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Ki Teitzei (Deuteronomy 21:10–25:19)

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This Week’s Torah Portion: Ki Teitzei- כִּי-תֵצֵא (Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9)

“A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for Adonai your God detests anyone who does this.” (Deuteronomy 22:3)

Our ancestors were obsessed with organizing the world, everything needed to be in order that is why we cannot plow our fields using two kinds of animals, nor wear clothes that are a mixture of cotton and wool, or plant hybrid trees or vegetables.

They did not realize that what makes the world more interesting, what brings out life, is when we go out of the ordinary when we allow a man to wear a woman’s dress (just like Jacob did for Joseph) or vis- a verse. And the best fruits, cloths and vegetables and also humans are the hybrid ones who do not follow the roles and mix one species with the other.

Parsha Ki Teitzei Summary:

Moses reviews a wide variety of laws regarding family, animals, and property. (21:10–22:12) Various civil and criminal laws are delineated, including those regarding sexual relationships, interaction with non-Israelites, loans, vows, and divorce. (22:13–24:5) Laws of commerce pertaining to loans, fair wages, and proper weights and measures are given. (24:10–25:16) The parashah concludes with the commandment to remember for all time the most heinous act committed against the Israelites—Amalek’s killing of the old, weak, and infirm after the Israelites left Egypt. (25:17–19)

Ice Cream Social (Distance)

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Thank you to everyone who joined us for The Temple’s Ice Cream Social (Distance)! We enjoyed a fun night of music, sweet treats, social-distancing, and donated non-perishables for our local food pantry. Thanks to all who attended!

  • Ice Cream Social (Distance)
  • Ice Cream Social (Distance)
  • Ice Cream Social (Distance)3
  • Ice Cream Social (Distance)

Event Description:

The Temple’s Ice Cream Social (Distance) Get Together and Tikkun Olam Opportunity
Wednesday, August 26
6:00 – 7:30 pm in The Temple Front Parking LotJoin us for an outdoor evening gathering to reconnect with your Temple family (socially distanced) and do a mitzvah for our community. Comfy Cow ice cream will be provided free of charge when you bring a donation to the JFCS Meyer Food Pantry (preferably toilet paper, cans of vegetables, cans of fruit, cans of soup, peanut butter, and cereal).The Temple will be following social distance guidelines with designated tables for families to sit, REQUIRING ALL PARTICIPANTS TO WEAR MASKS, AND RSVP PRIOR TO THE EVENT.We will start with three shifts for families (6:00 pm, 6:30 pm, and 7:00 pm) and will open up more if there is more interest than we can safely accommodate. More details and guidelines to follow.

The Temple’s Ice Cream Social (Distance) Get Together and Tikkun Olam Opportunity Wednesday, August 26 6:00 – 7:30 pm in The Temple Front Parking Lot Join us for an outdoor evening gathering to reconnect with your Temple family (socially distanced) and do a mitzvah for our community. Comfy Cow ice cream will be provided free of charge when you bring a donation to the JFCS Meyer Food Pantry (preferably toilet paper, cans of vegetables, cans of fruit, cans of soup, peanut butter, and cereal). The Temple will be following social distance guidelines with designated tables for families to sit, REQUIRING ALL PARTICIPANTS TO WEAR MASKS, AND RSVP PRIOR TO THE EVENT. We will start with three shifts for families (6:00 pm, 6:30 pm, and 7:00 pm) and will open up more if there is more interest than we can safely accommodate. More details and guidelines to follow.

Shoftim (Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9)

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This Week’s Torah Portion: Shoftim – שֹׁפְטִים (Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9)

“The king shall write a copy of this Torah.”  (Deuteronomy 17:18)

Now, there is an interesting job description for a king. One has to imagine that the king of all Israel might have more pressing duties to attend to than to take the time to make for himself a copy of the entire Torah. But, then again, perhaps there is wisdom in these words which we too might need to learn.

The purpose of this commandment is explained directly in the text:
“So the king can read it all the days of his life, so he may learn to fear God, to keep all the words of this teaching and these statutes, and to do them.”

