Parsha Ki Taytzai כִּי־תֵצֵא

​Torah Reading:

The Torah tells us that an individual can be exempted from army service if he is a newlywed (24:5). The Sages derive that this one-year exemption applies also to someone who has moved into a new house, or redeemed a new vineyard, so that he is able to enjoy its produce for the first time. It is stated that he should spend the first year of marriage in rejoicing with his wife. This is a very important lesson that a loving and happy relationship can be the basis upon which marriage is built. We do realize that it is necessary to nurture any close relationship that we have with another individual. No relationship is closer between two individuals than the sanctity of the marriage relationship of a husband and wife. When the husband will dedicate himself to making his wife happy, this will go a long way in that first year to making it habitual so that it will permeate the total length of the marriage for decades and decades. A husband who dedicates himself to his wife will benefit greatly when she returns the favor and dedicates herself to the happiness of her husband. This way of thinking will guarantee that the future of their marriage will be one of stability and mutual caring.

The Torah states that when it comes to harvesting olives, a person is not required to go on a ladder; he will have such an abundance of produce, with God’s blessing, that he will just have to stand on the ground and beat the branches with a stick and the olives will fall to the ground. “Do not remove all the splendor behind you.” The literal interpretation means: do not take off all the olives – leave some of them on the tree so that poor people can have some. Rabbeinu Bachya expounds on the Midrashic idea of not being over glorified and boasting of your financial status. When you give charity and help poor people, do not look for credit. Instead you should have an overwhelming feeling of thankfulness to Hashem that He has provided for you and you are able to be a giver and not a taker. Do not look for credit should be a message for many other mitzvot that we perform as well.

Haftorat Ki Taytzai:

The Jewish people have suffered from an insecurity about the future. With the cloud of anti-Semitism that is always hovering about, the Jew is extremely competitive in his or her fight for survival. Each ray of sunshine is met with caution because we know how easily our hopes can be dashed. We fear redemption because any sense of redemption is usually proved to be premature. No redemption has been complete and therefore we fear them to be false or at best, temporary. (Radak on Isaiah 54:4). The great fear that the prophet sees is that the Jewish people will develop a redemption complex. Even when it is actually beginning, the Jew will have a difficult time bringing himself or herself to believe that it is happening. Too many unfulfilled dreams will breed a heart that is incapable of dreaming and hoping. We must never lose Tikvah, hope, that we will all be ultimately redeemed.