Parshah Ki Tietzei: G-d Wants Life

Parshah Ki Tietzei has a reputation for being an archaic parshah with laws abhorrent to today's societal standards. The Parshah makes it forbidden to have plant and animal hybrids, polyester being wrong. It provides the penalty for adultery, raping somone, sex before marriage, and even a child who does not honor her/his parents. But what these are all really about ironically is life. The torah is concerned with the continuation of life, all life not just Jewish life. And the more we dedicate ourselves to the creation and support of life, the more g-dly our actions and life. Only 3 times does the torah say if you do this you will live a long fulfilled life. One is in this parsha: If a bird's nest chances before you on the road, in any tree or on the ground, and [it contains] fledglings or eggs, and the mother bird is sitting upon the fledglings, or upon the eggs; do not take the mother bird together with the young. You shall send away the mother, and [then] you may take the young for yourself; that it may be good for you, and that you may prolong your days. Why is it so important to allow the mother to live? Even in the most human experience of ending hunger, we must have compassion to support life. But if we do, the torah says our days will be longer. It goes further in other parshah's explaining you cannot defame the alter by sacrficing a parent and child on the same day. Even the regressive laws about respecting adults and the sanctity of the sexuality of marriage. (because it does not say you cannot yell at a married woman) These laws are about being supportive of the arrangement that creates and sustains life. The Rabbis have always said that if Israel put anyone to death in 13 years that the court who did it would be a bloody court. But that we must remember that support of life is the most serious charge of Judaism. So while direct interpretation of this parsha might lead you to believe that the torah and Judaism are medival relics, we Jews no better, that it is a call to say... we must support life above all. RSS