Articles in Ki Tetze
Cancelling Cancel Culture

We are told not to judge a book by its cover, but most of us do. In their inimitable way, our sages tell us, “Don’t look at the cask; look at the wine. Aged casks can be filled with new wine, and new casks can be filled with aged wine” …
Ki Tetze: A License To Eat

When you work in your fellow’s vineyard, you have a license to eat his grapes. When you visit your neighbor’s vineyard, you don’t have a license to eat. If you pluck a grape during a visit without permission, it is theft.
How much can you eat if you work in the …
Ki Tetze: A Winning Strategy

When you go to war, you need a winning strategy. It doesn’t matter how strong or weak your army is, success depends on the strategy. If the generals devise a winning strategy, you have a chance of winning the war. If they don’t have a winning strategy, you have lost …
Ki Teze: The Size of a Mitzvah

G-d did not disclose the nature of the reward that we receive for performing a Mitzvah so that we would not give preference to any ne Mitzvah over another. However, lest we assume that difficult-to-perform-mitzvot are more important than those that come easily, the Torah presents us with two mitzvot …
Ki Tetze: No Big Deal

It’s just one small infraction, no big deal.
This is a common argument that we hear often, but only in our own heads. We would never be brazen enough to justify our infractions to others with this argument, but we say it to ourselves.
Suppose, you are leaving a hotel and want …
Ki Tetze: A Happy Marriage

Marriage
Having attended two weddings this month and planning to attend two more next month, marriage is no doubt on my mind. Everyone says that marriage is hard work, yet at a wedding, when an innocent young man and woman are initiated into an endless cycle of hard work, we rejoice …
Ki Tetze: Character Lessons

Abomination
When you hear the word abomination, which sin do you think of? Well we all know which one we think of, but that is not the only sin that the Torah calls an abomination. In fact, all carnal sins are characterized as such. It therefore comes as a surprise that …
Ki Tetze: The Strongest Marriage

A Marriage
“Ah, Marriage,” sighed a middle aged man. “The other day I was admiring myself in a full length mirror and I asked my wife whether she would still like me when I am bald, fat and old. ‘I do,’ she replied.”
Marriages are notorious for one-line zingers, but we tell …