Ki Teitzei

Not to be confused with Ki Tisa or Ki Tavo.
"Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn." (Deuteronomy 25:4.) (illustration circa 1900 by James Shaw Crompton)

Ki Teitzei, Ki Tetzei, Ki Tetse, Ki Thetze, Ki Tese, Ki Tetzey, or Ki Seitzei (כִּי־תֵצֵא‎—Hebrew for "when you go," the first words in the parashah) is the 49th weekly Torah portion (פָּרָשָׁה‎, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the sixth in the Book of Deuteronomy. It comprises Deuteronomy 21:10–25:19. The parashah sets out a series of miscellaneous laws, mostly governing civil and domestic life, including ordinances regarding a beautiful captive of war, inheritance among the sons of two wives, a wayward son, the corpse of an executed person, found property, coming upon another in distress, rooftop safety, prohibited mixtures, sexual offenses, membership in the congregation, camp hygiene, runaway slaves, prostitution, usury, vows, gleaning, kidnapping, repossession, prompt payment of wages, vicarious liability, flogging, treatment of domestic animals, yibbum (יִבּוּם‎ "levirate marriage"), weights and measures, and wiping out the memory of Amalek.

The parashah is made up of 5,856 Hebrew letters, 1,582 Hebrew words, 110 verses, and 213 lines in a Torah Scroll (סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה‎, Sefer Torah).[1] Jews generally read the parashah in August or September.[2] Jews also read the part of the parashah about Amalek, Deuteronomy 25:17–19, as the concluding (מפטיר‎, maftir) reading on Shabbat Zachor, the special Sabbath immediately before Purim, which commemorates the story of Esther and the Jewish people's victory over Haman's plan to kill the Jews, told in the book of Esther.[3] Esther 3:1 identifies Haman as an Agagite, and thus a descendant of Amalek.[4]

  1. ^ "Devarim Torah Stats". Akhlah Inc. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
  2. ^ "Parashat Ki Teitzei". Hebcal. Retrieved August 28, 2014.
  3. ^ Esther 1:1–10:3.
  4. ^ Numbers 24:7 identifies the Agagites with the Amalekites. A midrash tells that between King Agag's capture by Saul and his killing by Samuel, Agag fathered a child, from whom Haman, in turn, descended. Seder Eliyahu Rabbah chapter 20 (circa 640–900 CE), in, e.g., William G. Braude and Israel J. Kapstein, translators, Tanna Debe Eliyyahu: The Lore of the School of Elijah (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1981); Targum Sheni to Esther 4:13.