Parasha Ki Tetze is the parasha with the largest number of mitzvot, with 74 mitzvot.
The mitzvot can be divided into several categories:
Mitzvot related to the family life, to economy and labor law, moral and ethical laws, as well as some religious laws that we don’t clearly understand, and ending with the commandment to remember all that Amalek did for us.
The parasha starts with the words “When you’ll launch a war against your enemy.” Our sages taught us that the enemy is not only a fiscal enemy, but also a spiritual enemy. We learn here that our attitude must be proactive, we must go out and fight.
This is our personal war, a battle that is fought at every moment and in every place. It does not matter where we live or work; The crucial thing is to go out and fight and overcome our greatest adversary: that instinct that wants to sink us into sadness and discouragement.
Life itself is a constant battle that we must fight and overcome. We do not only fight against the external problems that affect the world, but we also face a personal internal war every day.
In this war, on the one hand, there is our soul, that spiritual engine that seeks to elevate our consciousness, that drives us towards happiness, tranquility and peace. And on the other hand, there is our physical nature, with its tendency to become discouraged at any stumble, failure or business that did not go well and that drags us down, towards depression.
Once we make the decision to face this battle against negative feelings, we must be resilient and rise above the problems with all our strength and remember that we have our soul, which is a little piece of God, a spiritual light that guides us, giving us clarity to continue fighting.
When we face life with that conviction, with the firm resolve to emerge victorious, God assures us that we will win this internal war that we fight day after day.
The good news is that we all have that spiritual engine that drives us to win this internal battle. And although sometimes sadness and anguish attack us, we must not despair; We may have fallen in battle, but we have not lost the war.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Refael Cohen