- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Ki Tetze
The Torah study is dedicatedin the memory of
Hana Bat Chaim
2983
But whatever approach we take on that important issue, the Torah seems to put a lot of stress in this mitzva on the house. "When you build a new house." Halachically, it doesn’t have to be new (Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 427:1)!? "You shall not place blood in your house." Why not write that one should not be responsible for another’s death? "Should the one who falls fall from it." Obviously we are talking about falling from it? Why not mention what will happen to him if he falls?
It is likely that the Torah is stressing that the point of making a fence for the roof is more than a precautionary step to prevent tragedy. Rather, building the fence helps define the house. When one builds the fence, the house is as if new, even if it has been standing for decades. It is a house that transmits outwards that life has value and must be safeguarded. It is the potential for falling off, as much as any eventuality, Heaven forbid, which makes a house lacking precautions "a bloody house."
In this way, the fence and any other elements of safety that exist in the house are parallels to the mezuzah. The mezuzah is a sign that the house must protect those within from spiritual dangers, trying to ensure that all that enters the doorway conforms to the basic truths of our religious foundations. So too, the fence exhibits a concern for the physical welfare of those who live in the house or come to visit there.
The two concerns must go hand in hand. The spiritual concern is not sufficient if one does not have a healthy respect for the gift of life. But the world’s strongest and safest fortress is not of true value if it does not allow one who is safeguarded in it to live his life in a significant manner.

Both Slaves, Neither Slaves
Rabbi Yossef Carmel | elul5767
Fulfillment of the prophecies of consolation in Safed
Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu | Elul 13 5782

Ask the Rabbi: Whose Responsibility Is Raising the Wall?
Rabbi Daniel Mann | Elul 3 5783

Fulfilling Parashat Zachor on Ki Teitzei
Rabbi Daniel Mann | Elul 10 5782
The High Priest and the Menora
Rabbi Berel Wein

Taking Care of the Ill -- The Mitzvah of Bikur Cholim
Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff | Sivan 29 5779
?How we should dress for Prayer
Chapter five-part two
Rabbi Eliezer Melamed | 5775
The Bedtime Shema
Chapter Twenty Six
Rabbi Eliezer Melamed | 5775
Daf Yomi Shevuot Daf 36
R' Eli Stefansky | 10 Sivan 5785
Daf Yomi Shevuot Daf 35
R' Eli Stefansky | 9 Sivan 5785
The Menorah and the Flat Tire
Rabbi Moshe Leib Halberstadt | 17 Sivan 5785
