Rebecca Reisner

This week’s parshah is Ki Teitzei. This parshah talks about 74 of the 613 mitzvot of the Torah. Some of these are about being nice to those who don’t have people to protect them. It says in Deuteronomy 24:17: “You shall not subvert the rights of the stranger or the fatherless.”

We should be kind to the stranger and the fatherless because they aren’t always taken care of. If they don’t have somebody to protect them or who makes them feel safe, we should be that person for them. I don’t think the message is only about the stranger and the fatherless. You never know what somebody is going through and you want to be there for others no matter what. This is how to be a successful and supportive community.

My parshah also talks about following the laws about helping the fatherless and the stranger because God freed us from slavery in Egypt. Right after it talks about the fatherless and the stranger, it says in Deuteronomy 24:18: “Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and that your God redeemed you from there.”

I think this is telling us that we should recognize what God did and we should honor him by being kind to his creations. As Chizkuni says, “The Lord liberated you from that sorry state by having mercy on you. You should have learned from this to have mercy on your less fortunate neighbors. Do not ever exploit their misfortune by treating them unfairly” (Chizkuni on Deuteronomy 24:18). The big idea here is that since God had mercy on us, we should have mercy on others.

I agree with Chizkuni, but I also think it’s important to treat people well because you never want them to feel like they are less than others. If somebody gets ignored, it could decrease their self-worth. You should always check up on people, especially those without as much of a support system, and encourage others to check on them because you want them to know that they are enough and they are worthy of love and attention. By reminding us how to treat others, this week’s parshah teaches us how to be a strong and successful community.

Rebecca Reisner is a seventh grader at Krieger Schechter Day School.