The Laws of the Railing
Introduction to Parashat Hashavua
Yeshivat Har Etzion
This shiur is dedicated in memory of
Dr.
William Major z"l.
PARASHAT KI TETZE
The Laws of the
Railing
By Michael
INTRODUCTION
With the
reading of Parashat Ki Teitzei, the major part of Moshe's review and explanation
of the mitzvot – his farewell words of instruction that constitute the core of
Sefer Devarim (Deuteronomy) – is resoundingly completed. Containing over seventy mitzvot, there
is in fact no other Parasha in all of the Torah that is so replete with commands
as Ki Teitzei. The remaining four
parashiyot of Ki Tavo, Nitzavim, VaYelech and Vezot HaBeracha are in the main
concerned not with specific mitzvot but rather with the more comprehensive issue
of the sealing of the Covenant between
While we are often conditioned to consider almost all of Sefer Devarim as a simple repetition of the Torah's commands, thoughtfully and methodically undertaken by Moshe on the eve of his death, there is in fact much new material that this Book introduces. For the most part then, Sefer Devarim can be distinguished from the other four books of the Chumash not so much by a dearth of new mitzvot, for it in fact contains plenty, but rather by the aim and objective of its imperatives, by their sweeping scope and by their guarded but hopeful tone.
ADDRESSING THE
PEOPLE
Sefer Devarim addresses a people about to take their first halting steps
as a free nation in their own land.
But upon entering that land the people of
At the same time, the Book presents many soaring passages of
encouragement and reassurance, the siren call to teshuva and return, to indicate
that although
THE BROADER CONTEXT OF THE "ROOF
RAIL"
This week, we will consider one of the Parasha's many
mitzvot, a straightforward injunction that for at least one of the commentaries
serves as an excellent opportunity to discuss far more comprehensive
matters:
When you build a new house, then you shall make an
enclosing rail for your roof. Do
not bring death into your house by causing someone to fall from it. Do not plant your vineyard with diverse
kinds, lest the seed that you plant become forbidden along with the produce of
the vineyard (Devarim 22:8-9).
Let us begin by considering the broader context of the
command to erect a protective rail, namely the prohibition of mixing diverse
seeds that in the original Hebrew text is presented with it in a single seamless
paragraph. Adopting an
uncomplicated approach, the Ibn Ezra (12th century, Spain) explains:
"After recounting the command associated with the house, the Torah goes on to
describe that of seeds and planting, for after entering the land and building a
house, one naturally plants…" (commentary to 22:9). For Ibn Ezra, convergences of seemingly
unrelated legislation are not arbitrary.
Here, the "missing link" between house law and field law is provided by
the promised land that brings both of them together. The thrust of the entire section is
implicitly directly towards the settlement of the land, for after shelter from
its elements has been secured, the people will obviously turn their attention
towards sowing its fertile furrows and then harvesting their
bounty.
AN UNUSUAL SYNTHESIS
Significantly, the laws of diverse seeds (22:9), species
(22:10) and woven materials (22:11) that are here presented as supplements to
the law of the roof railing, are often regarded as belonging to that unique
division of Torah commands known as "Chukim" or Divine decrees that are
seemingly not animated by any obvious or readily comprehensible rationale
(Talmud Bavli, Yoma 67b). They must
therefore be performed as acts of faith at the behest of the Sovereign God who
so requires. On the other hand, the
imperative to erect an enclosing rail to prevent mishap in the home is so
eminently reasonable as to be practically superfluous, a perfect example of a
Torah command that requires no further explanation as justification for its
fulfillment. This rather jarring
juxtaposition of inverses can therefore perhaps be additionally understood as an
emphatic exclamation: the ultimate authority for all of the Torah's commands,
whether rational or supra rational, derives not from the mortal human mind that
is frequently and famously preoccupied with innumerable pretexts to render the
most pressing of moral pronouncements non-binding, but rather from the Absolute
and morally uncompromising God, the same God Who enjoins the fulfillment of
non-rational "decrees" that cannot be so easily dismissed.
AN EARLIER EXAMPLE
While our passage may provide a striking example of the
above, it is not the first time that the Torah has deliberately employed such a
curious juxtaposition. In fact, a
similar confluence can be found in the so-called "Holiness Code" of Sefer
VaYikra (Leviticus), namely the Parasha of Kedoshim (VaYikra Chapters
19-20). There, ritual law and
rational law are also freely interspersed, converging on a couple of verses that
call to mind our passage:
Do not be vengeful nor bear a grudge against your
people, and love your fellow as yourself, I am God. Observe my statutes: do not breed your
animals with diverse species, do not plant your field with diverse species, and
do not don a garment of diverse species (VaYikra/Leviticus 19:18-19).
Surely, avoiding vengeance and practicing forbearance,
being considerate and loving of others AS ONE WOULD WANT TO BE TREATED IN KIND,
is the most basic moral principle of all.
What civilized human being, irregardless of their belief system or degree
of ritual observance, could deny the saving power of this most fundamental of
reciprocities, an idea that is the driving force behind every substantive moral
code that any people have ever adopted?
Here, however, the axiom is forcefully concluded by the "redundant"
phrase "I am God", and then followed by the now-familiar list of irrational laws
of forbidden mixtures. The effect
of the remarkable apposition is the same as in our passage, highlighting the
Torah's unusual claim: unless moral conduct is anchored in a Transcendent
Source, it cannot be depended upon to produce a better world. That is to say that the anomaly of the
moral atheist has yet to be replicated on a national
scale.
