"When you go out"
In this parasha we find a variety of instructions regarding interpersonal ethics, civil and criminal law. Make a fence on your home so no one falls off and breaks his neck. Chase a hen away from her nest before taking her eggs. Return your neighbor's lost property. Protect a runaway slave from a former owner. Leave your unpicked produce in the fields for those who need it. Let your animals eat during the harvest. Don't punish someone for a crime committed by another person. Don't target the vulnerable. When someone treats us badly, we should not seek revenge or remain enslaved by our own hatred.
We also find a number of disturbing admonitions, such as the commandment to stone a rebellious son to death. As Judaism rose from the ashes of Hebraism, the rabbis found ways to soften some of the harsher Torah laws. (In that particular case, they debated multiple scenarios and ultimately concluded that such a son could never exist, therefore the death sentence would never need to be carried out. Rabbi Michael Lerner asks, in his book Jewish Renewal, "So why don't halakhists take this same step in regard to homosexuality? Because they don't want to.")
Yet as liberal Jews, we can celebrate the best in Torah and apply it in our own lives. R'Lerner writes about God as a source of good that allows for the possibility of transforming "that which is to that which ought to be." He suggests that the negative ideas in Torah are distortions that come not from God but from the way God's voice was received, filtered through a legacy of cruelty and violence. We have a choice what to listen to. Rabbi Arthur Segal points out that Torah was never meant to be accepted on blind faith - that the tradition itself is one of questioning, debate, and exploration.
A good way to remove hatred from our hearts (and not let others live rent-free in our heads) is to make a complete inventory of the fears that have held us back in our lives. This is an important step in a chesbon ha nefesh, inventory of the soul. Where did our fears come from, and what behaviors do they cause? To make such a list can be an illuminating process, as it is likely to reveal that fear can be a self-fulfilling prophecy; it can trigger actions that bring about precisely the circumstances we wish to avoid, in addition to causing us to reflexively do things we later regret. It is a very direct method of deconstructing psychological defenses, which in turn frees up a great deal of emotional and spiritual real estate. As has been expounded upon at length in the book Great is Peace, hatred, jealousy and envy are like an acid eating away at their container (ourselves). When we excavate our fears and identity the negative behaviors they generate, we are ready for tashlich (casting off of sins at Rosh Hashanah).
Rabbi Akiva says that the two most important commandments are love of one's fellow and love of God. Rabbi Hillel defines both: "What is hateful unto you, do not do to your fellows." The Midrash teaches that all Jews are ma'aminim b'nei ma'aminim, believers who are descendants of believers, but more important than faith itself are the actions which point to one's faith. Rebbe Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev (1740-1810, Poland) said: "Whether a man really loves the Divine can be determined by the love he bears toward his fellow men."
- from
Great is Peace: A Modern Commentary on Talmud Bavli Tractate Derek Eretz Zuta