AUGUST 24 • 2023 | 45

SPIRIT

Behaving Ethically
T

he ancient world of 
the Torah addresses a 
society starkly different 
from ours. Nevertheless, what 
I often find is that despite the 
many differences, there are also 
many similarities. Perhaps that 
is because people are 
people, whether they 
lived in the ancient 
Near East thousands 
of years ago, or they 
live nearby in the 21st 
century. In examining 
parshat Ki Tetze, we 
find an example of this.
The Torah teaches, 
“You shall not abuse 
a needy and destitute 
laborer, whether a 
fellow countryman or 
a stranger in one of 
the communities of 
your land.
” (Deuteronomy 24:14) 
This verse finds good company 
among the many ethical 
precepts in this parshah, which 
emphasize ethical behavior in 
society. Ki Tetze sets the bar for 
treatment of workers, fairness 
in business generally, lending 
and borrowing money as well 
as the inequities that can arise 
from differences in wealth and 
power.
This prohibition on abusing 
the poor laborer has a strong 
resonance in the 21st century. 
Throughout the Torah, we 
find a variety of laws that show 
concern for the ger as it does 
in this verse as well. Ger has a 
variety of meanings. Often, our 
rabbis understood ger to refer to 
a convert. Many commentaries 
say this is how it should be 
defined here as well. If so, our 
verse would be telling us that 
people who convert to join the 
Jewish community need an 
extra bit of protection in the 
workplace.

However, I tend to believe 
that the Torah was thinking 
more broadly here. Ger can 
also mean stranger or foreigner. 
If that is the Torah’s intention 
here, it would seem to be saying 
that society needs to provide 
protection for foreign 
workers who would be 
vulnerable to bad treatment 
by some employers. 
It is easy to understand 
why foreign workers would 
need to be highlighted for 
additional protection. Far 
from home, perhaps not 
knowing the language of 
the land well (or at all), 
foreign workers are missing 
the support of family and 
knowledge of society as 
they try to earn a living. 
We should remember, the 
workers the Torah has in mind 
are not engineers coming to the 
U.S. for specialized work after 
extensive training (although 
there are challenges in this as 
well). We are talking about 
impoverished individuals 
who must not be able to earn 
enough for them to survive 
back home due to drought or 
famine. 
Just as in the ancient world, 
there are many migrant workers 
today — hundreds of thousands 
of them throughout the world. 
Of course, the United States is 
home to many thousands of 
migrant workers as well. The 
Torah recognizes the vulnerable 
state of migrant workers and 
encourages us across the 
generations to be sensitive to 
them. The Torah demands 
that we create a society that 
demands fairness for citizen 
and stranger alike. 

Rabbi Steven Rubenstein is rabbi 

of Congregation Beth Ahm in West 

Bloomfield.

TORAH PORTION

Rabbi Steven 
Rubenstein

Parshat 

Ki Tetze: 

Deuteronomy 

21:10-25:19; 

Isaiah 

54:1-10.

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