Episode 11 - Ki Teitzei: A Nation of Laws
Last week in Shoftim we sketched the Torah’s civic blueprint. This week, Ki Teitzei pours content into that system with 74 mitzvot spanning war and peace, home and street, family and community. We start with the Torah’s ethics of war and move through everyday responsibilities that build a just society.
We explore:
• Laws of war continued: exemptions, restraint, and why “a person is like a tree of the field” shapes conduct even in siege
• Communal responsibility when a life is lost on the margins
• Loved vs. “hated” wife and the rights of the firstborn—echoes of Leah/Rachel and Reuven/Joseph
• The rebellious son: the rare Sanhedrin’s and the necessity of the Oral Torah
• Returning lost property; building a roof railing, safety and dignity as halacha
• Shatnez (wool/linen): symbolic boundaries, with priestly garments as a holy exception
• Yibbum and chalitzah: continuity after loss and how these laws play out in modern Israel
| Parshat Ki Teitzei 5785
Torah: Deuteronomy 21:10–25:19 | Haftarah: Isaiah 54:1–10 |
https://miko284.com/2025/09/04/ki-tetze-what-happens-when-we-go-out/
