Entering the New Year:
Shabbat Ki Tetzei August 31, 2012
By Jonathan Levine, VP Southland, West Coast NCSY Regional Board
The Jewish nation is sitting, ready to cross the Jordan River. After 40 years of meandering in the desert, they can finally enter the land of Israel! Right? Wrong. As the Jews sit on what is known as “Ever Hayarden” (the other side of the Jordan River), Hashem talks to the Jewish people through Moshe and tells them the following: “If, when you go to war, you see a beautiful woman, you may take her captive on the condition that you first grow out her nails, shave her head, and watch her cry for a full month.” Okay. Firstly, what in the world is this talking about?! And secondly, why is this so urgent as to delay our entering the land of Israel??
In order to understand this, we must take a step towards understanding how this Parsha fits into this time of year. As Jews, this month, Elul, is not only the start of the school year, but it is the start of the new Jewish year. As we sit on the border between summer and school year, between the years 5772 and 5773 , we must stop and think for a second. This coming year will be filled with temptations, filled with possible assimilation, filled with peer pressure, and filled with inclination toward evil. The law says that before we take the captive woman as our own, we must make sure we know what we are doing. One must shave her head and make her ugly so that the man can really see who she is, and not just fall into physical temptations. He then must wait a month in order to fully process his actions. Then, and only then, can he continue to take her as a wife. Today, when we see our temptation, our modern day captive woman, before we take action, we must also make sure we understand what we are doing. The month of Elul is a month where we connect one year to the next, and as we prepare for our year, we must ask ourselves if our actions are what we actually want to be doing. We must delve deep into our lifestyles, our influences, and our plans on weekends, and make sure that on the core level they are positive for our development. As we enter this next year, my mission for you all is to be able to take a step back from our year of temptation and think. Really make sure that you are doing what is best for you, moving forward in ethics, morality, and Judaism. Shabbat Shalom everybody!