Ki Tetzei: Family-Foundation of the Nation's Life

by Rav David Chai HaCohen, Rosh Yeshivat Netivot Yisrael in Bat Yam, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.

This week's Torah portion of Ki Tetze (D'varim 21,10-25,19) deals with several family-related issues, and therefore provides a welcome opportunity to discuss the importance of family life in Jewish national identity.

The Torah emphasizes the family sanctity beginning with the husband and wife, and from there we expand our view and reveal the value of family for the construction of the entire Jewish nation. The recognition that proper family life serves as an important infrastructure for the nation's future is manifest in the various mitzvot that pertain to the proper way to establish it. 

Firstly, incest and other illicit relations that cause mamzerut – the illegitimacy of the offspring – are forbidden. The wholeness and integrity of a Jew depends on ensuring a known connection between his special link and the continuing national chain that goes family after family all the way back to the nation's forefathers. The Torah thus warned that one should not take his father's wife [or other relatives, or a married woman], thus blurring the clear succession of whole families, which continue branch after branch, generation after generation, in purity.

In the wake of these and other prohibitions, the clear conclusion is that "a mamzer may not enter the community of G-d" (23,3) [in marriage, though not in other societal frameworks].  The exclusion of the mamzer – the word itself implies foreignness (zar) – indicates the character of appropriate Israelite life, wherein children know their parents and they each relate to one another within a family structure that includes love and educational responsibility. Such relations do not exist when the family unit is broken by moral promiscuity. In this context we see how individual family matters relate to the life of the nation as a whole – for how can responsibility vis-à-vis the nation be taught when even the family societal unit is in ruins?

Amon and Moav: Ensuring Israel's Morality 

In this light the Torah also instructs us to stay away from the (now non-existing) Amonite and Moavite peoples and not marry into them; they must be excluded from G-d's community. This is because our post-Exodus history showed us the depths of depravity to which these nations deteriorated. They did not show us even a modicum of humanity and compassion when we left Egypt and needed their help. Their ungratefulness and other negative traits stand in stark opposition to the basic character of Israel that began with our forefathers, marked by "compassion, non-arrogance, and kindness" (Tr. Yevamot 79a).

It's true that other nations warred with us at various times in our history as recorded in the Torah – but none targeted our spirit and character as did Amon and Moav. This is why we are commanded to distance the latter "for even ten generations" (23,4), whereas Edomites and Egyptians we "must not despise" (verse 8) - for they are our brothers and hosted us, respectively; they may marry Jews after three generations and after having converted to Judaism. 

After this clarification regarding the attributes of compassion and kindness that are appropriate for the nation that left Egypt and merited to receive G-d's kindness, the Torah portion continues with a series of laws of justice. These include how to properly, and even compassionately, administer the punishment of stripes, and more. {But these take us far afield from our specific topic; as Hillel the Elder said, "The remainder – go and study."]

Holidays: Preparing to Return

by Former Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rav Avraham Shapira ZT"L, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.

The month of Elul prepares us, as it did in the Sinai Desert, for the Day of Judgement, Rosh HaShanah.

These days of the month of Elul are days of preparation for the Day of Judgement on Rosh HaShanah. This is learned from the Children of Israel's 40 days of preparations to receive the Second Tablets of the Law (after Moshe Rabbeinu broke the first set, in the wake of the Sin of the Golden Calf) – beginning on the first day of Elul when Moshe ascended the mountain for the second time. As it was then, so it has continued every year since then, for 3,336 years.

The preparations for teshuvah (repentance) are themselves a stage in the teshuvah process. Our very willingness to check ourselves and review carefully all of our deeds is itself an important rung on the ascending ladder of teshuvah. 

We find strong support for this concept in the story of Eliyahu the Prophet on Mt. Carmel. As recorded in Kings I, Chapter 18, the nation was wavering between belief in G-d and following false gods such as Baal. Eliyahu conducted a miraculous competition with the false prophets of the day, showing that his sacrifice – and not theirs - would be accepted by G-d and set on Divine fire without any human aid. 

