Deuteronomy - Cycle One - 2110-2519 - Ki Thetze

A while ago I received a gift. My boyfriend had bought a beautiful scarf and was making it into a tallis. With his help, I was soon wrapping threads to make tzitzit. This was a first for me. He would hold the longer thread and I would handle the shorter ones. What I remember is the attention to detail. But I also remember the light we were passing with our eyes, our hands, through the threads, around and around, to each other. So, in creating the tzizit we were being the tzitzit. While wrapping threads we were being God and love in motion.

The Torah portion for this week is Ki Thetze. The meaning in English emphasizes continual motion, one that is not finished. It means as you are going out. And since that which is going out is also coming in, this portion focuses on the coming and going, the in and out and therefore the breath, the creating and the embracing of the created, the push and pull of human beings as they relate not only as distinct entities but as divine sparks. This portion includes the decree regarding tzitzit. Why here, I can’t help but wonder, among all of these rules regarding human interaction? It’s not like we don’t already know about tzitzit (see Numbers). Why repeat it? I think that Ki Thetze is about the divine in motion. And as it is studied in kabbalah, tzitzit metaphorically are themselves God in motion.

First, how in Ki Thetze could we possibly see the divine in motion? There are 72 commandments in this portion, more than any other in Torah. They are all seemingly eclectic regarding rape, slavery, prostitution, vows, kidnapping and more. We need to ask, what is divine? How do we know that human beings are divine? In B’reshit 1‐26 we are told that we, as humans, are made in God’s image. Earlier in B’reshit as well as in the Zohar, God is paralleled to a great light. Rabbi Akiva (Mishnah 18) says that Gods love is greater because it was made known that man was created in His image. Therefore, it was also made known that we, as humans, are all pieces of a great light. Finally, it stands to reason that it was also made known that we, as humans, merge these pieces as we inter‐connect. If we can see this flow in the forefront of our lives, we can be that much closer to divine consciousness.

So, next question. As far as we see, our bodies are flesh and blood and distinct from others. So, then, how do we deal with this knowledge that we are light forms? Well, in Ki Thetze, we are shown how. We are shown what must be done to embrace light, to respect those who create light, to pass light on to others, to protect our light, rejoice in light, cut off light if necessary, recover that which is lost, embrace that which used to be embraced by others, protect ourselves as one. It goes on. The emphasis however is always the same. What’s important is the act of seeing ourselves as one great light in motion, in paying attention to the specifics.

For example, in Ki Thetze, we learn that if we see a beautiful woman among prisoners of war, we may take her as a wife. A woman, by her very physical form, is a creator of light. So here, we have the embracing not only of light, but of one who creates. Therefore, as shown in Mattoth, it’s important to get beyond the feeling that Torah is derogatory towards women. If anything, a woman is a metaphor for the divine mystical. If certain societies have used Torah to put women down, it reflects the society more than it does Torah. As we read on in Ki Thetze, we learn how this woman is to be embraced, what must be done to bring her into the tapestry of light under one God.

In more examples, we are shown in Ki Thetze how to connect in reference to inheritance, lost articles, lost animals, how to deal with incremental losses of light. In describing the rape of a wife (the grabbing from one who is joined to someone else) we see a loss that is intricately weaved with that of another human being. In describing the rape of a virgin (the grabbing from one who is not joined to someone else) we see a loss that is isolated. For the first, the punishment for the rapist is far greater. This is because regarding the wife, more light is lost. There’s that of the victim as well as that of her husband. In the second, light is also lost. But we aren’t dealing with that of her husband because there isn’t one. Mind you, I’d be quite upset if this law was applied to our society in the present. But the value of Torah is in seeing the meaning of these situations and applying them as it makes sense. Here, we are shown that the radiance of marriage is so sacred that the loss from the wife would echo in loss to the husband. We can bring this into the here and now not by cutting off compassion for a woman who isn’t married, but rather by honoring the bond of two people in love.

Once again, what we learn in Ki Thetze is that all human interactions and situations are metaphors for the flow of light. If we act on such, we act with Torah and become Torah.

Finally, what does tzitzit have to do with it? Why is tzitzit brought into this Torah portion? We certainly learn all we need to know about them in Sh’lach. Rashi, through gematria (or a science of numbers) has said that the word tzitzit represents the number 600. Add that to the 13 wrappings and we have the number 613, the number of decrees in Torah. All decrees have to do with human relations (see Leviticus). So, in wearing these tzitzit, we are reminded moment to moment of the teaching in Ki Tetze, of the motion of divine light in the here and now in our community.

In other interpretations, letters have numerical equivalents. This is called tetragrammation. In one method of wrapping the threads, we come up with the name YHWH. Here, the numerical value is 26. In another, we come up with the phrase YHWH is EHAD (God is one). Here, the numerical value is 39. In kabala the number 39 corresponds to “a name in motion”. This brings us to the fact that letters cannot enclose God; even His name moves beyond words. We as well need to move beyond the words, beyond the decrees, beyond the title of this portion, Ki Thetze, and into the actual motion, the motion of man, the motion beyond man, that of breath, beyond breath, into the light of man, beyond that same light to the spiral of divine consciousness; to the tzitzit. We need to see that thetze (from the Torah portion) and tzitzit are from the same derivative thereby emphasizing the magnitude of this divine spiral right here right now, in any and all decrees, in all relations man to man.

Therefore, may we respect the words in Torah in that they bring us closer to the sacred. May all words wrap our divine sparks continually in the light beyond. May we merge in the flow of divine radiance. In wearing our tzitzit, may we know our beauty as the mirror of our community. May we see our love. May we have gratitude. May we always be blessed with the gift of knowing the motion of one name, the spiral of the one God.