Ki Thetze: Lust and Marriage

i Thetze: Lust and Marriage

This is the most passionate of parshioth. Sex, greed, war all make appearances and the corrections are prescribed. The marriages of the parsha are economic fixes for acts of passion.  The captive wife has rights.  She cannot be treated as a slave, sold to another man.  The raped or defamed woman has the right to lifetime support by her attacker or defamer.  The leverite marriage (Yibum) is a way to obtain economic support for a widow.  It is all about protecting women from starvation in a (hungry) world dominated by men.

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Amalek

The commandment to remember .  
The commandment not to be a fool, not to be deceived (again).  
To understand the anger of our ancestors, to avenge the crime, to be the redeemer of the blood ( go’al hadam),
to view a nation as evil to its seed, Amalek is the seed of evil.
Don’t be like Amalek
Don’t like Amalek.
Remember
And don’t forget

last year: passion
2008: moving
2007: consequences