Eliyahu introduced the contest by approaching the people with these words: 

"Until when will you hop between two ideas? If Hashem is G-d, go after Him, and if the Baal, then go after him." And the people did not answer him.

Eliyahu then said to the assembled: 

"Have them [the 450 prophets of Baal] give us two bulls. They will choose one bull for themselves, and cut it up and place it on the wood [to be burnt as a sacrifice] - but they shall not put any fire there. And I will prepare [the other] bull, and I will put it on the wood, and I [too] will not place fire.

"And you [the 450] will call in the name of your deity, and I will call in the name of Hashem, and [whoever] answers with fire - He is God." And all of the people answered and said, "The thing is good." 

As we know, G-d rained down fire only upon Eliyahu's sacrifice, showing His acceptance of it, while that of the false prophets remained untouched. The Jerusalem Talmud teaches (Taanit 3,4) that this miracle occurred in the merit of the People of Israel.

This is quite puzzling, for the People of Israel only acknowledged that "Hashem is G-d, Hashem is G-d" (verse 39) only after the miracle had taken place! What possible merit did they have beforehand, when they were still worshiping idols?

The explanation is that the very fact of their willingness to think about the situation, to check themselves and their opinions and beliefs, and to consider returning to Hashem and not hop between Him and the idols – this very consent to check is the beginning of teshuvah. [When Eliyahu first presented the challenge, they did not argue; they merely listened passively. And when he told them the conditions of the challenge – "[whoever] answers with fire - He is God" – they agreed that this would be a good idea.]

That is, even before they abandoned their idol-worship altogether, their very agreement to listen to Eliyahu and to check the truth, this is the beginning of the teshuvah process. This is what the Jerusalem Talmud meant when it said that these Jews had the great merit of bringing down miraculous fire from the Heavens – because they had started to do teshuvah.

This, too, is our job during these days of Elul – and may G-d grant that we cleave to G-d and do proper teshuvah. 

Shoftim: Appointing a King in Israel (abridged version)

by Rav Moshe Leib HaCohen Halbershtat, Founder and Dean of YORU Institute, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.

This week's Torah portion is Shoftim, in Deuteronomy 16,18-19,21. In it we read of the commandment to appoint a king: "When you come to the Land… and you say, 'I will place a king over me, like all the nations around me. You shall certainly place upon yourselves a king; you may not place upon you a foreigner who is not your brother" (17,14-15). 

Several questions present themselves, including the following:

1. The Medrash (D'varim Rabba 5,9) says that when kings of Israel oppressed their subjects, G-d essentially told Israel it was their own fault for asking for a king in the first place. "You yourselves chose to leave Me and accept the kingship of flesh and blood!" But how can the Medrash say this, if we see that the Torah itself not only condones the selection and coronation of a King, but even commands us to do so!

2. The Torah states that G-d will choose the king, meaning via a prophet or the Urim VeTumim on the High Priest's breastplate - but at the same time, we are told that we may not take a king who is not our brother. Which is it: Is the choice up to us, or is it up to G-d and His prophet?

3. Toward the end of the Prophet Samuel's life, his sons Yoel and Aviyah were judges in Israel, and they behaved very sinfully. When the elders of Israel came to Shmuel and asked that a King be appointed to replace them, Shmuel was saddened, and prayed to G-d for guidance. But, why was he upset? Did he not realize that this was an opportune time to fulfill the Torah's command to "place upon yourself a king"? And even more puzzling is G-d's response: "Hearken to the people's request, for they have not turned away from you, but rather from Me." In what way were they turning against G-d, if they were simply trying to replace corrupt judges with a king in accordance with the Torah's command?

