Thought Of The Week: 27 August 2015 (Rabbi Maurice Michaels)
Written by Writings & Sermons by others — 27 August 2015
I have a particular bond with this week’s sidrah, Ki Tetze, as it was my Bar Mitzvah sidrah and I had to become reasonably conversant with it. One thing I learned was that it contains more mitzvot than any other portion, most of which are presented in a terse form, generally lacking reasons, which are usually so prominent in Torah. It would be easy to suggest that Ki Tetze is merely a law compendium, listing many laws that either expand on those given earlier or are new mitzvot, not previously received.
Yet a midrash in Devarim Rabbah states that the verse in the Book of Proverbs, “For they are a beautiful accompaniment, livyat chen”, refers to the many mitzvot of the Torah, and especially to those that are found in this sidrah. The Midrash says: “Wherever you go or whatever you do, the mitzvot accompany you. If you build a house, then there is a command to build a fence around the roof. When you install a door, you have to affix a m’zuzah. When you put on new clothes, there is a law to make sure they have no sha’atnez, prohibited mixture of wool and linen. When you get a haircut, you are forbidden to cut the pe’ot, corners. If you have a field and you wish to plow it, you must make sure that your team does not have an ox and donkey together. When you sow your field, there is a law not to plant kilayim, forbidden mixtures. When you harvest your fields, the mitzvah is to leave gleanings for the poor. Even if you are doing nothing, but merely walking down the road, the mitzvot accompany you, as it is written, ‘If you will chance upon a bird’s nest, you must not take the young with the mother.”
R’ Gedalya Schorr, a 20th century leading American Chasidic Rabbi, wrote that this Midrash is explaining the purpose of mitzvot. When a host accompanies a guest down the road, he shows that he feels a continuing relationship with the guest, even if the host and the guest must now be separated for a time. Similarly, the mitzvot that God gave us are an “accompaniment” for us. Although seemingly we are relatively distant from God, the mitzvot demonstrate our continuing relationship. When we go about our business, there is a natural tendency to become more distant from God. Therefore, we are surrounded by mitzvot which draw us back to God.
This can be understood on a deeper level. We are used to thinking, for example, that because we have houses, God gave us the mitzvah of m’zuzah to sanctify the house. In fact, the cause-and-effect relationship is the reverse. God created the concept of housing in order to give us the mitzvot associated with it. In everything we do, we can find, if we look below the surface, a hidden spiritual message that can aid us in our service of God.
This is alluded to in the verse from the Book of Proverbs quoted above, “For they are a beautiful accompaniment, livyat chen.” The letters of the word chen form the abbreviation of chochmah nistarah, hidden wisdom, for every action that we take has hidden mitzvot accompanying it.