Parashat Ki Teitzei — When you go out (to war)
כִּי־תֵצֵא
Ki Teitzei (כִּי־תֵצֵא) means "when you go out (to war)" — taken, as every parashah name is, from the portion's opening words in the Hebrew.
The Readings
Torah Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19 Read →
Haftarah Isaiah 54:1-10 Read →
B'rit Chadashah James 2:8-26 Read →
What Happens in Ki Teitzei
When you go out — ki teitzei — to war against your enemies: the portion opens on the battlefield and then pours out more commandments than any other in the Torah — tradition counts seventy-four — reaching into every corner of daily life. The captive woman may not be treated as spoil: a month of mourning, marriage or freedom, but never sale or slavery. The firstborn's double portion stands even when his mother is the unloved wife — inheritance follows birth, not favoritism. And the man hanged on a tree must not remain overnight, for he who is hanged is accursed of God — you shall surely bury him the same day, the verse Paul takes up at the cross.
Then the commandments of everyday chesed, one after another. Your brother's straying ox or lost garment: you shall not hide yourself; you must return it. His fallen donkey: you shall surely help him lift it up again. The mother bird sent away before the young are taken — that it may be well with you. The parapet built on a new roof, so that you do not bring blood on your house. No mixed seed, no ox and donkey plowing together, no wool and linen in one garment — and tzitzit on the four corners of your covering. Marriage is guarded through hard cases — the slandered bride, the betrothed woman, the violator compelled to responsibility. The portion keeps widening: the escaped slave shall not be returned to his master — he shall dwell with you, in the place he chooses; it is one of the ancient world's most radical laws. No interest charged to your brother; vows performed as vowed; grapes and standing grain free to the hungry passerby's hand but not his vessel or sickle.
The final chapter gathers justice for the vulnerable into a bundle. Divorce is regulated with the written sefer keritut; the newlywed is free from war for one year to cheer up his wife. No millstone taken in pledge, for that is taking a life in pledge; the poor man's pledged cloak returned by sunset. The hired servant is paid the same day, for he sets his heart on it. Fathers shall not die for children, nor children for fathers. You shall not pervert the justice due the stranger or the fatherless — and you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt: the refrain beneath the whole portion. Gleanings of field, olive tree, and vineyard belong to the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. Stripes are limited to forty, lest your brother be degraded in your eyes; the ox is not muzzled while treading grain; and the levirate duty preserves a dead brother's name in Israel. Honest weights close the ledger, and then the last word: remember what Amalek did to you on the way, how he attacked your weary stragglers and did not fear God. You shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget.
Main Themes
Holiness reaching every corner of daily life Mercy to the vulnerable — worker, widow, stranger, even the mother bird Marriage guarded and dignified Honest weights and measures Remembering Amalek
Key Events
· Laws of warfare, family, and the firstborn's right
· The hanged man removed before nightfall
· Lost property returned; the mother bird sent away
· Marriage, divorce, and the newlywed's year
· Wages, pledges, and gleanings for the poor
· The command to blot out Amalek
Key People
Moshe The children of Yisrael Amalek (remembered)
Key Verses
Deuteronomy 24:15 Read →
“In his day you shall give him his wages, neither shall the sun go down on it, for he is poor and sets his heart on it, lest he cry against you to the LORD, and it be sin to you.”
Deuteronomy 21:23 Read →
“his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him the same day; for he who is hanged is accursed of God. Don’t defile your land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance.”
Deuteronomy 25:17 Read →
“Remember what Amalek did to you by the way as you came out of Egypt,”
All 54 Torah portions → · Open the Torah Portion tool in Hebrew Explorer