Deuteronomy 21:10 – 25:19
Isaiah 54:1-10
Devarim Chapter 23, verses 13 and 14 tell us:
“And you shall have a designated place outside the camp, so that you can go out there [to use it as a privy]. And you shall keep a stake in addition to your gear; and it shall be, when you sit down outside [to relieve yourself], you shall dig with it, and you shall return and cover your excrement.”
In this d’var torah I will talk about how the reason we don’t have the third temple nor Moshiach is because of flush toilets.
Just kidding. But I do find it interesting that Torah has two verses of how to bury your poop which follows Leave No Trace, or LNT. LNT was developed as a method of best practices to preserve and protect natural spaces. Burying your business is a major aspect of LNT. It’s so important that backpackers carry a dedicated lightweight shovel to do this very task. It’s another example of something that if the Jews are doing, you might want to consider, too.
I spoke on Ki Teitzei in 2016, 5776. In that drash I spoke about believing women when they’re hurt by men. It doesn’t matter if that is caused by formal or casual sexism, violations of their privacy, or assault. I supported this by quoting Deuteronomy Chapter 22, verses 23-29 which lists specific punishments for sex.
And this hurts me so much. It hurts me because it’s more prescient than it ever has been. The UN has dismissed the rapes, which were recorded and bragged about by Hamas, of women and men. Feminist organizations have covered their eyes and ears to blindingly obvious evidence of crimes against both Israeli and Gazan women and men. These crimes were perpetuated supposedly for a few reasons, but they all boil down to blind hate. One of their excuses was that Israelis don’t deserve to live and should be humiliated. Another is that queer people don’t deserve to live. Another is that people who try to get humanitarian aid after Hamas steals it don’t deserve to live.
We have 16 million people, our people, trying to take up the mantle of these abused victims. I don’t know how many allies are taking up the mantle, and of those allies, I don’t know how many are taking it up only to score political points. All I know is that I feel like we’re on an island surrounded by sharks screaming into a deafening wind, with no ships stopping.
I spoke, last time, about Rabbi Yitzi Hurwitz in Temecula, CA, who has ALS and knows how hard it can be to pick up your donkey alone — he is forced to record his words of wisdom using only eye tracking technology on a computer. He wrote that helping lift one’s donkey is a simple mitzvah, extending that to lifting one’s fallen spirituality is a deeper one.
He writes: “…Realize that it is his animal that has fallen—not him. His neshamah [soul] is pristine. He is essentially holy and wants to be G?d’s. It is only his ‘animal’—his circumstances, nature and upbringing that put him where he is today.”
This man is a force of nature. These were written years ago, and I quoted them eight years ago. And this man is still alive today, writing using only his eyes and incredible technology.
This year, I want to take a different message from Rabbi Hurwitz’s words. Last time it was about helping lift up others’ spiritual burdens. And we’ve been doing that for decades.
We’ve supported every civil rights movement in modern history. We know what it’s like to be strangers in a strange land; we know what it’s like to constantly be the other. Because of this, we build others up and expect them to adhere to the social contract and support us back. Yet time and again we’re strung out to dry by people we thought were allies.
The far left accuses us of genocide. The far right accuses us of running the banks. Both deny the rapes and assaults of October 7. Horseshoe theory, the idea that the both political extremes meet back up, rings true. Antisemitism truly is the hammer which forges horseshoe theory.
Luckily, the moderates of both sides largely support us, albeit quietly. We’re the little secret of moderates. Few are willing to stick their necks out for us, even though they acknowledge our value and contributions.
What does this have to do with helping unburden our struggles? What does this have to do with lifting our worldly burdens to free our pure spirit? For this, I want to expand on this very commandment: “You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fallen… and ignore them. [Rather,] you shall pick up [the load] with him.” With him, together.
We are firmly in the month of Elul. A month when we confront the inclination to do evil that’s inside all of us. Maybe we want to be petty for offenses that shouldn’t matter or take outsized revenge for minor offenses. Maybe we want to demean someone for a small reason or gossip about them. Whatever the transgression, this inclination has a voice and pushes us to act on our animal instincts. I’ve given into it, for sure. And I try every day to do better, though some days I try harder than others.
