BackThoughts on the weekly Shabbat Torah reading
By: Rabbi Dr. Abraham Unger
Imagine a society in which parties go to court because they are both earnestly curious about a solution to a disagreement. Imagine they simply want to find out the right thing to do. That is exactly the kind of society the Torah counsels us to establish in this week’s Torah portion, titled “Ki Teitzei”, literally, “When you go out,” indicating in this context the legal parameters of the Jewish people’s return to the Land of Israel after fleeing Egyptian slavery.
In the United States, and indeed, in most legal systems, the law is an adversarial source of contention. Our legal system is typically one of strategy and enmity. That is not so in the traditional Jewish worldview. Resolution of any matter is intended to be amicable, for the sake of gaining clarity and a new insight into a situation that has not yet arisen. We are commanded to feel as if the Torah is new for us each day. We seek out its application in the spirit of one nation with one heart.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Dr. Abraham Unger
Executive Director