By Tyler Rodriguez
The beginning phrase of Ki Teizei reads: "כִּֽי־תֵצֵ֥א לַמִּלְחָמָ֖ה עַל־אֹיְבֶ֑יךָ". This roughly translates to, “When you go out to war against your enemies.” This is among the many references our Torah makes about war, especially since the Israelites were once militant people in a world where war was such a common thing. But war isn’t necessarily an obvious phenomenon, but something within. It is important to recognize that we are always “waging war” within ourselves to use our free will to choose between doing good deeds and sharing with others, versus acting selfishly.
The opening words also can point us to the concept in Judaism known as Yetzer HaRa, the evil inclination. This, in some respects, can tie into the first aliyah (no, no one is moving to Israel!) that Ki Teitzei discusses: the captive woman of war.
In war, the prospect of control plays an essential part, whether it be the control of territory or the control of a population. It also really does things to the mind, even nowadays: it disillusions us, gives us feelings of anxiety, loneliness, and others. For a soldier who sees a beautiful woman, the Torah states that the soldier may take her into his home, must shave her hair and grow her nails, and allow thirty days to mourn for her parents. The soldier ultimately can marry or send the woman to wherever she wishes.
I found a very interesting connection and commentary from old rabbi Rashi to which he wrote:
“‘You may take her as your wife…’ The Torah speaks here only to oppose the Selfish Inclination [Yetzer Hara], because if the Blessed Holy One did not permit [it], he would marry her against the law. But if he does marry her, she will in the end be ‘hated,’ as the verse says, and eventually they will beget a ‘rebellious son.’ That’s why all these sections are connected.”
It's very interesting how he connected these separate laws into something that metaphorically makes sense. By accepting the urge to marry this captive woman, it essentially backfires and sends bad vibes throughout your generations. If they see someone only as an object for self gratification, it won’t guarantee respect of others or their children. In the case of the beauty of the woman the soldier laid eyes on, Rashi interprets it as a warning to not focus on what’s obvious, but rather for spiritual insights-even in war. This, in some respects, hits the nail on the head of one of the central tenets of our movement: Shivyon Erech Ha’adam.
Another reading discusses constructing guardrails for the roof. In ensuring that you don’t make yourself do the “flop” (I hope someone caught the reference), you need to make a guardrail. The deep meaning of this comes back to the idea of warring against Yetzer HaRa and keeping you from wrecking yourself. The roof represents the highest point of a house, and can even mean ego. Therefore, in order to avoid selfishness, a guardrail exists there to keep our mind from going astray, as well as from preventing anyone getting injured or killed for that matter #betbetbet.
One last reading that is briefly mentioned is to “remember Amalek.” A similar word in Hebrew is Safek which means doubt. When we have doubt, we are drawn away from the Light--our potential. Amalek referred to the grandson of Esau who was among the first to drop the hammer against the Israelites after they escaped from Egypt. As a result, YHWH sought to remember what happened. In remembering Amalek, we can overcome doubt and connect with certainty. If we possess certainty, we can achieve our potential and make good deeds and judgement in the world. This assures us that we can achieve