BS”
D
RESTORATION
AND REJUVENATION: PARSHAT KI TETZEI
Shira
Smiles shiur – 2021/5781
Adapted
by Channie Koplowitz Stein
Parshat
Ki Teitzei contains the mitzvah of hashovat aveidah/returning a
lost object to its owner. While many people post notices of a lost item in
hopes of retrieving it, people posting notices of
found objects are in the process of fulfilling this mitzvah. The
Torah says: “You shall not see the ox of your brother or his sheep or goat
cast off, and hide yourself from them; you shall surely return them to your
brother. If your brother is not near to you and you do not know him, then
gather it inside your house… until your brother inquires after
it, and you return it to him. So shall you do for his donkey… for his
garment… and for any lost article of your brother that may become lost from him
and you find it; you shall not hide yourself.” For a volume which is known to
be extremely economical in its language, such seeming redundancy begs
explanation. Besides such specific itemization, your brother is written five
times and, “You shall not hide yourself,” is included at the beginning of the
passage and repeated at the end.
On
the simplest level, Rabbi Munk quoting Chazal, explains that the Torah’s
repetition is meant to drill the concept into us, that whenever we find a lost
object, even if our neighbor is scatter brained and constantly loses the same
item, we are obligated to return it to him each time. Further, as Rabbi
Weissblum notes, we are meant to treat money and property with respect, whether
it is ours or someone else’s. Even if your “brother” is not close to you,
geographically or socially, still respect his property. Your obligation
extends to taking care of the property, taking it into your house and
caring for it according to its specific requirements. You may not ignore
it.
Rabbi
Salamon points to the constant repetition of your brother as
teaching us that brotherhood is achieved not only by blood but also
by similar emotions and goals. Therefore, the Torah emphasizes that we
should care for the other and his possessions as if he were in fact our
brother. We should consider it an obligation that we cannot ignore rather than
a choice. Further, Rabbi Goldstein in Shaarei Chaim adds
another layer to our obligation. If we see a random object, we may not
assume its owner will return to retrieve it. We must inquire and follow
through.
If
we go to such lengths for material objects, tells us Rabbi Gamliel Rabinowitz,
certainly that will hold true if we see someone has “lost his way.” In that
situation, we must do everything in our power to help him find his
way to return to the path of Torah. We must take him into our
home, befriend him, and take care of his emotional and spiritual needs.
Rabbi
Frand expands on this idea, citing the Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh. The ox, the sheep,
and the goat are not necessarily only animals, but figuratively those
people who are no more knowledgeable of Torah than these animals. He is also
your brother. Do not turn a blind eye toward him. Take him into your home and
return him to our Father Who, like any parent searching for a lost child, is in
pain for each of His lost children, especially those lost to
assimilation. Gather them into your home, perhaps for a Shabbos meal, teach
some some Torah, and eventually Hashem will gather them up. Rabbi Frand adds
that the Talmud states that if a person teaches the son of a Torah-ignorant
person Torah, Hashem grants him the ability to nullify all painful decrees.
Rebbetzin
Smiles quotes R. Noach Weinberg, who compares the saving of these spiritual
souls to the saving of physical souls on the train to Auschwitz. How much
effort would we expend to pull even one individual off that train and save
him from certain death? Should we not expend similar effort to save our fellow
Jew from spiritual death and return him to his Father?
In Sefer
Vayikra the “Torah discusses the bringing of offerings to Hakodosh
Boruch Hu. It begins by writing, “Adam ki yakriv mikem… When a man
among you brings an offering [brings closeness] to Hashem…” Rabbi
Scheinerman in Ohel Moshe cites the Ohr Hachaim in a homiletic
interpretation of this phrase.. If you will bring mikem/from you
[your brother] closer to Hashem…, that person is protected from sin. If
returning something of minimal value to your brother is such a big mitzvah, how
much more so is returning his soul to him? The greatest good we can do for
our brother is to return him to Hashem. You accrue credit for all his mitzvoth
and accomplishments.
Rav
Scheinerman relates that the Dubno Maggid adopted a young boy in his town whose
father had suddenly died, raising the child as his own and teaching him Torah.
When the Dubno Maggid’s soul rose to heaven, the angels showed him
fifty sefarim/Torah books that he had authored. Surprised, the
Dubno Maggid replied that he had not written them and was unaware of them.
