Parshat Ki Tetzei: A Letter to the Commander in Chief

President Joseph R.  Biden The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave Washington, DC 20500 United States of America

18th August 2021 10th Ellul 5781

Dear Mr President,

I, along with millions of others watched your address to the American people regarding the withdrawing of troops from Afghanistan.  It is not my place to judge you or to assess the rationale that you cited for making your decision.  You are the most powerful human being on this planet and as you said, "The buck stops with me."

I was, however, struck by the timing of your actions and the week in which you chose to reveal your policy, in conjunction with the reading of this week's Parsha of Ki Tetzei in a few days' time.  As a person of deep faith, I do not believe in coincidences and would like to share with you some ideas that I have considered in relation to both your decision and the myriad of laws that encompass our Torah reading.

Ki Tetzei contains the largest number of mitzvot in the entire Torah, seventy-four in all.  Of these, twenty-seven are Positive Commandments (you shall do such and such) whilst forty-seven are prohibitions. 

On a superficial level, it appears that many of these Mitzvot/Commandments have been grouped together in a random fashion, but I believe that there is a common theme that can link all of them and this focus is on the relationship between people, known as Mitzvot ben Adam le Chavero, as opposed to those commandments between humanity and Gd, namely Mitzvot bein Adam LeMakom.

Mr President, The Book of Deuteronomy comprises the three speeches that Moses gave to the Israelites in the last week of his life by the banks of the Jordan River.  We are currently reading from the second oration.

Rabbi Menachem Leibtag of the OU highlights a fascinating idea that places these mitzvot in the context of how they follow on from those that we read about in the last few Torah portions/sidrot.  Additionally, he also posits the idea that all the mitzvot described in chapters 6-26 are analogous to the 10 Commandments.

Moses reminds the people that the mitzvot were originally transmitted to them at Mount Sinai and why they heard them from him (Moses) and not directly from Gd in Chapter 5.  Chapters 6 through to 11 describe the mitzvot that concern man's relationship to Gd, via the concept of Ahavat Hashem - loving Gd and demonstrating this through observing the first five commandments, with particular reference to not worshipping other gods.  This second oration begins with a repetition of the Ten Commandments, shortly followed by the first paragraph of the twice daily recited 'Shema' prayer and ends shortly after the inclusion of the second paragraph of the same prayer.

The section that we are currently reading contains numerous commandments that we refer to as 'Chukim and Mishpatim', namely Statutes and Judgements that pertain to establishing the Jewish people as an 'Am Kadosh' - a holy nation, replete with its institutions and laws relating to living a daily life in the Land of Israel.  Many of the laws contained in this section are not given a rationale, such as those pertaining to Kashrut, our dietary laws and Shatnez (mixing wool and linen in garments) which we read about this week.  Last week, we focused on leadership, ensuring that a just society is led by an impartial judiciary whilst simultaneously establishing a Jewish monarchy that acts as a model of how its protagonists should behave vis-a-vis Gd and the people they are chosen to represent and lead.

Rabbi Leibtag provides a fascinating parallel between the Ten Commandments and the mitzvot described in this second speech.

He equates Chapters 6 to 18 with the first five commandments and links the many mitzvot described therein within the context of the relationship between man and Gd. However, I will be focussing on the other laws as it is within these latter commandments that we find ourselves this week and this comprises of Chapters 19 to 25 (the second discourse ends with Chapter 26 which we will recite next week).

Mr President, as I explained above, this week's portion contains seventy-four commandments focussing on the relationships between human beings and includes topics ranging from the treatment of female captives and returning lost articles; respecting animals (chasing a mother bird away from a nest before taking her eggs and not ploughing a field with a yoked ox and donkey); creating a moral society (protecting rape victims, punishing adulterers, limiting prostitution); ensuring fairness for workers by paying them on time and promoting honesty through shopkeepers not being allowed to keep different weights in their pockets as a means of cheating customers and many, many more. 