The king was commanded to write for himself a copy of the Torah in order to emphasize to the most powerful in the land, that no one is above the law and all of us are equally bound by it.

Equal justice for rich and poor, powerful and powerless, citizen of the land and stranger who lives among us… this is the value of the Torah.

Parsha Shoftim Summary:

Laws regarding both sacred and secular legislation are addressed. The Israelites are told that in every dealing they should pursue justice in order to merit the land that God is giving them. (16:18–18:8) The people are warned to avoid sorcery and witchcraft, the abhorrent practices of their idolatrous neighbors. (18:9–22) God tells them that should an Israelite unintentionally kill another, he may take sanctuary in any of three designated cities of refuge. (19:1–13) Laws to be followed during times of peace and times of war are set forth. (19:14–21:9)

R’eih (Deuteronomy 11:26–16:17)

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This Week’s Torah Portion: R’eih (Deuteronomy 11:26–16:17)

There will be no needy among you – for God will bless you in the land that God is giving you… (Deuteronomy 15:4)

There will never cease to be needy ones in your land… (Deuteronomy 15:11)

Here, in the course of just a few verses in this week’s Torah Portion R’eih, the Children of Israel are promised that there will never be poor among them… and that there will always be poor among them. Critics and commentators of the Torah have forever challenged the obvious contradiction between these two promises by God. The distance between this perfect world of a land without poverty or hunger and the seemingly hopeless future where there will always be needy in our world, seems all but impossible to bridge.

But the bridge from wealth to want resides right here within the text, just beyond the tiny dots at the end of each of these seemingly contradictory Torah verses. When you read the entire text, from the promise of prosperity to the persistence of poverty, a larger context emerges. 

The promise, “there will be no needy…” is followed by a call to righteousness, “if only you heed your God and take care to keep all this Instruction that I enjoin upon you this day.” That is to say, “there will be no needy if you build the world of justice and righteousness which I have declared for you in this Torah.”

And the recognition that “there will never cease to be needy” is followed by “which is why I command you: open your hand to the poor and needy kinsman in your land.”

The bridge from wealth to want, from prosperity to poverty, God places that destiny directly in our hands.

Parsha R’eih Summary:

God places both blessing and curse before the Israelites. They are taught that blessing will come through the observance of God’s laws. (11:26–32) Moses’ third discourse includes laws about worship in a central place (12:1–28); injunctions against idolatry (12:29–13:19) and self-mutilation (14:1–2); dietary rules (14:3–21); and laws about tithes (14:22–25), debt remission (15:1–11), the release and treatment of Hebrew slaves (15:12–18), and firstlings (15:19–23). Moses reviews the correct sacrifices to be offered during the Pilgrim Festivals—Pesach, Sukkot, and Shavuot. (16:1-17)

Eikev (Deuteronomy 3:23–7:11)

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This Week’s Torah Portion: Eikev (Deuteronomy 7:12–11:25)

In this week’s Torah portion Eikev, Moses recounts the story of the breaking of the first tablets of the Ten Commandments – and the making of the second tablets which came to replace them.

But perhaps you are wondering: “What happened to that first set of Ten Commandments, the broken pieces of the ones which Moses shattered?” The Talmud teaches that “both the whole tablets and the fragments of the tablets were placed together in the Ark.” Why keep the broken pieces, now that God had provided us new ones?

Remember how those first tablets were broken. We broke the commandments and Moses broke the tablets which contained them. We repented and resolved to follow these commandments with all our hearts, and God made us new tablets to represent that commitment. There is a lesson here on the meaning of brokenness and repair – and on the ability within each of us to repair the brokenness of our selves and our world.

Parsha Eikev Summary:

Moses tells the Israelites that if they follow God’s laws, the nations who now dwell across the Jordan River will not harm them. (7:12–26) Moses reminds the people of the virtues of keeping God’s commandments. He also tells them that they will dispossess those who now live in the Land only because they are idolatrous, not because the Israelites are uncommonly virtuous. Thereupon, Moses reviews all of the trespasses of the Israelites against God. (8:1–10:11) Moses says that the Land of Israel will overflow with milk and honey if the people obey God’s commandments and teach them to their children. (10:12–11:25)