Ki Tetzei for Reading 2025
Plaut p. 1330
Source Sheet by Yair Robinson
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(22) When you make a vow to your God יהוה, do not put off fulfilling it, for your God יהוה will require it of you, and you will have incurred guilt; (23) whereas you incur no guilt if you refrain from vowing. (24) You must fulfill what has crossed your lips and perform what you have voluntarily vowed to your God יהוה, having made the promise with your own mouth. |
(כב) כִּֽי־תִדֹּ֥ר נֶ֙דֶר֙ לַיהוה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ לֹ֥א תְאַחֵ֖ר לְשַׁלְּמ֑וֹ כִּֽי־דָרֹ֨שׁ יִדְרְשֶׁ֜נּוּ יהוה אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙ מֵֽעִמָּ֔ךְ וְהָיָ֥ה בְךָ֖ חֵֽטְא׃ (כג) וְכִ֥י תֶחְדַּ֖ל לִנְדֹּ֑ר לֹֽא־יִהְיֶ֥ה בְךָ֖ חֵֽטְא׃ (כד) מוֹצָ֥א שְׂפָתֶ֖יךָ תִּשְׁמֹ֣ר וְעָשִׂ֑יתָ כַּאֲשֶׁ֨ר נָדַ֜רְתָּ לַיהוה אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙ נְדָבָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר דִּבַּ֖רְתָּ בְּפִֽיךָ׃ {ס} |
Rabbi Shimon was a great sage and a righteous man, and extremely poor. But he refused to accept any money for his teaching: he wanted it to be a gift to his students. So he made his money making deliveries: firewood, water, and other things, that made him a small income each week.
His students hated seeing their teacher always schlepping his deliveries by hand. Surely there was a way that they could make it easier for him? So they pooled together their money and bought a donkey from a non-Jew in the marketplace. This would make Rabbi Shimon’s deliveries easier, at least!
Rabbi Shimon was very grateful for his students’ gift. As he examined the donkey, he noticed that there was a small leather bag tied around its neck. Curious, Rabbi Shimon opened it, and found a rather large diamond, worth a great deal of money.
“How wonderful!” the students exclaimed. “Now Rabbi Shimon won’t be poor anymore!”
But Rabbi Shimon objected. “The diamond doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to the man who sold you the donkey.”
The rabbi’s students began to argue with him–surely this was a windfall, a gift from above–but Rabbi Shimon quieted them. “What use is my learning,” he said, “if I don’t act the right way?” So he took the diamond, put it back in the pouch, and found the person in the marketplace who sold the donkey to the students. Dumbfounded, the person could only say, “blessed be the God of Rabbi Shimon.”
It will soon be Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, a time to reflect on our actions over the past year, and think about who we want to be in the coming year. In our Torah portion, we are warned to act with integrity: to do what we say we will do. And Rabbi Shimon reminds us that our actions should always line up with our values, that our Torah should lead us to act the right way.
As we enter a new year, may we remember the ways in which we kept our promises and acted appropriately, and learn from the ways where we missed the mark. And may we also strive to act with integrity, to mean what we say and say what we mean, in every way. Amen.