Parashat Ki Teitzei 5784

Our parashah this week opens with a somewhat disturbing series on scenarios – a man takes a captured woman and makes her his wife, a man with two wives tries to favor the child of his preferred wife, and a rebellious son is killed for not listening to his parents. Rashi, based on Midrash Tanhuma, explains that this sequence is interconnected – forcing this woman to be his wife will lead to hatred and attempting to disinherit her son, leading to a rebellious child.

This negative sequence is mirrored by a more positive series of laws that appears in the next chapter of Deuteronomy – when encountering a bird’s nest, one should send away the mother bird before taking the eggs (22:7), when one builds a house, they should make a parapet (22:8), and one should not intermix species when sowing (22:9), plowing (22:10), or weaving a garment (22:11). Although these rules appear disconnected at first glance, Rashi (again following the Midrash) draws a causal connection: If you fulfill the command of sending away the mother bird (contributing to settling the earth – Gur Aryeh) then you merit to build a house, leading to building a guardrail (parapet) , leading you to gain a vineyard, fields, and nice garments.

In framing this process, Rashi invokes the famous aphorism that one mitzvah drags another – מצוה גוררת מצוה, known from Pirkei Avot. In contrast to the sins at the opening of the parashah that cascade from one to the next (עבירה גוררת עבירה), Chapter 22 of Deuteronomy presents a series of mitzvot that lead from one to the next. Whether mitzvah or sin, however, both reflect the power of momentum – to continue in the direction in which we started.

Both statements suggest that it is easy to continue on the path we began, that one mitzvah brings us to the next and then to the next. And yet, the Hebrew phrasing gives me pause. Why does one mitzvah “drag” (גוררת) another and one sin “drag” (גוררת) another? The term גוררת suggest to me that there is some resistance. That the object (or in this case the action) being pulled along might not be so easily moved. While it might be easier to go from mitzvah to mitzvah than from mitzvah to sin, or vice versa, the term גוררת suggests that even continuing on one’s path may not be the simplest endeavor.

These days there is much sadness, anger, and fear in the world. The events in Israel weigh heavily on many of our minds, along with worries about hatred and antisemitism in North America and the world at large. Some days it is difficult to see the light and to move forward with the good work that we strive to do. And yet, we can seek to draw upon the momentum that we have, to continue to try and make the world a little bit better each day. To move from one task to the next and one mitzvah to the next may be the right thing to do, but that does not always mean that it is easy. May we all have the strength to continue dragging that next mitzvah forward; to endure even when it is heavy and we face resistance from within and from without.

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Rabbi Dr. Matthew Goldstone serves as Assistant Academic Dean at AJR. Matthew has taught at The Jewish Theological Seminary, The University of Pennsylvania, and Hunter College. He has been the recipient of a number of fellowships and has received several awards for his scholarship and teaching. At AJR he teaches courses in Talmud and Jewish law, focusing on making ancient texts relevant for contemporary contexts. In his free time he enjoys hiking and Israeli dancing.