Parashat Ki Teitzei contains 74 of the 613 mitzvot – more than any other Parashah in the Torah. 13 of these 74 mitzvot relate specifically to warfare and how to relate to enemy nations. The Parashah opens with some of the laws of warfare: “When you go out to war against your enemies…” (Deuteronomy 21:10). Three times, the Torah uses the phrase כִּי תֵצֵא (“when you go out”) when commanding laws of warfare, once in last week’s Parashah and twice in this week’s: כִּֽי־תֵצֵא לַמִּלְחָמָה עַל־אֹיְבֶךָ וְֽרָאִיתָ סוּס וָרֶכֶב עַם רַב מִמְּךָ לֹא תִירָא מֵהֶם “When you go out to war against your enemies and you see horse and chariot of a nation greater than yourself – you shall not fear them” (Deuteronomy 20:1). כִּֽי־תֵצֵא לַמִּלְחָמָה עַל־אֹיְבֶיךָ וּנְתָנוֹ ה' אֱלֹקֶיךָ בְּיָדֶךָ וְשָׁבִיתָ שִׁבְיוֹ “When you go out to war against your enemies and Hashem your G-d will give them into your hand, and you capture a captive…” (Deuteronomy 21:10). כִּי־תֵצֵא מַחֲנֶה עַל־אֹיְבֶיךָ וְנִשְׁמַרְתָּ מִכֹּל דָּבָר רָע “When an armed camp goes out against your enemies, you shall guard yourself against any bad thing” (Deuteronomy 23:10). And then, after laws of warfare, the Torah gives us the obligation to build a parapet around a roof: “When you build a new house you will make a parapet for your roof, so that you will not place blood on your house if someone falls from it” (22:8). The Ibn Ezra (commentary ad loc.) has a startling understanding of this: “‘When you build a new house’ – This section is placed directly after [the section dealing with] warfare [which applies when] they are in the Land; it begins with the mitzvah of the home…and after the mitzvah of the home comes the mitzvah of sowing and planting, because after entering the Land, one builds a home and [then] sows”. The Ibn Ezra emphasizes here the inexorable connection between the mitzvot, the chain from one mitzvah to the next. Many commentators pick up on the unusual expression “you will not place blood on your house if someone falls from it”: the Torah actually uses the words, כִּי־יִפֹּל הַנֹּפֵל מִמֶּנּוּ, literally “if the faller falls from it”. Why the expression “the faller falls from it”? The Talmud (Shabbat 32a) and the Midrash (Sifri 229) explain that this refers to “one who deserves to fall…but nevertheless, let his death not be caused by you – the righteous should have their reward caused by the righteous, and the wicked should have their punishment caused by the wicked”. This commentary clarifies the Targum Yonatan’s rendering of this verse: “When you build a new house, you shall make a railing as a surrounding to your roof; you shall not cause the sin of blood of a killer to be brought about in your house, lest he who deserves to fall, falls from it”. And similarly the Sforno: “Thus in the event that a certain faller should fall from there, it will not be you that caused blood to be punished in your house”. Keeping the mitzvot protects the Jew from external enemies, from natural disasters, and from becoming the agent through which G-d brings punishment into the world. The Ramban introduces an additional idea: “The mitzvah of the parapet is a renewal, or an explanation, of ‘You shall not stand idly by your neighbour’s blood’ (Leviticus 19:16)”. A brilliant insight into this comment of the Ramban’s is given by an almost-contemporary gadol ba-Torah : “We should not think that the mitzvah of ‘You shall not stand idly by your neighbour’s blood’ applies only after disaster has struck and a fellow-Jew is already in danger, that only then does the mitzvah of ‘You shall not stand idly by your neighbour’s blood’ begin to apply and we are then obliged to save him. Rather, the truth is that one is obligated to anticipate and to consider in advance what is liable to occur, and to avoid the problem. And similarly, one must understand in advance and help a Jew who is in distress before he asks for help” (Rabbi Meir Kahane Hy”d, Peirush ha-Macabbee to Deuteronomy 22:8). The Ibn Ezra, quoted above, mentions the significance of this mitzvah occurring specifically in the wake of the mitzvot of warfare, and this significance goes deeper. The parashah opens with the words, “When you go out to war against your enemies…” (Deuteronomy 21:10), on which the Sforno says very simply, “‘When you go out’ – outside of the Land [of Israel]”. Rashi’s comment indicates the same conclusion: “The Torah speaks here of a voluntary war” – and since any war inside the Land of Israel is obligatory, Rashi also makes it clear that this speaks of a war outside of Israel. Rabbi Meir Kahane, in a shiur in his Yeshiva delivered almost forty years ago, explained the context: The parapet around the roof of a house protects the house: “You shall not place blood in your house”: inside the house – inside the national home – must be a safe place. It is normal that blood not be shed inside the home. Wars should not be inside the Land of Israel: “you shall not place blood in your house” – if blood has to be shed, it must happen outside of your house, outside of your national home. It is normal that the house is a place of safety and refuge; it is normal that no blood be shed inside the house. And this brings us to the final three mitzvot of our Parashah, mitzvot which also define warfare – but a very specific war: “Remember what Amalek did to you on your way out of Egypt – how he chanced upon you on the way, striking all the weakest among you from behind when you were tired and worn out, and he did not fear G-d. And when Hashem your G-d will grant you respite from all your surrounding enemies, in the Land which Hashem your G-d gives you as an inheritance to possess it – you shall eliminate the memory of Amalek from under the heavens. You shall not forget” (Deuteronomy 25:17-19). Amalek has a unique status in Judaism: he is the sole nation against whom we have unremitting hostility. Other nations – including the seven Canaanite nations – have the option of either living with us in peace in Israel, as long as they accept our sovereignty, or of leaving in peace if they don’t. If they decide to go to war against us, then it becomes a war to the death, we take no prisoners. Nevertheless, even under those circumstances, if a Canaanite reaches the border and crosses it into foreign territory, then we no longer have any claim against him. This is the perfect paradigm of not having wars in the Land of Israel: the Torah enjoins us to carry the war to the enemy, not to allow any enemy to carry the war into our land. Because as soon as war happens inside the Land of Israel, even when we win the war, we nevertheless have bloodshed inside our national home. It is axiomatic that Amalek has no place within the Land of Israel. But Amalek is so dangerous, his evil is so unmitigated and venomous, that we pursue him even outside of the Land of Israel. The Torah’s precise wording reveals something profound about this injunction: “when Hashem your G-d will grant you respite from all your surrounding enemies … – you shall eliminate the memory of Amalek from under the heavens”. Hashem our G-d will grant us respite from all our surrounding enemies in the future time to come, in the time of Mashiach, in the time of ultimate tranquillity and security, both in Israel and throughout the world. Yet it will be in those halcyon days that we are commanded to send our commandos outside of Israel to hunt down Amalek wherever he may be and destroy him. As Targum Yonatan paraphrases the final words, “you shall eliminate the memory of Amalek from under the heavens; and even in the days of Mashiach the king, you shall not forget”. Because those glorious, magnificent, wonderful days of G-d’s glory infusing the entire world will not be for Amalek to enjoy. Inside Israel we will bask in G-d’s warmth. Any wars we might still be constrained to fight will be outside our Land. We will “go out” to war, so that we will shed no blood in our house.
