Leadership and favoritism: Parshat Ki Teitzei
Date
2023-08-23
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks-Herenstein Center for Values and Leadership
YU Faculty Profile
Abstract
Many sensitive interrelationships are mentioned in the opening chapter of this week’s sedra, Ki Teitzei. The first is the status of the captive woman who was taken in battle and captured the fancy of a soldier in that war. She was completely vulnerable and, in principle, unprotected. The Torah understood that the situation was one of natural exploitation and thus placed parameters around her care. The captive woman’s hair and nails were to be trimmed, and she was to exchange her old clothes for new ones, presumably resembling those worn by other Israelite women. The exoticism associated with foreign women was to be tempered to measure whether or not the soldier had true feelings for this woman.
Description
The weekly Bible portion
Keywords
Eshet yifat tohar, war law, law of the beautiful woman, favoritism
Citation
Brown, E. (2023, August 23). Leadership and favoritism: Parshat Ki Teitzei. The Torah of Leadership. YUTorah.org. Yeshiva University.