Weekly Message 09.05.2025 Parashat KiTeitzei
- jccwestpasco
- Sep 4
- 3 min read
Parashat KiTeitzei (when you go out) Deuteronomy 21:10 - 25:19
HafTorah Isaiah 54:1 - 10
Dear friends,
As we intensify our preparations for the High Holy Days, we continue with our reading of the Book of Deuteronomy (Devarim) with the portion of Ki Tetzei which contains more instructions and mitzvot than any other portion of the Torah, including all of Leviticus (Vayikra). The children of Israel are now on the brink of entering the Holy Land and as a result of these commandments will be better prepared to lead just and moral lives in their new homeland. And many of these these mitzvot ultimately will become the basis of law in many future societies including our own! Examples in our trienniel cyle reading include:
You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer, whether a fellow Israelite or a stranger in one of the communities of your land. Deuteronomy 24:14
You must pay out the wages due on the same day, before the sun sets, for the worker is needy and urgently depends on it; else a cry to יהוה will be issued against you and you will incur guilt. Deuteronomy 24:16
You shall not subvert the rights of the stranger or the fatherless; you shall not take a widow’s garment in pawn. Deuteronomy 24:17
Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and that your God יהוה redeemed you from there; therefore do I enjoin you to observe this commandment. When you reap the harvest in your field and overlook a sheaf in the field, do not turn back to get it; it shall go to the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow—in order that your God יהוה may bless you in all your undertakings. Deuteronomy 24:19-20
You must have completely honest weights and completely honest measures, if you are to endure long on the soil that your God יהוה is giving you. Deuteronomy 25:15
Therefore, when your G-d יהוה grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that your G-d יהוה is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget! Deuteronomy 25:19
The last commandment to remember Amalek warns us to fight evil always. If we don't remember our history, we are bound to repeat the unfortunate aspects of it. Many Torahs that have been rescued after the Holocaust are rolled to that admonition and we read it every year on Purim.
This Shabbat, we read and study the fifth of the seven Haftorahs of Consolation, the Prophet Isaiah's Chapter 54. As we learn in our Hertz Chumash, its message is the everlasting mercy of Hashem.
For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed, Hashem's kindness will not depart. Isaiah 54:10
Hertz teaches that this entails the sacred duty for us all to imitate Hashem's ways of lovingkindess, by loyal observance of the precepts of humanity that are proclaimed in this week's Torah reading.
Shabbat services will be held at the usual times, 7:30 pm this evening and 9:30 am tomorrow (Saturday) morning both in-person and virtually, on Zoom.
By the time you read this message, I will be in Puglia hopefully walking in my father's footsteps as he was rehabilitated from the horrors that he faced during the Holocaust. I will have much to convey to you upon my return in two weeks. In the meantime, stay healthy and safe and we will enjoy each other's company while praying and studying together throughout the holiday season.
Ron Becker,
Spiritual Leader
__________________________________________________
ZOOM LINKS FOR FRI AND SAT:
JCC is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Shabbat Services 09/05 @ 7:30 pm, 09/06 @ 9:30 am
Time: This is a recurring meeting Fri & Sat
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 497 903 0958
Passcode: 5QdVaA
Join instructions
Comments