Ki Tatzay

There are many varied halachot (laws) in his week’s Sidra that it almost seems like a hodgepodge of disparate ideas all mixed into one reading.  From a rebellious child who refuses to listen to eggs taken from a nest to captives from a war the parasha is almost dizzying with its assortment of issues. 

Perhaps this mixture of halachot is purposeful: just like life instances when we are called upon to make moral judgments cannot be planned in advance.  We need to know how to behave in every interaction with people and nature.  Yes, everything matters.  The Torah insists that we pay attention to the cries of a fledgling mother bird to the spoils of war.

This underlies what it means to be Jewish.  God cares about what we do.  He did not shoo us out of the Garden and leave us to make up life’s rules as we wandered around.  The Torah details 613 mitzvot but there are many more than that when the rabbis expanded the surface understanding of the holy Writ. 

Real wisdom lies in asking questions about problems presented in life, based in Torah knowledge.  See understanding.  Ask questions and then look for answers in the texts of the ages.  Trust me, there is little to which they did not give weighty consideration because they, like us, understand that everything matters.

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