The seven Aliyahs of Ki Teitzei
This parsha is filled with do and don’ts. Some make great ethical sense and others – well – others are difficult to unpack.
top right – Passion is a priority here. A warrior conquers another country and lusts after the females there and takes one but is required to let her mourn for a month her separation from family and to cut her hair and grow long nails to become unattractive so that the warrior’s passion will wan or he will continue his desire despite her transformations. A father is not permitted to prefer one child from a favored wife over another. And a rebellious indulgent stealing insulting boy is brought by his parents before judges for appropriate punishment.
top left – If another’s animal is overburdened whether a friend’s or not one is required to help. Someone punished to actually being hanged, which never really happened, was to be buried out of respect before the next day. Cross dressing then was not approved – how times have and should change – and we are not to take the children – the eggs – the next generation if the parents are protecting them as the mother bird here is.
top center – The issue of lust is continued here, and mention of raping and adultery and incest are all brought up. And one whose testicles are damaged is to be shunned – difficult enough for the one who has the problem! We are to make sure there is protection on the roofs of our houses, so no one falls, and we are not to mix things – why – another question – but not plow with ox and donkey togetgher, not mix wool and linen. But we are to wear four tsitis on the corners of our garments reminding us of Hashem being in all directions. And a wife now undesired by a recent husband can prove her innocence showing that she was a virgin when first married.
bottom right – Speak the truth. Share with one in need. Do not return an escaped slave. Do not have male and female prostituting their bodies. Hmmmm. And should one have an inappropriate sexual issue, a dip in a mikvah can help.
bottom left – You are to allow neighbors to take from your gardens that which is left over. And how a woman twice divorced should be treated is brought up.
bottom center – Again one who is just married or building a home or garden should not be required to serve as a soldier. You should not be unjust with weights nor kidnap and enslave another and return what was put up as a security for a loan before the next day. We don’t want others to suffer financially.
center center – And here again this monetary exchange should not include taking interest. Don’t cheat in your exchanges. Let the stranger and widow and orphan pick up what is left on the fields. Don’t muzzle an animal working for you. If you refuse to take responsibility for you brother’s wife, should he die, she can spit on you as you present in public your shoe as a sign of your abandonment of her. Strange. And a woman is chastised for grabbing the balls of a man attacking her man. Hmmmm.