beings, but also to the transcendental unity of the entire creation.  And in this sense, acknowledging the “inner-point of divine vitality”  in everything around us becomes a summons to the responsibility of watching over an ethics that will guide us on achieving the support and continuity of our quality of life, in a sustainable and harmonious environment.  In this sense, we can add the words of the philosopher Hans Jonas (1903-1995) to the words written in the Sefat Emet:

What distresses us is no longer nature, as before, but precisely our power over it; and we fear, for it and for us.  Our power was our servant, but has now become our master.  We must put it under our control, control which we now lack, even though that power is entirely a product of our knowledge and our will.  Knowledge, will and power are collective, and our control over them should also be so.  Only public powers can exert it, that is, it should be a political control, which requires a wide consensus of the entire society in the long run.”  (Concept of God and Other Essays, free translation) 

To recognize each other in our common origin; to reaffirm our responsibility towards our fellow beings and towards the world; and to commit ourselves to repairing the damages caused.  And all this as a reflection on the first verse of our parashah, which originally referred to a specific generation at a particular time.  Undoubtedly, both the Torah and its commentators still have much wisdom to share with each one of us.  May God grant us the ability to learn to capitalize on those teachings, applying them to our daily life. 

Shabbat Shalom uMevorah!