D o you know how many commandments there are in the Torah? If you answered 613, you are correct. What do those many laws entail? Rabbi Hillel answered, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the expla- nation; go and learn. ” This week’ s portion, contains 72 commandments, the largest num- ber in any portion. There are laws about the treatment of captives and rights of inheritance. There are rules regarding defiant children and returning lost items. There are commandments about clothing, adultery, loans, rights of a stranger and more. It seems so disjointed, like a long list of all the things God and Moses are rushing to impart to the Israelites before they finally enter the Promised Land. Yet, there is a common thread. As Hillel declared, we must be kind and thoughtful of our peers. Deuteronomy 22:1 teaches us that “We are responsible for one anoth- er, tied together. ” How appropriate that this portion, which reminds us of our obliga- tions to our friends, family, neighbors and God, also contains the command- ment instructing us to wear tzitzit, the fringes hanging from the corners of our tallit (Deuteronomy 22:12). They represent our respon- sibilities to one another and to God, tying us all together, requir- ing that we not ignore one another. In a world turned upside down, we need these reminders now more than ever. We are making different decisions about work and school and socially distant play dates. We have different levels of comfort when it comes to seeing fam- ily or walking into a store. And yet, we are knotted together, all intertwined. If we are lost, we need a friend to lift us up. If we are struggling, we need a neighbor to give a smile. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “One of the great liabilities in life is that all too many people find themselves living amid a great period of social change and yet they fail to develop the new attitudes, the new mental respons- es, that the new situation demands. They end up sleeping through a revolution. ” Every time I wear my tallit, I play with the fringes, wrapping them around my fingers, remem- bering how I am tied to those who came before me and those will come after. I think about the way we are commanded to follow God’ s laws, to teach them to our chil- dren. I think about how we are so entwined with and responsible for each other. Each knot and each string is a reminder to wave hello, to pick up the phone, to offer a smile, to donate some groceries, to be a little kinder, a little more patient. The next time you wrap yourself in a tallit and fiddle with the tzitzit, consider the lessons we have learned from the past, but perhaps more importantly, the lessons we hope to pass on to our future. Rabbi Arianna Gordon is the director of education and lifelong learning at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield. Parshat Ki Tetze: Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19; Isaiah 54:1-10 Rabbi Arianna Gordon 32 | AUGUST 27 • 2020 Spirit torah portion We Are Tied Together Caregivers provide care when you can’t be there. 877.538.5425 FeinbergConsulting.com •Professional In-Home Caregiving •Safe Hospital Discharges and Transitions •Care Management Services for Oversight of Overall Health and Wellbeing •Medication Oversight •Grocery, Supply, and Pharmacy Pick-Ups •Available 24/7 Proudly Serving Our Clients Since 1996