What We Do When We Go Out

Parashat Ki Teitzei, which means “when you go out,” does a masterful job of showing us how the Israelites were expected to conduct themselves within their own community and when encountering those outside the nation of Israel. This parashah serves as a handbook for managing specific situations that may present themselves in everyday life.

At this point in the Torah, the Israelites are a nation but are about to settle into the territories specified by God.  It is therefore timely that God, through Moses, reiterates commandments. These commandments evolve from big-picture directions for gaining peoplehood to details about handling the challenges and possibilities of everyday life.

Some of the values expressed in this parashah are ageless. They guided the Israelites in the time of the Torah and can still guide us in the modern day. These values range from how to return a neighbor’s ox if it should stray into your yard, to fair and honest business practices. While most of us don’t deal with lost oxen, we do find ourselves dealing with lost animals or objects. While not all of us own a business, we do want to deal and be dealt with fairly when buying goods or services.   

In Deuteronomy 22:1, we read: “if you see your fellow’s ox or sheep gone astray, do not ignore it; you must take it back to your fellow.”  This verse tells us that it is not okay to just ignore something that is possibly unsafe or hurtful to another.  We must take measures to do the right thing, although it might not be easy. There are many layers to this scenario. If the situation is ignored, then the owner’s ability to farm, earn money, and eat becomes affected. This is true in the present as well. A phone that someone has left behind, if ignored, can affect that person’s ability to do work or pay for services, which can lead to physical and mental stress.

Deuteronomy 25:14-16 states:

“You shall not have in your house alternate measures, a larger and a smaller. You must have completely honest weights and completely honest measures, if you are to endure long on the soil that the Eternal your God is giving you. For everyone who does those things, everyone who deals dishonestly, is abhorrent to the Eternal your God.”

This commandment demonstrates the importance of honesty and transparency in business dealings on both sides of the exchange. Dishonest dealings offend God, are an affront to what is sacred, and create strife between community members. Today, that could look like a supermarket calibrating their scales accurately so that ready-to-eat products are sold for the correct price. When there is no one witnessing the packaging and weighing, the consumer trusts that the weights and measures are accurate and they are getting the amount of food they paid for.

Parashat Ki Teitzei includes many other commandments, ranging from more specific and detailed commandments regarding the treatment of slaves to remembering the stranger, the orphan, and the widow among one’s community. In the Middle East in biblical times, it was customary that if an enslaved person who attempted to escape was caught, the captor would bring them back to their enslaver. This parashah’s instructions differ completely from the surrounding nations.  Deuteronomy 23:15-16 states:

“Slaves who have escaped to you from their owners shall not be given back to them. They shall reside with you, in your midst, in any place they choose in any one of your towns, wherever they please; you shall not oppress them.”

Deuteronomy 25:21-22 continues by providing instructions to the Israelite for gathering their harvest while considering those who are less fortunate:

“When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left: it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore, I am commanding you to do this.”

These laws are not merely suggestions; they are commandments from God.

Though the Israelites are moving into this next stage of peoplehood and community, God is aware that they are a people who have gone through an extraordinary evolution. The people of Israel went from slavery, to wandering, to establishing their community and thus need this guidance. These commandments stress the importance of learning from the past and creating systems for living righteously as they enter their future.