The Medrash explains that while the Israelite elders' request to name a king was acceptable and even laudable, it was the lower strata of the nation who marred the process. This was because they stated that they wanted a king so that they could be "like the other nations." That is, they wanted a king not because they sought honest and G-d-fearing leadership, but simply because they preferred a mortal king like the other nations, and not to have to be subject to the Divine King of all Kings. They basically wanted to stop having to worship G-d, and to commit idolatry instead. This is, of course, why G-d was angered at their request.

This point answers the first two question as well. The Torah presents here two ways in which a king can be installed in Israel, and their respective inevitable consequences.  One way is the result of wanting to be "like all the nations around me" (D'varim 17,14). This is of course a betrayal of G-d, and it leads to various forms of evil: appointing a king who was not chosen by G-d, but rather one that they will choose themselves, including possibly even a foreigner (verse 15). Such a king is liable to acquire too many horses (verse 16) or wives (verse 17), leading him to become arrogant and seek out only silver and gold (verse 17). This in turn will cause him to stray from the Torah's commandments (verse 20) and not remain king for long. The Prophet Shmuel listed some of the terrible consequences for Israel if they choose a wicked king: "He will take your sons and employ them in his chariots, and they will have to run before him… He will take your daughters, and your good fields and orchards and give them to his servants… etc." (Samuel I 8). 

The second option for the choosing and coronation of a king is with the aim only of fulfilling the Torah's commands. This means choosing only a king whom G-d wants, one who will be very diligent not to act in a way that will lead to arrogance, so that he will not fall into heresy and idol worship. He will be a king who is far from physical and material lusts for wives and silver and gold, and who will certainly not return the nation to Egypt (verse 16). 

How will such a king be able to avoid the pitfalls of power and stature and not fall into traps that will lead him into the above wicked behaviors? The answer is that he is commanded to "write himself a Torah Scroll… and it will be with him and he will read from it throughout his life, so that he will learn to fear G-d and carefully keep the Torah's laws" (verses 18-19). And in this way, "he will have a long reign amid Israel" (verse 20).

Holidays: Converging Customs

by Rav Yeshayahu Shteinberger, rabbi of Ramat Sharett and other southern Jerusalem neighborhoods, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.

Though quite different, the customs among Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews in the month of Elul leading up to the High Holy Days are directed to the same summit of teshuvah, repentance. And a note on the Haaretz Newspaper.

The late Chief Sephardic Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef noted a custom in some non-Hassidic circles not to get married in the month of Elul. The basis for it is the serious nature of the days leading up to the New Year coronation of G-d as King and the Day of Atonement. Rabbi Yosef had strong criticism of this custom, however, terming it strange and inexplicable. And in fact it is hard to find a month that is more appropriate for the mitzvah of marriage than Elul, which is an acronym for Ani L'dodi v'dodi li, expressing the love between G-d and the Jewish nation. 

This appears to be a fine example of the differences between the Sephardim, who are often lenient, and the more stringent Ashkenazim, as I explained in my recent article entitled, "Why Sephardim are Happier." I wrote there that the Sephardic mourning customs during the Three Weeks before Tisha B'Av are notably less stringent than those of Ashkenaz. This is seemingly related to the general Sephardic optimism regarding the Redemption, compared to the Ashkenazi measure of pessimism on this topic. Since marriage is a type of personal redemption for the young couple, as is clear from the words of the Seven Blessings of the wedding meals, we see that each group, or part thereof, is consistent in its own approach to the idea of holding weddings during the Three Weeks.

This is why it is surprising to see the opposite in the month of Elul. While the Sephardim arise very early every day this month to recite the penitential s'lichot prayers, the generally stringent Ashkenazim do not join in until just a few days before Rosh HaShanah. Until then, their preparations for the Days of Awe suffice with a few seconds of shofar-blowing every morning, and the recitation of Psalm 27, L'David Hashem Ori V'yish'i, "Hashem is my light and my salvation" night and day. Does this not demand an explanation?

