When comparing the Torah model of society and the American we find an interesting concept. The Torah speaks of obligations, but within them are rights. The American model speaks of rights but within them obligations. The two go hand in hand. Without one we don’t have the other.
This week’s parsha, Ki Teitzei, contains more mitzvot than any other parsha in the Torah. But in many ways, it is also a continuation of last week’s parsha, Shoftim.
Last week, the Torah was concerned with leadership: the judges, the king, the priests, and how those who lead the Jewish people are supposed to conduct themselves. This week, the Torah turns its attention to the people themselves. It tells us not only how leaders should behave, but how ordinary members of society are supposed to behave.
And one of the most important messages of the parsha is that you have to take responsibility. You have to show up.
Take the mitzvah of returning a lost object. The Torah says that if you find something that belongs to your fellow, you cannot simply say, “Well, he lost it. Too bad for him.” You have an obligation to help return it to its rightful owner.
The same idea appears in other mitzvot in the parsha. If you build a house with a flat roof, you have to put a fence around it so that someone does not fall. If you dig a hole, you have to make sure that somebody does not fall into it. The Torah is telling us: Think ahead. Look around you. Ask yourself what might happen to another person because of what you do—or fail to do.
In other words, Judaism is not simply about avoiding doing something wrong. It is about taking a proactive responsibility for the people around you.
There is an interesting parallel in American history. John Adams, writing to the Massachusetts militia in 1798, said that the American Constitution was made for “a moral and religious People” and was inadequate for any other kind. His point was that a system based on rights cannot function unless the people themselves possess a sense of obligation and responsibility.
The Torah approaches the same idea from the other direction. The Torah emphasizes obligations, but underlying those obligations are rights as well.
It is really the same coin viewed from two different sides: rights come with obligations, and obligations protect rights.
Alexis de Tocqueville noticed something similar when he visited America in the 1830s and later wrote Democracy in America. He was struck by the fact that Americans did not always wait for the government to solve their problems. If something needed to be done, people organized themselves and did it. They formed local associations and community organizations. They did not necessarily wait for some distant authority to come down and take care of the problem for them.
And that is very much the message of Ki Teitzei.
Something needs to get done? Don’t wait for the leader. Don’t wait for the government. Don’t wait for someone else. If you can help, help.
And that applies particularly to our own Jewish community.
A synagogue is not simply a building where services happen. A synagogue is a community, and a community functions only when its members are willing to participate.
Today, we did not have a minyan. Nine people showed up. We needed one more.
But the important thing is that those nine people showed up.
That is what the Torah is asking of us. You have to be willing to be part of the community. You have to be willing to take responsibility for something beyond yourself.
And yes, being part of the community gives you rights. But those rights depend upon obligations. If nobody shows up, if nobody volunteers, if nobody takes responsibility, then eventually there is no community.
That is why I think the many seemingly unrelated mitzvot in Ki Teitzei actually fit together very well.
You find a lost object? Don’t walk past it.
You see a danger on your property? Don’t ignore it.
Someone might get hurt because of something you have done? Think ahead and do something about it.
Your community needs you? Show up.
The Torah is teaching us that a good society does not happen automatically. Good leadership is important—and that is what we learned last week. But good leadership alone is not enough.
We also need good citizens. We need people who look around, see what needs to be done, and take responsibility.
The fundamental question is not only, “What am I entitled to?”
It is also, “What am I responsible for?”
And the answer of Ki Teitzei is clear: more than you might think.
So as we read this week’s parsha, we should remember one simple message:
You have to show up.
That is how a community becomes a community, and that is how Torah becomes something we live—not merely something we read.
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