A well known Rabbinical interpretation of the Ten Commandments, postulates that the two versions of the fourth commandment, ‘Remember’ and ‘Observe’, were said as one statement. Rashi, in his commentary on Exodus, brings several other examples of this phenomenon, two of which come from our Parshah. Two consecutive verses: the prohibition to wear sha’atnez (wool and linen together), and the command to wear tzitzit are said to be have said in one breath. The command not to have sexual relations with your brother’s wife and the mitzvah of yebum, (marrying your dead brother’s wife), are also regarded as forming one statement. What are the Rabbi’s saying in these comments? If we look at the two examples from our Parshah, we can see that they encompass contradictions. We are not allowed to wear wool and linen together, except when we need to put tzitzit on to a linen garment. We are prohibited from marrying our brother’s wife, except when the brother has died without children. In both these cases not only are we permitted to do these otherwise prohibited actions, but we are commanded to do them. Not putting tzitzit on a four corned linen garment is a transgression. The widow without children is considered already engaged to her brother-in-law, and needs a type of divorce, halitzah, in order to marry someone else. By postulating that these mitzvot were commanded together, the Rabbis are in fact saying that these apparent contradictions are in essence reconciled, by coming from the same Divine source. One argument often heard against the Divine origin of the Torah, is that it is full of paradoxes and contradiction. Here the Rabbis turn this argument on its head. It is precisely in the paradoxes that we can see the Divine hand at work. It is G-d alone who can command two contradictory actions in one statement, and both can be true. It is because sha’atnez is wrong according to Divine will, that the same Divine will can make it a mitzvah when used for tzitzit. It is this notion that can be seen in the stupendous yet vital idea, that differing Rabbinical opinions are both the words of the living G-d. Religion is not about simplicity or a black and white view of the world. It is rather about the G-d who both created and reconciles paradox and difference peril.

ALIYAH BY ALIYAH SYNOPSIS

 

Rishon	The war bride, inheritance laws and the rebellious son.
Sheni	Laws of kindness.
Shelishi	Laws of marriage and other relationships.
Revi’i	Laws of holiness and proper conduct.
Chamishi	Worker’s rights and divorce.
Shishi	Laws of humanity.
Shevi’i	Flogging, Levirate marriage and destroying Amalek.
Haftorah	Isaiah 54;1-10: Jerusalem rebuilt.

 

Sidra Statistics

Parshat Ki-Tetze

·               has 110 verses;

·               is the  6th  in Deuteronomy,  49th  in the Torah

·               5th longest in Deuteronomy, 

·               30th  longest  in the Torah  

·                has  27 pos + 47 neg = 78  mitzvot.