Ki Teitzei (“When You Go Out”) contains numerous laws, more than appear in any other Torah portion. These include laws about the treatment of a captive woman, returning lost objects, forbidden mixtures, the erection of a rooftop fence, rape, collateral, and workers’ wages.
Notable Sources
All Sources
A
Forbidden Mixtures
TANAKH
Parashat Ki Teitzei incudes three different prohibitions against mixing unlike types. One relates to planting vineyards, one to plowing with beasts of burden, and one to materials in garments.
Commandments All Around
MIDRASH
Parashat Ki Teitzei contains many different commandments. A midrash on the parashah from Devarim Rabbah describes the experience of being surrounded by opportunities to perform commandments.
Getting a Divorce
COMMENTARY
Parashat Ki Teitzei mentions the practice of divorce within the Jewish legal system. Contemporary American rabbi Dvora E. Weisberg lists ways divorce has been initiated in different historical contexts.
Remembering Miriam
COMMENTARY
In warning the people of Israel to be punctilious about the skin condition tzara’at, Moses reminds them of the time his own sister Miriam was afflicted with the condition. 13th-century Spanish scholar Ramban explores the significance of this memory, addressing Miriam’s character and the strong traditional association between tzara’at and slanderous speech.
The Fruits of Duplicity
MIDRASH
The Torah portion closes with verses prohibiting keeping mismatched weights and measuring implements that could be used for cheating in business, followed by a commandment to remember the attack of Amalek on the people of Israel. A midrash in the medieval collection Tanchuma explains the connection between the two subjects.
According to the End
MISHNAH
Parashat Ki Teitzei includes the law of the ‘wayward and defiant son’ who is accused by his parents and executed by stoning. The Mishnah in tractate Sanhedrin presents an extended discussion of this case, including an argument that it is a case of preemptive justice.
Mother Birds and Mystical Secrets
KABBALAH
The commandment of ‘shiluach haken’ involves sending away a mother bird before taking her eggs or young. Rabbi Moses Cordovero, a systematic kabbalist of the 16th century, uses the unusual commandment as a metaphor for how to study the sephirotic structure of the divine.
Claiming What You Are Owed
RESPONSA
What can you do to retrieve a debt you are owed? Rabbi Meir ben Barukh of Rothenburg, a rabbinic authority of 13th-century Germany, wrote a legal letter quoting a verse from Parashat Ki Teitzei to dismiss his colleagues' opinions about forcefully claiming a debt.
Fritz "Beda" Mayer - Meir, "Remember What Amalek Did to You" (Deuteronomy 25, 17) during WWII. Courtesy of Ghetto Fighters' House Lohamei HaGeta'ot, donated by Yossi Fuchs
Fritz "Beda" Mayer - Meir, "Remember What Amalek Did to You" (Deuteronomy 25, 17) during WWII. Courtesy of Ghetto Fighters' House Lohamei HaGeta'ot, donated by Yossi Fuchs
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