There are no shortage of issues to be discussed in this week’s portion. We begin with an examination of a woman taken captive who a soldier desires and then examine a law regarding the son who disrespects his father. We encounter one of the basic proof texts for medical ethics in 22:2 and see also the basic proof text in Judaism for divorce (24:1). In between, we read of a fascinating law of what we are supposed to do when encountering a bird’s nest “in any tree or on the ground, with fledglings or eggs and the mother sitting over the fledglings or on the eggs, do not take the mother together with the young” (22:6) These are just some of the highlights that await us this Shabbat.
Yet, I want to focus on another very famous passage that speaks directly to so many of us. Immediately after the bird’s nest text we read that when we build a new house we to “make a parapet for your roof, so that you do not bring bloodguilt on your house if anyone should fall.” (22:8). How does this verse “speak” to us? The commentaries speak of the ancient houses that had flat roofs and that people often congregated on or even slept on. There was a danger of falling. The mood of Jewish law tells us that we are responsible for people’s safety, thus, we need to make sure there are guards in place against falling. “Talmudic law sees it as an example of an obligation to block or remove anything on one’s property that is capable of causing death.” (Etz Haiim p.1117)
So, how is this text “speaking” to us? So many of us, as we age, are reminded that one of, if not the major cause of injury is falling. I imagine that many of us know of, or have personal experience with someone who, because of a fall, has had huge health challenges, even hospitalization. We also have learned that our own house can be a major location of those falls, from frayed rugs, to steps, to faulty lighting. As so many of our generation are choosing to “age in place”, this verse becomes very meaningful. How many of us have done a review of our own house to make it safer for us to navigate everything from passages from room to room to grab bars in bathrooms? This all may seem far-fetched when studying Torah, but, let me suggest that the value of health and safety is part of our tradition. Local area agencies on aging, AARP, geriatric specialists all can be helpful in making sure that our houses are safe. In doing so, we can feel at home as Torah “speaks” to us in our age in our own way.
Shabbat shalom
Rabbi Richard F Address
Rabbi Richard F. Address, D.Min, is the Founder and Director of www.jewishsacredaging.com. Rabbi Address served for over three decades on staff of the Union for Reform Judaism; first as a Regional Director and then, beginning in 1997, as Founder and Director of the URJ’s Department of Jewish Family Concerns and served as a specialist and consultant for the North American Reform Movement in the areas of family related programming. Rabbi Address was ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1972 and began his rabbinic career in Los Angeles congregations. He also served as a part time rabbi for Beth Hillel in Carmel, NJ while regional director and, after his URJ tenure, served as senior rabbi of Congregation M’kor Shalom in Cherry Hill, NJ from 2011-2014.
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