Ki Teze 5783 ~ August 25, 2023

Having compassion and being compassionate can be one and the same. Then again, one can have compassion but not demonstrate it through action. Our Torah reading for this Shabbat, Ki Teze, is filled with a collection of laws related to being compassionate, especially to individuals who might be exploited, such as “someone convicted of a crime, a victim of rape, a prisoner of war, a divorcee, a widow, an orphan, or a customer in our store.”

A question arises in the commentaries as to whether a slave who escapes from his master’s home and crosses the border into Israel is required to be returned. Based on the words of several commentaries, we can learn that Jewish jurisprudence maintains that once an individual crosses the border, he or she is free.  It would be a desecration of God’s name, hillul Hashem, to return them to their owner since every individual has the right, from the time of Creation, to be free and not carry the burden of slavery. Moreover, returning that slave would put them into harm’s way with their master who might take revenge for escaping.  The Torah reading actually opens with the instance of war and a man’s lust for a female captive. Compassion requires that one must sense the feelings of that female captive, not only with regard to her being taken as a prisoner, but also her being separated from family and friends. 

Needless, to say, in today’s world, we abhor any such actions by the hands of soldiers. And from what some of us heard from Chris Christie during the Republican debate regarding his visit to see Ukraine personally, Russian soldiers continue to violate women in ways that are unbecoming to the modern concept of war and to the Torah’s concept of compassion.

At the same time, we can also take comfort in knowing that former Australian Jewish school principal, Malka Leifer, was sentenced to fifteen years for sexual abuse of two students. While she attempted to escape a trial and her ultimate conviction in Australia by becoming an Israeli citizen and moving to Israel, the courts of Israel ruled correctly by not using our Torah’s concept of “a slave freed should remain free.” Rather, they concluded that her actions were not those that allowed her to be protected by the laws of Israel.

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, MD, z”l, teaches another important point related to compassion. He suggests that one has to make the distinction between appropriate and misguided compassion. At times, our compassion may be misguided simply because the individual is a member of our family. While we may want what is best for our family member, in the case of someone who is addicted to whatever it might be, or is a harm to his or herself or to another, our compassion overcomes our ability to seek guidance and help for that individual. And Rabbi Twerski suggests that seeking outside competent guidance, and even tough love, might be the most appropriate forms of compassion.

As we are now in the month of Elul, the month prior to the High Holy Days, let us be mindful of how to be compassionate to others when they seek us out, either in friendship or in regret. And let us help each other find the way to a more meaningful year, simply by expressing the appropriate manner of compassion to each other.

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi K