Parshas Ki Tetze: Taking One’s Own Measure

We are now halfway through the month of Elul, the month of preparation for the Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashana – head of the year – is, in truth, a misnomer that downplays the importance of the day. There are several “new years” on the Jewish calendar, but there is only one Yom HaDin, Day of Judgement, and it is for the Yom HaDin that we prepare throughout the month of Elul.

Preparing during Elul means different things to different people – hopefully more than just the cleaning, cooking, and shopping that the holiday season inspires. Some people begin the process of Cheshbon Hanefesh, of taking an accounting of their souls and reviewing their behavior over the course of the last year. Others focus on the future and begin to create lists of actions or character traits they wish to improve on in the year to come. There are, of course, those who stop to calculate how “good” or “bad” the year that past has been to them, and there are those who waste time worrying of who should be seeking them out to ask for Mechila (forgiveness).

Overall, though, the month of Elul is when Jews around the world focus on teshuva, repentance, and it is no surprise that one can find inspiration and direction on this process from the words of the parsha. This week is Parashas Ki Tetze, which covers a tremendous amount of halacha, listing most of the laws in a rapid-fire style and leaving deeper explanations for the Oral Torah.

Parashas Ki Tetze concludes with the commandment to remember the actions of Amalek, the nation who dared to attack the Israelites immediately after they exited the Yam Suf, theSea of Reeds and whom the Jewish people are commanded to destroy. One interesting aspect of the discussions of Amalek is that some commentators compare Amalek to the Yetzer Harah, the evil inclination, and see the commandments to annihilate Amalek as an injunction to constantly work against our natural desires that go against the moral fiber and the basic mitzvot of the Torah. It is no easy task, and it is a task in which every person must engage every single day.

Before the Torah speaks of Amalek, however, it addresses an important halachic situation that appears to be only randomly connected to remembering what Amalek did. In fact, it appears to be completely commercial in nature, and yet could, like the command to wipe out Amalek, be instructions for deeper moral fortitude: “You shall not keep in your pouch two different weights, one large and one small. You shall not keep in your house two different measures, one large and one small. You shall have a dull and honest weight, a full and honest measure, in order that your days will be prolonged on the land which the Lord your God gives you. For whoever does these things, whoever perpetrates such injustice, is an abomination to the Lord your God” (Devarim 25:13-16).

At face value there is absolutely no question that this section of the parsha is talking about fair commerce and making certain that there is not even a hint of dishonesty in one’s business. However, if one would find a theme in the preceding sections of Perek 25, it would be the avoidance of embarrassing another person. Indeed, the very first law, which is against adding any lashes to a flogging punishment, concludes “lest … your brother be degraded before your eyes” (25:2).

So how does a prohibition of uneven weights and measures connect to avoiding the embarrassment of another and the war against Amalek? And how does any of this tie into Elul?

One of the greatest challenges of human nature is judgementalism. On a developmental level it is necessary to study the behaviour of those around us and even to categorize behaviours as good and bad. But most often we go far beyond judging a behavior and judge other people as good and bad. Once we are busy weighing the actions of other people and measuring their value, then we must remember these pasukim (verses). How often do we live by a double standard – judging others for actions that we ourselves have, at other times, done? How easily do we criticize a neighbor or even a loved one for behaviors that in our own selves we excuse and rationalize? How common is it to publicly raise an eyebrow over someone else’s life only to close one’s door and act in the very same manner?

It is said that one of the reasons Amalek is considered evil is because they represent the belief in happenstance and chaos over the belief in Divine intervention. When we believe that we have the right… when we believe that we have the ability … to judge another person’s actions (especially when those actions have nothing to do with ourselves), then we too are, in a way, declaring a diminished belief in Hashem’s control of the world.

This brings us back to Elul. The Yom HaDin is fast approaching, and there is only one person whose behavior we must measure – our own selves. Do not worry about who needs to ask you for mechila, and do not judge them if they do not. Rather think about your own behavior, turn and evaluate your own year. Once your have put aside weighing the merits of others, you can focus on the greatest struggle of all (the one we avoid by focusing on others), and that is the constant work of overcoming the yetzer harah that impedes us from drawing closer to Hashem.