Parashat Ki Teitzei 5783

by Rabbi Ellen S. Wolintz-Fields

Parashat Ki Teitzei, provides many different laws to show that we are not only responsible for those we know, but also responsible for animals, our neighbors and those people we do not know. Deuteronomy 21:23 teaches us that it is our responsibility to make sure the deceased are buried in a timely fashion, if not that day. It shows we need to respect the dead and make sure they are treated with dignity when they pass from this world. We are also taught that we have a responsibility to animals, specifically birds in this case, as we are taught separately about a mother bird and its baby, in Deuteronomy 22:6-7. Finally another example in this week’s Torah Reading exemplifying how we are responsible for the safety of our neighbors are the laws about a parapet and the roof, in Deuteronomy 22:8.