Parashat Ki Tavo
Deuteronomy 26:1 – 29:8

The Torah tells us more than once that its ways are ways of blessing, while abandoning the Torah means choosing the opposite. In our portion we read of a dramatic performance meant to give this message theatrical vividness.

Moses tells us that, after we enter the land of Israel, we should gather the people and split them up into two sections, to stand on two facing mountains, . one half on Mount Gerizim and one half on Mount Ebal. The priests and Levites are to stand in the valley, between them and call out blessings and curses.

Parashat Ki Tetze
Deuteronomy 21:10 – 25:19

Our Torah portion includes the strange commandment of “Shilu`ah ha-qan – the sending away [of the mother bird] from the nest.” The Torah describes a scene in which a person encounters a bird’s nest and wishes to take the chicks or eggs from it. But the mother is sitting on them. The command is that one may not take the chicks within view of the mother. Rather the mother must be shooed away first. (Deut. 22:6-7)

Our tradition records many attempts at finding the meaning of this strange commandment. Nachmanides places this commandment within a set of additional mitzvot, all of which, in his view, describe limited actions that seek to remind us of two goals of broader meaning. One goal is ecological. We are to be careful not to decimate species unthinkingly. Tragically, this concern has reached crisis proportions today. Human beings have devastated the biosphere and continue to do so every day. We are in real danger of wiping out many species, major and minor, creating permanent, irreparable loss for the sake of temporary gain.

Parashat Shoftim
Deuteronomy 16:18 – 21:9

Our Torah reading opens with a solemn injunction: “Place for yourself, in all your gates … judges and officials, so that they will judge the people in righteousness.” (Deut. 16:18) The text continues to emphasize how important justice and righteousness is for society. Whose obligation is it to make sure that there is a just legal system operating for the people? “Place for yourself,” says the verse. The verse is phrased as a direct address to the individual. The authority wielded by judges and other officers of society ultimately derives from their mission as messengers of each of us.We are personally commanded to pursue justice. Part of our obligation is purely personal, of course – to act justly and treat each other fairly and without prejudice or violence. But another part of our personal obligation is to create social structures that extend beyond the capacities of any one person, to insure that justice and fairness apply everywhere, to everyone. Both these obligations can be daunting. But while many of us are quite confident in our own moral uprightness, we are forced to confront, on a daily basis, how flawed our justice system is on a social scale. The command to pursue justice on a societal scale is a very difficult obligation to undertake.