How can we say Shehecheyanu this Rosh Hashanah?
Ki Tetze Minyan 2024
This week’s Torah reading is called Ki Teitzei. It begins with the verse “When you go out to war” and in fact refers the reader back to last week’s Parsha, Shoftim, where we learn of the responsibilities incumbent upon citizens to fight in Defensive Wars and the rules of war. Our extremely eclectic Torah portion continues with the issues of the rights and responsibilities of soldiers vis a vis captive enemies, and then goes on to include an assortment of unrelated commandments which according to Maimonides, number 72 of the 613 commandments of the Torah. When I come to study this Parsha each year, during the month of Elul, I often feel that Moses, knowing both that he is about to die and that he has the entire community’s attention, is trying to say it all. The reality as Hillel taught a thousand years after Moses is that while the essence of Torah can be summarized by Leviticus 19:18, Love your neighbor as yourself; in every age, every person, must, as Hillel taught: ז׳יל גמר go and learn how to apply this Divine command to our time and our situation.
Since we don’t have the time or the attention span to discuss all 72 commandents, I am choosing to focus upon the command:
“When you build a new house, you shall build a protective barrier around your roof so that we don’t incur guilt if anyone should fall off it” (Verse 22:8)
In his Sefer HaMitzvot, Maimonides wrote regarding the protective barrier or parapet: (positive commandment 184)
“By this injunction we are commanded to remove all obstacles and sources of danger from all places in which we live; that is to build walls or parapets around roofs, cisterns, trenches and the like….” In like manner it is obligatory to remove and guard against every obstacle which constitutes a threat to life and limb…”
At first glance it sounds like a wonderful plank in a political platform calling for sound building codes and an infrastructure plan to keep both public and private buildings safe. However, looking at the opening words of the Parsha, 11 months after October 7th, and just weeks before Rosh Hashanah, I hear a much broader obligation than placing a fence around the roof of my personal house.
From the immediate aftermath of the Hamas invasion of October 7th, until this very day, I have heard from many Israelis not only a sense of hopelessness, that peace can be achieved with Palestinians, but also, the justifiable anger, mixed with sadness, that the government of Israel had broken its contract with the people. While wars with her neighboring states, terrorist infiltrations, and in the 21st century, ever more sophisticated rocket attacks have been a constant fact of life for Israelis, not since 1948, had an Arab army invaded Israeli settlements and cities and slaughtered Israeli. The death toll on Simchat Torah was the largest single attack upon Jews since the Holocaust.
The primary responsibility of every government is to protect its citizens. The State of Israel was established for the primary purpose of providing a safe haven where Jews could live in safety and security and thereby, be able to individually and communally pursue life.
So, my dilemma is how can we rejoice on this Rosh Hashanah? Can we recite Shehecheyanu with Kavanah?
As I wrestle with these questions with new intensity after the Hamas murders of Carmel Gat, EdenYerushalmi, Ori Damino, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lobanov, and Hersh Goldberg-Polin on August 30th, I have come to a new understanding of why there are so many unique commandments in our Parsha this week and throughout the Torah in general; and why, Hillel’s paraphrase of Leviticus 19:18, is “That which is hateful to you do not do unto others” and ends with the imperative: Now go forth and learn how to apply this principle to every action you take at every moment of life.
I also find direction for myself personally and for we, as a Jewish community, in the liturgical variation of Mishna Peah chapter one, found in the opening of Shacharit called ברכות השחר , where we are taught: that among the obligations without measure are:
Rejoicing with bride and groom and accompanying the dead for burial.
Yet, in The Talmud, in tractate ketubot 17a we are taught that one reroutes a funeral procession for burial of the dead to yield to a wedding procession. When we are confronted with death and life we must as we are told in the Torah portion we will read in two weeks choose life!
There is one final lesson I see in this often unnoticed Mitzvah to build a guard rail on our roofs. It is a metaphor for life in the 21st century. For me, the ethical and moral teachings of Torah, are the fence, which can guard each of us from falling off the plain of decency, into the cistern of hatred and selfishness. The mixture in our Parsha of seemingly unconnected ritual and moral commandments stand as a reminder that each of us has the opportunity and responsibility to build our own personal parapet, that will not only guard us from falling off the path of Justice and Righteousness, but will protect all who enter our homes and communities from suffering from our negligence.
The theme of Rosh Hashanah is that through T’shuvah, Repentance; T’filah, Prayer; and Tzedakah, Acts of Charity and Kindness, we can write our own inscription the Sefer ha Chayim, The Book of Life. May this lesson from Maimonides, Sefer haMitzvot;, the Book of Commandments, inspire each of us, on this Shabbat called “Ki Tetze” to go forth in the year ahead to build a safer, more compassionate world for all God’s children. In fact, as we continue to both pray that God will answer our prayers for the release of the Israeli hostages and a cease fire that will lead to peace ; let us also act as if the realization of these goals depends upon us; To paraphrase Hillel’s restatement of Love your neighbor as yourself, as we Tetze, go forward, in the year ahead; the safety and security of Israel of America and the world at large does depend upon what we say and what we do; as well as what we don’t say and what we don’t do.