It might be assumed that there is no connection between any of the above commandments, but this is far from the case.  Indeed, what brings them together is the imperative to promote a harmonious and just society that values not only itself but also others.  These are not commandments that are applicable solely to Jews, although we are tasked to keep them and in doing so, reflect Gd's light through the Torah on the rest of the world.  They are the bedrock on which all society should operate, irrespective of whether they are instructed to do so by their faith.  The Torah is not applicable to American Jews any more than it is relevant to those who come from Australia or even the sole remaining member of our people who currently lives in Afghanistan.

Mr President, in relation to your speech, you might wish to look at the two sets of laws which bookend Ki Tetzei, namely the commandments that focus on how a female captive should be treated (at the start of the portion) and Gd's requirement that we attack and destroy the murderous nation of Amalek at its end.  Both sections deal with war

Deuteronomy 21:

(10) When you will go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your Gd will deliver them into your hand and you take some of them captive, (11) and you see among the captives a beautiful woman and you desire her and would take her to wife, (12) you shall bring her into your house, and she shall trim her hair, pare her nails, (13) and discard her captive’s garb.  She shall spend a month’s time in your house lamenting her father and mother; after that you may come to her and live with her, and she shall be your wife.  (14) Then, should you no longer desire her, you must release her outright.  You must not sell her for money: since you had your will of her, you must not enslave her.

Mr President, I have long considered the first four verses of this week's Parsha to be amongst the most heart-breaking narratives in the Torah.  They also provide a precise, razor-sharp understanding of human nature in all its manifest incarnations.

A soldier has been granted the spoils of his victory over the enemy.  You can just imagine him walking arrogantly amongst the people he has just vanquished; drunk on the power he has recently utilised to subjugate his foe.  He spies a pretty girl amongst the captives and realises that, due to his lofty stature, he may do with her as he wishes.  She is after all, vulnerable and defenceless and unable to withstand his might.  His instinct will be to take her for himself and do as he pleases as this is the right of the victor, is it not?

Which is when the Torah drops the bombshell (excuse the pun) and sharply brings into focus the other side of the coin, namely the impact of the war, not on the winners, but those who were impacted by the victory - the scared and scarred victims of war.

Before the soldier can fulfil his lustful urges, he must recognise that his captive is human too.  She has witnessed the brutal deaths of her loved ones, possibly by the hand of the man in whose house she is now living, presumably against her will.  She needs time to mourn the loss of her parents whilst at the same time, making herself as unattractive as she can to her captor for a month of days, which will be enough time for him to also cool his passion and sense of superiority over her.  The tables have turned for now she has the power to control him.

Then, after a month, when he sees her in a different light, beyond her initial external attractiveness, they may consummate their union and begin a life together as equal partners who respect one another.  If this marriage does not succeed, she is free to go and he has no right to exercise his previous control over her through selling her as a slave.

Mr President, can you honestly promise the world that the Taliban, who have a history of indescribable brutality towards their fellow citizens and in particular, their inhumane and misogynistic treatment of Afghani women, will enforce this law amongst their millions of troops who are armed to the teeth?

Will you be willing to send more troops to protect your fellow human beings, even if the victims are not American?

Will you abide by the Torah's commandment to ensure that justice for orphans and widows is not perverted, as per Chapter 24, Verse 17?

Will you follow Gd's command to remember what the Amalakites did? A nation who attacked not the soldiers at the front, but the women and children at the rear of the nation?

Will you send your forces to defeat their descendants who claim that they 'fear Gd' but this is not a Divine Being that any of us recognise as Allah?

As our portion concludes, we are reminded 'not to forget'.

Mr President, we will soon be remembering the victims of 9/11 along with the soldiers who lost their lives trying to protect the innocents in Afghanistan over the last twenty years. 

When you have removed your protective shield over the troubled country that lies to the east of the United States, what and who will you be remembering?

Yours faithfully.

Rabbi Claude Vecht-Wolf

Shabbat Shalom