However, indeed he had merited them, for they were composed by none other than
Rav Shlomo Kluger, the young, orphaned boy he had raised and who
grew up to become a gadol hador.
Indeed,
teaching others to love Hashem is incorporated in the constant mitzvah of
loving Hashem, and by returning others to Hashem, one is fulfilling both this
mitzvah and the mitzvah of hashovat aveidah.
The Imrei
Chemed, ties this mitzvah to the laws of freeing a Canaanite slave. If
the master injures his Canaanite slave in his eye or in his tooth, the slave
goes free.
Teeth
represent appetite, whether for food, speech, theft – improper social
behaviors. Eyes represent looking at improper things. A third category of other
limbs refers to other passions. If one breaks the lure of these
“Canaanite” desires from the chains of the yetzer horo, one frees
himself to return to Hashem and serve Him properly. To tie this idea into
the discussion of hashovat aveidah, the Imrei Chemed quotes
from Bilaam’s curse/blessings of Bnei Yisroel: “Ki meirosh tzurim erenu
umigvaot ashurenu/For
from its origins I see it rock-like, and from hills do I see it.” Our
verses begin with the lost shor/ox, a cognate of the root
Bilaam uses for seeing. When a person sees his friend deviating from the proper
path, he himself may not avert his eyes; he must step in and help his friend
return. He must do the same with a seh/sheep who grazes all day,
satisfying his appetite, and with the chamor/donkey who is
overly occupied with the chomer/materialism of the world, or
even with his dress code. Strengthen your friend when he is just beginning to
slip over small details and bring him back. Certainly, do this with your
friends, and if you have do not have a relationship with that particular
person, if he is far from you, build a relationship, bring him into your home.
Don’t
pretend you don’t see, for Hashem knows, and don’t walk away thinking you can
do nothing, writes Rabbi Pincus. Don’t ignore your friend’s pain, even if you
can do nothing substantial, for Hashem sees everything.
Hashem’s
pain at the loss of His children is even greater. Hashem, like a human who has
lost an important object (lehavdil), searches for His lost children. He
does not give up hope of finding them, writes Rav Asher Weiss. Like a lost
object that has identifying signs, Jews also have identifying signs,
circumcision, tefillin and Shabbos. Even more important, if a man loses
something on his own property, he always retains the hope that he will find it
someday. Since all the world belongs to Hashem, Hashem never loses hope in
finding us again. Like a lost sheep which keeps bleating until it is found, we
too can cry out for Hashem to find us, especially during the Month of Elul. If
we take the smallest step and cry toward Him in teshuvah, He will bridge the
gap and return to us.
A
man also searches metaphorically for his lost rib, writes Rabbi Sorotskin in Meged
Yosef, a proper wife. When he finds her and they marry, we wish
the young couple siman tov umazal tov/a good sign and good
mazal, we assure him that he has found a clear sign that
identifies the bride as his missing half, just as an ID card in a wallet would
clearly identify its owner more than would a nondescript rubber band
around a roll of bills.
We
have now seen that we can lose our relationship with Hakodosh Boruch Hu and we
must try to return to each other, and we can see how we can lose our
relationship with our fellow human beings, as most clearly illustrated by a man
and woman finding each other. But man can also lose himself. Each of us has
been gifted with body parts meant to elevate ourselves, from a mouth to speak
words of Torah to limbs to perform mitzvoth. We each have unique spiritual
and emotional aspects. Yet, during the week, we often lose these aspects of
self as we busy ourselves with the concerns of daily physical living. When
Shabbat arrives and infuses us with the additional spirituality of an
“additional soul,” we are reminded of the spirituality we have lost all week,
the opportunities we wasted to elevate ourselves, and we seek to find and
regain them, writes Rabbi Schorr in Halekach Vehalebuv.
Searching
for and retrieving the lost aspects of our soul is even more relevant in the
Month of Elul, continues Rabbi Schorr. Just as one is required to publicly
announce that an object has been found so that the owner may retrieve it, so do
we announce the loss of our spirituality and our relationship with Hakodosh
Boruch Hu through our sins. We publicly announce this by blowing the shofar the
entire month, calling to us to awaken and find our way back. Reclaim the parts
of self and repair the relationship, for as much as our souls yearn for
Hashem’s Presence, Hashem Himself is searching and waiting for the return of
His children.