Rabbi Howard Morrison

Our parsha this week is impeccable given the events of the last few days. According to Rashi, the beginning of the portion refers to when the Israelites go out to fight a war on foreign soil. Sound familiar? But what comes next is more fitting. The Torah focuses not on the war itself, but what happens the day after, once the war ends. In antiquity, when Israel fought on foreign soil, they had to treat captives with care and compassion. Captives were given time to mourn their losses and change of circumstances. The Torah acknowledges the humanity of the captives, and that they should be treated with dignity.

As a U.S. military retired chaplain myself, I am moved terribly by the events of the last several days. Prior to my retirement in 2006, I knew people from my assigned military base in New Jersey who had been sent to serve in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Middle East post 9/11. I pray for their mental and emotional state right now. I pray for those who now feel "captive" in a foreign land and who are concerned how they will be treated moving forward.

Our Parsha today contains 74 specific Mitzvot, more than in any single Torah portion. Many of these Mitzvot deal with ethical and moral situations from warfare ethics, to dealing with divorce, to sparing the mother bird of a nest, to restoring lost property, to safeguarding the roof of one's home, to the first year of one's marriage, to not charging interest on a personal loan, to who is allowed to be part of the community and who is not, to providing for those in need, to ethics in business dealings, to remember the cruelty of Amalek, and so much more.

How ironic and timely that our Parsha this week begins and ends with the issues of evil and concern in times of war and uncertainty. 

Rabbi Howard Morrison