What is the inclination of people who should be our allies? For the left, who speak of opportunity and fight racism, while denying us the very safety they extend to those who have slaughtered us. Who extend safety to those who would happily slaughter them, as well. For the right, who speak of opportunity and business, while stoking fears of globalists and secretive backroom cabals seeking to overthrow the world? I can’t speak to their inclinations.
What is our inclination? To demean them? To call them less than human? To strip away their humanity? I know I’ve done that. And I can’t even be ashamed of it. For what they’ve called me, for the death threats they’ve sent, and them trying to get me fired. For the lies they’ve said to my face this year, previous years, and throughout my life. Truly the only thing separating these people from animals is they chose to pick up the mantle of hate. So why would I not call them barbarians, or savages?
I only have one answer to this. I learned it as a teenager when I was fencing. My coach told me to never underestimate any opponent. The moment you underestimate them, they can get a leg up on you. They can outwit you if you discount their wiles and ability. The moment you play down how much of a threat they are to you is the moment you give them a gaping opening to wreck you.
Ki Teitzei is a parashah which outlines 74 of our 613 commandments. 12% of our commandments are in this single Torah portion. I’m sure there’s some gematria in there, but my job only requires me to count to 10, so I’ll let someone else play with that one. It would be so easy to write a drash about paying workers on time, or whom to charge interest to. Laws of divorce and other social contracts would be a fun, historical dvar torah to prepare. Fine. Maybe after the hostages are returned I could play around with this and have some levity. If I wanted to get a little petty, I could look at ““All your weights and measurements shall be truthful,” and demonstrate how Hamas lies about their deceased, though since they’re not Jewish they’re not bound to the mitzvot.
Today, though, no. I don’t feel levity on this island we’re on, screaming into the wind. Our souls are pure. Our hostages’ souls are pure. Our defenders’ souls are pure. Heck, as distasteful as it feels and as much as it makes my stomach wretch, one could argue that those who’ve been brainwashed by propaganda might even have pure souls. We have a burden weighing us down and that burden is modern day terrorism and those who support and endorse it.
I want to look at a different commandment in this parashah. The last one. “When G-d gives us respite from our enemies, then we shall destroy the remembrance of Amalek. We shall not forget.”
Rabbi Neil Borowitz quotes his mentor, the late Rabbi Chanan Brichto, who taught him, in 1973, that Amalek had transcended from a tribe of people to all terrorists who would harm us. And this is what I think of now. That we do not get to destroy the memories of Amalek, of terrorism.
It’s easy to turn this inward and to say that we need to eliminate the tendencies within ourselves, our own inclination to do evil. But I truly don’t see a notable amount of that. I see our animalistic urges of bloodlust and violence tempered by true justice. After all, our own IDF has the lowest ratio of civilian to combatant deaths in any recorded war with estimates of 1.2-1.6 civilians for every 1 terrorist killed.. This is significantly lower than the average ratio of 9 civilians for every combatant.
It’s the naturer of darshot to look inward. I want to turn this outward, though, to those who have called for violence against us and those who act upon those calls. This is my message for us, and for those on the fence, and for those who hem and haw about our very fight for survival. Amalek never left. Amalek never even changed its characteristic: it remains sneaky and vile. It remains opportunistic. It remains barbaric. Amalek doesn’t care who gets in its way or about collateral damage. Amalek only wants to kill Jews and those associated with Jews. Us. Our friends. Our supporters.
I find it interesting. One of the things standing in the way of rebuilding the temple is those who would kill us. One of the things standing in the way of eternal peace, an eternal Shabbat, is those who would kill us. Maybe this generation is the “heel of Moshiach,” the lowest point before he comes, according to kabbalists. Maybe Moshiach is coming soon.
Regardless, we have a directive. We have to choose life, our lives. And we have to choose to help others’ lives. But right now it’s time for us to lift our burdens off of each other, even at the risk of being insular. We cannot fight Amalek while pinned down by a donkey. We must lift our burdens together, regardless of political affiliation. Regardless of who is in office. Regardless of which extreme is marching in the streets or in the newscycle.
It is our burden. And together we can lift it and realize the purity of our souls. But only together can we do that.
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