THE EXPLANATION OF THE "SEFER
HACHINUCH"
One of the most interesting expansions of this specific
injunction to erect a roof rail is provided by the anonymous author of the
"Sefer HaChinuch" (Book of Education).
While the identity of the author is the subject of much scholarly
discussion, evidence points to the 14th century Spanish Rabbi Aharon
HaLevi, who wrote the work in order to introduce his young son to the commands
of the Torah. Commenting on our
mitzvah, he relates:
God blessed be He exercises providence over the detailed
affairs of all people and is fully aware of all of their activities. Whatever befalls them, whether good or
bad, only transpires by His decree and command in accordance with their merit or
liability…Nevertheless, a person must take care to guard himself from accident
and harm, because God created His world and established it upon the foundations
of laws of nature. Thus, He decreed
that fire should burn and that water should extinguish flames. Similarly, the laws of nature dictate
that should a large stone fall upon someone's head that their skull be crushed,
or that should a person fall from a tall roof to the ground that they will die
(Mitzva #546: To Make an Enclosure fro One's Roof).
Lurking behind the author's discussion of this
particular mitzvah is a seeming theological difficulty. If God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and
omniscient (all knowing), then we must submit that whatever happens in this
world to individuals, life's great and small vicissitudes and triumphs, are
solely the product of His will. Of
what benefit is it, then, to erect a roof rail to prevent accidental falls? For if God has so willed it, then the
protective enclosure will neither prevent the untimely plunge of one destined to
so perish, nor will its absence cause the demise of the one whom He chooses to
miraculously spare! In response to
this seeming paradox, the Sefer HaChinuch offers an explanation that has
far-reaching implications: God has created this world and guides it according to
laws of nature that are predictable, comprehensible, and for the most part,
binding. He
continues:
God has mercifully provided the human body with a living
and intelligent soul that can guard that body from harm. Both the body and soul must function
within the parameters of the physical elements that exert their effects over
them. Having confined the human
body to the laws of nature, in accordance with His wisdom that created man with
corporeal form, He commanded him to guard himself from accidents, for otherwise
that very nature to whom man is given over will act upon him detrimentally.
EXERCISING CARE IN OBSERVING THE LAWS OF
NATURE
In other words, for the Sefer HaChinuch, the laws of
nature constitute the framework and structure by which God governs the
world. As material creatures, we
are subject to those laws and, like all other enforceable legislation, we
abrogate them at our own peril.
Reckless, then, is the individual who takes risks with their safety or
that of others, brimming with confidence that God will preserve them from
harm. Of course, miracles do happen
and people are occasionally saved from even very serious accidents, but the
Sefer HaChinuch concludes his discussion by making it clear that one should not
take that as license to act irresponsibly:
Now there are a few individuals whom the King
particularly desires…that have been given sway over the laws of nature…but the
majority of human beings have not so merited, because of their iniquities. Therefore, the Torah commands us to
guard our dwellings and surroundings from causing death through our
negligence. Nor should we endanger
ourselves in expectation of miracles…Is this not the implication of the
Scriptures in most places? Even
when the people of
THE PERILS OF OVERLOOKING NATURE'S
LAWS
The implications of the above discussion are staggering,
for they expose one of the greatest follies associated, strangely enough, with
both godlessness as well as with extreme religious thinking: fatalism. Some non-believers live their lives
convinced that there is nothing that they can do to alter the immutable fate
that awaits them. The bullet has a
proverbial address that cannot in any case be dodged. One may gamble with one’s safety because
inalterable destiny will determine the outcome – if one’s allotted time is not
yet up, then no harm will result.
Conversely, some believers live their lives utterly certain that since
God governs the world according to His will and no human choices can thwart the
Divinely-dictated outcome, it therefore follows that “unnecessary risk” is an
oxymoron. Why, for example, eschew
smoking if God has determined to effortlessly protect the believer from its
deadly effects? Material risks can
be countenanced as long as they are balanced by a heightened spirituality, for
that alone secures God's favor.
But, proffers the Sefer HaChinuch, while this may be possibly true for a
select and special few, it is not the case for the overwhelming majority among
whom the humble individual must assume that he is counted.
In both cases, the logical fallacy leads to a similar
consequence: a perilous disengagement from the very reality that God has imposed
upon the cosmic order that frames human history and impacts human choices. The rational believer, on the other
hand, while never disputing the absoluteness of God nor His all-encompassing
providence, recognizes that there is nevertheless a morphology to the material
universe that God Himself has introduced and, in our Parasha, declared as
binding. Drawing the strands of our
discussion together, we may conclude that the moral obviousness of the roof rail
law is matched by its implication of nature's inevitability: one needs to
provide an enclosure because gravity cannot be denied. The choices that we make, for God has
given us the power to exert influence over our destiny, must be made in
cognizance of both the obvious as well as the sensible. Poised to enter the land in order to
build their ideal state, the people of Israel are thus gently reminded of the
unique challenge that they will face: while they are to acknowledge and to serve
God as the sole Source of their survival and success, at the same time they must
never allow that profound religious sensitivity to breed a dangerous detachment
from the very world that they are called upon to
perfect.