Ki Tzeitzei- כִּֽי־תֵצֵ֥א - Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19 Making Torah Personal ~ #Mussar

Bullet Points: this parsha contains 74 mitzvot, more than any otherLaws pertain to spoils of war, marriage and family relationships, agricultural, ritual, moral and humane considerations. Many laws here are the origins of core values: Honoring the dead כבוד המת Restoring lost property השבת אבדה Kindness to animals, צער בעלי חיים

The laws in this parsha cover a wide range of areas: laws governing warfare, slavery, inheritance rights of the first born, property laws, burial of the dead, humane treatment of animals, parenting issues and subsequent guilt, fair labor practices, safety requirements of roofs and balconies, obligations towards the property of other people, divorce, and kidnapping plus respect and care of the poor, the orphan and the widow, even clothing...plus business laws concerning honest weights and measures.

With such a wide range of rules and regulations, Ki Teitzei is almost a mini-Torah of its own, a little blueprint for how to establish a righteous and compassionate society. ~ Rabbi Arthur Green

The Hebrew phrase al oyvecha, עַל־אֹיְבֶ֑יךָ“on your enemies,” can also be understood in the literal sense of “on top of your enemies.” In every battle, the way to achieve victory is to gain the higher ground. We must never stoop to the level of evil to fight it on its own terms; in the words of our sages, “One who wrestles with a filthy person becomes dirtied as well.” Rather, we should rise above it, affirming our belief that there is no true existence other than G‑d, and that nothing contrary to His goodness and truth has any real power. When our going to war is in a manner of “on your enemies,” we are guaranteed that “G‑d shall deliver them into your hands.” ~The Chassidic Masters www.chabad.org

"The Torah doesn't write if you go out to war, but rather when. We fight real wars just as we fight moral ones. Turbulence and struggle is inevitable. We fight character traits just as we struggule to use our time wisely and develop our talents fully." ~Chana Weisberg

Also from one’s spiritual enemies one must “capture captives” וְשָׁבִ֥יתָ שִׁבְיֽוֹAnything negative in man or in the world can be exploited for the good, if one can derive a lesson from it in the service of the Creator. ~ The Ba'al Shem Tov - [Besht]

Rabbi Yehuda Aryeh Leib Alter, known by his seminal work, The S'fat Emet [c.1860 - c.1900 CE] makes note of the different verb tenses. The verse begins by referring to many enemies, but then it says that God will deliver a single enemy — "him into your hand" וּנְתָנ֞וֹ

The Sfat Emet understands this as referring tothe internal enemy — the natural human tendency to cut corners, to cheat, not to tell the whole truth, and worse. In short, the enemy referred to in the verses is the personal, human inclination to do evil.

The last part of the verse: "and you take some of them captive." can also be translated in the singular in the original Hebrew: "and you take him (or "it") captive." וְשָׁבִ֥יתָ שִׁבְיֽוֹ

By taking the yetzer hara captive we can overcome our natural human tendency for committing evil / making bad choices. In this "battle", "God will [give you the strength if you are open, to] deliver it into your hand." [with thanks to, and adapted from Rabb Reuven Firestone]

Despite GM food concerns among some Jews, most of these certification agencies and rabbinical authorities say GM foods are kosher----Most of these kosher authorities have stated they do not believe GMOs fall under kilayim prohibitions as the mixture is microscopic....in classical Jewish law, mixtures were not considered kilayim as long as the mix did not exceed 1/24th of the total. When scientists edit the DNA of food products, only a microscopic fraction of the organism is changed, far less than 1/24th of the total. Because of this, these Jews argue that GM foods cannot be kilayim.

But for many Jews who oppose GM foods, their concerns extend beyond kashrut law to the impact of GMOs on consumer safety, the environment, and animal rights. These Jews want to expand kashrut to include broader ethical concerns, particularly after the Agriprocessors scandal....New kosher certification agencies like Earth Kosher and Kosher Organics formed to certify foods as both kosher and organic, or not GM. In 2013, one of the five major agencies, Star-K, joined them, announcing it would no longer certify GM foods.

But though GM foods continue to proliferate, the Jewish community has yet to agree on whether they are kosher.Above excerpted from ~Harvard Divinity School

"...Verse 25 would suffice for a legal ruling....But the text continues insisting for two more verses and four different clauses that the girl must not be put to death...Why must the text tell us repeatedly not to kill the girl? In the Near East, ancient and modern, and even into Pakistan and India, a custom called honor killing has not been eradicated to this day. A girl whose kin believe she has been sexually polluted is killed to preserve the family honor. Whether she resisted or consented is irrelevant. They dispose of her like a toothbrush misappropriated by someone not its owner. The unusual wordiness of our Deuteronomy text makes sense if it is prohibiting honor killing to people who were accustomed to practice it. The prohibition would be a hard sell. Deuteronomy must recast rape as a violent crime akin to violence against males. Also, redefining lack of chastity not as pollution but as moral choice requires Deuteronomy to regard women as moral actors and not spoiled toothbrushes. This is the beginning of a moral revolution. ~ Rabbi Rachel Adler, The Beginnings of Gender Justice