יח: וְזָֽכַרְתָּ֗ כִּ֣י עֶ֤בֶד הָיִ֨יתָ֙ בְּמִצְרַ֔יִם וַיִּפְדְּךָ֛ יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ מִשָּׁ֑ם עַל־כֵּ֞ן אָֽנֹכִ֤י מְצַוְּךָ֙ לַֽעֲשׂ֔וֹת אֶת־הַדָּבָ֖ר הַזֶּֽה
18: You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord, your God, redeemed you from there; therefore, I command you to do this thing. (Deut. 24:18)
Parshat Ki Teitzei begins with a long list of laws that we are to follow, followed by a pretty common refrain: Do this thing because that’s what God brought you out of Egypt to do. Rashi here adds something important: ‘even if you incur monetary loss in the matter.’ On a slightly different note, Rabbinic Judaism delineates two concepts: ahavat hashem (love of God), and yirat hashem (awe of God). Reb Simcha Bunim taught that first one comes to be in awe of God, which leads to doing mitzvot, which then leads to loving God. And as Reb Shlomo Carlebach said, to love God is also to love humankind. If one’s actions don’t lead to loving the other, than your not doing it right. It’s not what God wants of us. The pasuk comes to remind us that even in the midst of all of these laws, we need to keep God in mind at all moments. We constantly need to be asking “Am I becoming a more loving person?” And even if there is a cost to us, whether it’s social, family-related, or monetary, we have a responsibility to pursue love even if the cost is high to us.
