Submission and Vulnerability

Parshat כי תצא is filled with numerous miscellaneous laws-more than any other Parsha. There are more than seventy of the 613 Mitzvot in כי תצא.

A common idea that could be found in the Parsha, is man’s vulnerability and the need for הכנעה, submission to Hashem’s holy laws.

A simple law such as the construction of a מעקה, is one example. We must build a fence around our roof and remove all safety hazards from our home. The Torah says, “Lest the faller will fall.” This unusual language teaches that even if an individual was meant to die suddenly by falling, it should not happen in our home.

Man’s vulnerability is alluded to when we realize that one can perish in a second, if that is his destiny.

Rabbi Soloveitchik wrote that, “human pride and arrogance disappear, when one becomes aware of this vulnerability.”

Similarly, when we read in the Parsha of the difficult plight of the one labeled, “Mamzer”, or the עגונה, a woman unable to remarry for being unable to attain a גט, we feel compassion for their sorrow.

Nevertheless, we accept the yoke of Heaven, and submit to a Torah and its wisdom, that is far greater then our own.

Can we be so bold to believe that we have more knowledge than the Vilna Gaon or the Ketzot Hachoshen?

If we accept these lessons and accept our vulnerability and submit to Hashem’s Torah, we will succeed in life.