Transcript
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Hello children. This week's Torah
portion is one of the most special
portions in the Torah because it
contains 74 commandments. That's more
than any other portion. Moshe teaches
the Jewish people important laws about
how to be good. The portion begins with
the words, "When you go out to war
against your enemies." Moshe starts with
the topic of war. If a Jewish soldier
sees a beautiful woman during war and
wants to marry her, what should he do?
He can't just take her like that. There
is a special process. He brings her
home. She shaves her head and trims her
nails. She mourns for her father and
mother for a whole month. Only after
that can he marry her. Why is there this
whole process? So that he will think
carefully before making a decision.
Maybe after a month he'll regret it.
One of the most famous laws in the
portion is about the rebellious and
defiant son. If there is a child who is
rebellious, does not obey his parents,
is defiant, rebels against them, is a
glutton and a drunkard, eats and drinks
excessively and does not improve even
though his parents rebuke him, then the
parents can bring him to the court and
say, "This son of ours is rebellious and
defiant. He does not listen to us." The
Torah wants to teach us how important it
is to honor one's parents. Now I will
tell you about a beautiful and special
mitzvah. The mitzvah of sending away the
mother bird. If you see a nest, if a
bird is sitting on the eggs or on the
chicks and you want to take the eggs,
you must first send away the mother
bird. Why? So that the mother bird does
not see her children being taken away.
And the Torah promises,
"Whoever fulfills this mitzvah will
merit a good and long life."
By the way, I'll tell you that this
mitzvah arouses great mercy from God
towards the Jewish people. Because when
the dove returns to the nest and does
not find the eggs, she goes before God
and cries about it. And her crying
arouses mercy from God upon his
children.
Listen to another mitzvah. When you
build a new house, you shall make a
guardrail for your roof. Every house
must be safe. If you have a roof that
people can go up on, you should make a
guardrail so that no one falls.
This is the basis for all safety laws.
We must make sure that the house, the
yard, everything is safe.
Moshe teaches another law which is
called kilim.
It is forbidden to plow with an ox and a
donkey together. And it is forbidden to
wear, a garment woven of wool and linen
together. It is forbidden to plant your
vineyard with mixed species. Do not sew
different seeds together in your
vineyard. After that, the Torah mentions
the mitzvah of tits. You shall make
yourself twisted threads on the four
corners of your garment. This is the
basis for the mitzvah of tits, so that
we will always remember God's
commandments. On every garment with four
corners, there must be tits, so that we
will always remember God's commandments.
Moshe teaches additional important laws
about money and loans.
If we give a loan to someone, it is
forbidden to take interest from them. If
someone cannot repay the loan, he can
give collateral, but it is forbidden to
enter his house to take the collateral.
You must stand outside and he will bring
out the collateral. It is forbidden to
take as collateral items that a person
needs for his livelihood. Now, the Torah
teaches several laws on various topics.
If you hire a worker, you must pay him
on the same day and not delay his
payment. Each person is responsible only
for his own sins. A child is not
punished for what his father did. Always
be fair with vulnerable people,
strangers who came from other nations,
orphans and widows. Commandments related
to the poor called leet, shikha, and pa
le. When harvesting and some stocks
fall, leave them for the poor. Shikha,
if you forgot a bundle in the field, do
not go back to take it. It belongs to
the poor.
Pa, leave a corner of your field for the
poor. And in this way you will receive a
blessing from God. If the court decides
that someone deserves lashes, there are
laws.
Even someone who has sinned is still our
brother. We must not humiliate him. If a
married man dies without children, what
happens with his wife? There are two
possibilities. Yum. Leverate marriage.
The brother of the deceased marries her.
Halita. A special ceremony that releases
her so she can marry whoever she wishes.
Now the Torah teaches about animals.
Animals also have rights. If an ox is
working, threshing the grain, it is
forbidden to muzzle it. You must let it
eat from the grain while it works. At
the end of the parha, there is an
important mitzvah. Remember what Amalcch
did to you. What did Amalecch do? They
attacked the Jewish people from behind
when they came out of Egypt. They did
not fear God and did not honor him.
Therefore, the Torah says, "Erase the
memory of Amalecch from under the
heavens. Do not forget Amalecch
represents evil." We must always
remember and fight against such
wickedness. After all the mitzvot we
have learned, Moshe continues to guide
the Jewish people. What the Jewish
people do at that time and how it will
affect the future, we will tell you in
the next episode.
