|
Topics in this digest:
Ki Tetze 5763
This week’s Torah portion, Ki Tetze, contains a lot of laws. So many
laws, in fact, you might be tempted to ask, “what do we need all these
laws for.” The simple answer of course is that we need laws to tell
us what we can and can’t do. And there are different approaches to
this question of what we can and can’t do. As the old joke goes, in
Holland, it's permitted unless it's specifically forbidden. In
Germany, it's forbidden unless it's specifically permitted. And in
Italy or France: It's permitted,
especially if it's forbidden.
I’m a relatively new resident of Canada. I recently realized that I
had no idea what were the fundamental laws, what was in the Constitution,
of the nation where I now make my home. I figured I should correct
that oversight, and while these words may be very familiar to most of you
here, I want to share the opening of Canada’s Constitution—or at least the
Constitution Act of 1982—with you this morning.
“Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the
supremacy of God and the rule of law:
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and
freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits
prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and
democratic society.
2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
(a) freedom of conscience and religion;
(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression,
including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
(d) freedom of association.”
The
Constitution then goes on to spell out in some detail the following
rights: Democratic rights, Mobility rights, Legal rights, and
Equality rights.
Canadians have the right to elect their government, the right to come and
go to or from Canada and between provinces as they wish. Canadians
have a lot of legal rights, first and foremost among them: “Everyone has
the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to
be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of
fundamental justice.” Every Canadian has the right to be treated
equally before the law, “without discrimination based on race, national or
ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical
disability.”
Reading the opening of the Canadian Constitution, it becomes apparent,
that like the US Constitution that I’m more familiar with, the fundamental
laws of the country are focused on rights. In the language of the
joke, Canada is like Holland--it is permitted unless it is specifically
forbidden. You can do what you want as long as you don’t infringe on
someone else’s rights to do what they want. The Law basically exists
to provide our rights with those necessary protections and limits.
The Jewish Constitution, the Torah, reads a lot differently. Let’s
take a look at some of the laws that we have in this week’s Torah portion.
We have laws relating to giving charity, as in Deut. 24:19: “when you reap
your harvest in your field, and you forget a bundle in the field, you
shall not go back to take it; it shall be for the convert, the orphan, and
the widow, so that the Lord, your God, will bless you in all your
handiwork.” Does this law talk about anyone’s rights? Rather,
it talks about the responsibility that a farmer has toward people who are
less fortunate than he is.
This week’s parsha opens with a law—the opening verses tell us when you go
out to war and take captive a woman “of beautiful form,” and desire her,
and want to marry her, you have to treat her a certain way—allowing her to
mourn for being uprooted from her home and parents. If you change
your mind and don’t want her, you may not sell her for money or put her to
menial work, because you have afflicted her. Does this law speak
about anyone’s rights? You could say it’s about the rights of the
woman to be treated with dignity, but that’s not how the Torah phrases
it—the Torah phrases it as the responsibilities of the more powerful
party.
In Biblical times, not only were captives put into slavery, but even a Jew
could sell himself into slavery if he fell onto sufficiently bad times.
However, the Talmud in Kiddushin 20a cautions us that “whoever buys a
Hebrew slave is like buying a master for himself.” The slave owner
had so many responsibilities toward the slave, it was like being enslaved
yourself.
We have another commandment in this week’s parsha which tells us that if
you see the ox or lamb of your brother (a fellow “citizen,” another Jew)
wandering around, you shall surely return it to him. Furthermore, if
you don’t know whose ox it is, you’ll bring it to your home and take care
of it until someone shows up asking for it! This is not only not
about someone’s rights—it’s giving you a HUGE responsibility if something
just gets dropped into your lap. You can’t just go turn it into the
police or something. You personally have to spend the money to feed
this ox until the owner comes looking for it!
These few examples highlight a fundamental difference between Jewish law
and secular law. Secular law is focused on your rights. Your
right to live where and how you want to live, your right to
representation, your right to be treated a certain way by the law.
The purpose of the rights in secular law is to protect your freedoms.
The highest good in the secular legal system is your freedom to do what
you want to do, and that freedom will only be constrained where necessary
to protect other people’s freedoms to live the way they want to live.
Jewish law is much different. Yes, we have some laws which seem to
be focused on protecting rights, or at least protecting other people’s
rights—like do not murder, do not steal. But the bulk of the legal
system is not concerned with rights. The Torah doesn’t really care
about your “rights.” The Torah is much more concerned with your
responsibilities. Your responsibility to treat other people with
kindness and respect. Your responsibility to take care of those who
are less fortunate than you are. Your responsibility to do certain
things for God.
So what’s the difference? The difference is that rights alone will
not build a society worth living in. Rights alone will not make you
a mensch. To have a society that is just, that is compassionate,
that is caring, requires elevating responsibilities above rights.
And by the way, despite the focus in the Constitution on rights, in many
ways Canada does a better job of accepting responsibility for others than
does the US. The Torah, however, pushes us to go even farther, by
setting the foundation of the system not on our rights, but rather on our
responsibilities.
We are now in the month of Elul, the time for taking stock, for
cheshbon hanefesh, an accounting of the soul. As you look at
your actions of the past year, and consider what forms of teshuva,
of corrective action you need to take, it’s not enough to look at those
acts that infringed on someone else’s rights. Rather you have to
take a look at the responsibilities the Torah charges us with, and
consider whether you really have fulfilled your responsibilities as a
Jew—your responsibility to be a mensch. When God came to Cain
looking for Abel, Cain asked “Am I my brother’s keeper?” God’s
unspoken answer—the answer of our tradition—is a resounding “Yes!”
Shabbat Shalom
It is a great mitzvah to serve God with great joy,
always...R. Nachman of Breslov
Rabbi Barry Leff
Beth Tikvah Congregation
9711 Geal Road
Richmond, BC V7E 1R4
phone: (604) 271-6262
fax: (604) 271-6270
web: www.btikvah.ca
email: rebbarry@yeladim.org
Top of page |
|