Torah Talk

Wishing You A Peaceful And Restful Shabbat

August 31- Sept. 6, 2014

Torah Talk is created to help spur conversation about the themes in the weekly Torah portion (parasha). We hope that it will become a valuable addition to your week - both at your Shabbat table and during the rest of your daily routine.

Ki Tetze

In Parashat Ki Tetze, our tradition identifies 74 different mitzvot, covering a wide assortment of rules related to ethical warfare, family life, burial of the deceased, property laws, the humane treatment of animals, fair labor practices, and proper economic transactions. Specific topics addressed in this week's portion include treatment of females captured in war, the rights of the first born, and the 'wayward and rebellious' son - who is put to death, followed by the treatment of the bodies of the executed. The portion then goes on to discuss our responsibility towards the property of others, men and women's clothing, guard rails, mixed agriculture, tzitzit, issues of marriage and adultery, slavery, interest, vows, workers' rights, divorce, kidnapping, consideration for the orphan and the widow, support for the poor, Levirate marriage, the penalty for embarrassing another and honest weights and measures. This portion covers a lot of territory. The parasha ends with the famous command to remember what Amalek did to the Israelites when they left Egypt.

Deuteronomy (Devarim) Parashat Ki Tetze 22:1-3

If you see your fellow's ox or sheep gone astray, do not ignore it; you must take it back to your fellow. If your fellow does not live near you or you do not know who he is, you shall bring it home and it shall remain with you until your fellow claims it; then you shall give it back to him. You shall do the same with his ass; you shall do the same with his garment; and so too shall you do with anything that your fellow loses and you find: you must not remain indifferent.

This section of our Torah is a powerful example of the commandment for us to act in the world. Simcha Raz writes,"You must not remain indifferent [literally, you may not hide yourself]. Why did the Torah not use here the imperative form, as with all the other commandments? A person without integrity who finds a lost article could say: It is beneath my dignity to deal with restoration of the lost article to its owner. I will pretend that I have not seen it. Be it known, therefore, that "you may not hide yourself." Even if you hide yourself from other people, you may not hide yourself from the Holy One before Whom all mysteries stand revealed."

The Sefer HaHinukh (13^thc., Spain) reports that, "the root reason for this precept is evident, because in this lies a useful benefit for all and harmony for the land, since forgetfulness is common in all [humans]; moreover, all their domestic and other animals always run off hither and thither. With this mitzvah, which exists among our people, animals and objects would be kept wherever they might be in our holy land as though they were under the hand of the owners.

The Sifre (a collection of midrash) goes even further when it states, "If someone returns the beast and it runs away again, and when he once more returns it, it runs away a second time, even if this goes on five times, he must return it each time, as it is said, you must take it back to your fellow. If he [the finder] brings it back to a place where others can see it, and it is stolen or lost, the responsibility is still his. The responsibility remains his until he restores it to the possession of its owner.

Lastly, nearly 2000 years ago Rabbi Yohanan said, "there are three whose merit the Holy One proclaims every day... and a poor person who returns a lost object to its owner.

*Prepared with materials found in Torah Sparks

Feel free to find your own answers and explore each question in greater detail.

The mitzvah of returning lost property is not passive. One must care for the property actively (whether it is living creatures or objects) and actively try to find the owner. Why is it important that people make an effort to return lost property?
Sefer HaHinukh sees in this mitzvah "a useful benefit for all and harmony for the land." What does he mean by this? How would it affect society if people were diligent about returning lost property?
If, alternatively, everyone practiced "finders, keepers"? Have you ever happened upon a lost object? What did you do about it? In what ways would everyone returning lost property affect the land?

If you wish additional material on the parasha (Torah portion of the week) feel free to check out the following sites:

http://www.g-dcast.com -- Animated Take on the Parasha

http://www.ajula.edu/Content/ContentUnit.asp?CID=187&u=6277&t=0-- Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies Online Learning Portal

http://www.jtsa.edu/Conservative_Judaism/JTS_Torah_Commentary.xml-- Torah from the Jewish Theological Seminary

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