It turns out that while the Ashkenazim are lenient in their actions, they are quite stringent when it comes to the content thereof. Their custom of blowing the shofar is a striking introduction and powerful preparation for the Day of Judgement, Rosh HaShanah. (This is why after Rosh HaShanah, we no longer blow the shofar.)

On the other hand, the s'lichot of the Sephardim, while recited at a difficult hour of the day, are replete with comfort and Divine attribute of mercy. They are a great preparation for the Day of Forgiveness, Yom Kippur, on which G-d as if moves from the Throne of Judgement to the Throne of Compassion. The s'lichot express our request for atonement, a central part of teshuvah. The Sephardim thus have it "easy" in that sense, while the Ashkenazim are the more stringent. 

Ever since the destruction of the Holy Temple, instead of the Atonement sacrifices and service, the s'lichot have become the centerpiece of our Yom Kippur prayers. On Rosh HaShanah, on the other hand, there are no s'lichot, and not even confession; it is a day of judgement, not of requests for forgiveness.

In any event, the atmosphere of this month of Elul is a complex one. We are still in the midst of the Seven Weeks of Consolation following the mourning period over the Temple's destruction; the haftarot that both Sephardim and Ashkenazim recite on these Sabbaths are full of prophetic consolation for Zion. It is a month that well represents the typical Jewish oxymoron, "Rejoice with trembling" (Psalms 2,11). On the one hand, we happily anticipate Redemption and the rectification of the world, both collectively and individually. On the other hand, Elul is accompanied by fears and anxiety as it brings us closer to the day we stand before the Divine Throne of Judgement that determines what will befall us this coming year. Elul is the sixth month of the year, the preparation for Tishrei – just as Friday is the day of preparation for the Sabbath.

In truth, the Sephardim do not totally ignore the Shofar before Rosh HaShanah. They blow it every morning more than once, during the recitation of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy during the s'lichot prayers. In addition, all Jewish congregations read aloud the Torah portion of Ki Tavo shortly before Rosh HaShanah, which includes a series of intense rebukes and punishments for our not having kept the Torah. The verse "Will a shofar be sounded in the city and the people not tremble?" (Amos 3,6) is also quite familiar to their congregations.

We therefore see that the ends meet in this instance. Everyone experiences a multi-dimensional Elul, full of the sometimes contradictory emotions of hope, joy, and the fear of judgement. 

Both Sephardim and Ashkenazim seeking during these days to reach the pinnacle of teshuvah. This is why the haftarot of consolation are replaced after Rosh HaShanah with the "two haftarot of teshuvah" – one on the Fast of Gedaliah immediately after Rosh HaShanah, and the second on Shabbat Shuvah before Yom Kippur (see the first Tosafot on Megillah 31b). The two haftarot of teshuvah are connected to those of consolation that precede them: The Redemption of the nation and the redemption of each individual are two sides of the same coin; the former, which is hidden within the consolation of Zion and Jerusalem, is the introduction to the redemption of each individual soul at these times.

About this the Rambam wrote: "Israel is redeemed only via teshuvah – but the Torah has promised that Israel will ultimately do teshuvah at the end of their Exile, at which time they will immediately be redeemed." (Laws of Teshuvah 7,5)

Haaretz

On a related topic, I would like to note that my article, cited above, received attention in the Haaretz newspaper – by, of all people, an Israeli Druze poet named Salman Masalha. He actually displayed an amazing knowledge of Jewish Law, discussing the differences between Sephardic and Ashkenazi rulings and quoting Rav Ovadiah and the renowned 18th-century Chida (Rav Yosef Chaim David Azulai). Masalha took the opportunity to mock the Jews for their inter-ethnic disputes. I responded with a Letter to the Editor, praising Masalha's breadth of knowledge and offering to write a parallel article on the differences between Shiite and Sunni Muslims and the hundreds of thousands of deaths caused by them. The "newspaper for thinking people" published the first part of my letter, but for some reason omitted the second part. I therefore thought I would note it here.