​I. The Nature of Teshuvah

​Rosh HaShanah [ראש השנה], literally translated, means “head of the year.”  It is, in other words, the holiday which celebrates the Jewish new year.  However, unlike other new year celebrations, Rosh HaShanah is not observed with raucous parties and fireworks.  Rather, it is a somber day of reflection and prayer.
 
Tanakh refers to the holiday not as Rosh HaShanah, but rather, as Yom Teruah [יום תרועה], which, literally translated, means “day of ‘blast’ (of shofar), ‘trumpet call,’ ‘cry,’ or ‘alarm.’”  “[T]here shall be a day of rest for you, a remembrance with shofar blasts [תרועה], a holy convocation.”  Vayyiqra 23:23.  Rosh HaShanah is the first of the two Jewish “High Holidays,” the Yamim Nora’im [ימים נוראים], the “Days of Awe.”  The second of the two High Holidays is Yom Kippur [יום כיפור], the Day of Atonement.  The ten days between Rosh HaShanah [ראש השנה] and Yom Kippur [יום כיפור] are known as the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah [עשרת ימי תשובה], the Ten Days of Repentance.
 
The misva of Rosh HaShanah [ראש השנה] is to hear the blowing of the shofar, Vayyiqra 23:23, which is intended to motivate individuals to do teshuvah [תשובה], that is, to repent for one’s sins, during the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah [עשרת ימי תשובה].
 
Teshuvah atones for all sins.  Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Teshuvah 1:3.  Teshuvah, in turn, consists of four elements: (1) ceasing the commission of the particular sin; (2) removing the particular sin from one’s thoughts; (3) resolving in one’s heart to never again commit the particular sin; and (4) verbally confessing commission of the sin.  Id., 2:2.  “The confession should be made ‘before G-d,’ and not in public.”  Id. 2:1, n.9.

​II. The Misva to Conquer Eretz Yisra’el

​HaShem commanded the Jewish people to expel the gentile inhabitants of the Land (Eretz Yisra’el) and to not enter into an agreement with those inhabitants that would allow them to remain in the land.

​Shemot 34:11-17.
 
The Halakha – Jewish statutory law – relating to gentiles living in Eretz Yisra’el recognizes two classes of people: those who claim an ownership or similar interest in Eretz Yisra’el and those who do not claim any such interest.
 
Regarding those who claim an ownership interest in the Land, the Torah is not referring merely to ancient civilizations who just happened to be occupying Eretz Yisra’el at the time the Jewish people crossed the Yardan (Jordan river) to enter and conquer Eretz Yisra’el; rather, the Torah is referring to any people – for all time – who claim a legal right to Eretz Yisra’el which is superior to that of the Jewish people.
 
According to the Or HaHayyim, the pesuk which states that: “You are to drive out all of the inhabitants of the land. . . .” means that:

Or HaHayyim, commentary to Bamidbar 33:52.
 
Likewise, Abarbanel said:

​Abarbanel, Commentary on Shemot 34:11-12.

​III. The Misva to Reside in Eretz Yisra’el

​The Talmud states:

​Maseket Ketuvot, 110b.
 
Halakha, that is, Jewish statutory Law, states that the misva of living in Eretz Israel is timeless; it is still the Halakha today.  The Shulchan Arukh, Even HaEzer 75:4, states that: “If [a husband] proposes to ascend to Eretz Yisrael and [the wife] does not want to [go], [the husband] must divorce her. . . .  [And if the wife] proposes ascending [to Eretz Yisrael] and [the husband] does not want to [go], he must divorce her.”

​IV. The “Palestinians”

​The Roman emperor Hadrian conquered Judea in the year 135 C.E.  The Jewish warrior Bar Kokhba was killed and the Judeans (the Jewish residents of Judea) were exiled to the four corners of the earth.
 
Hadrian enacted laws, punishable by death, which made it illegal for any Jew who remained in Judea to keep Shabbat, study Torah, or circumcise their children.  Yerushalayim was bulldozed and renamed “Aelia Capitolina.”
 
Hadrian also changed the name of “Judea” to “Palestine.”
 
Notwithstanding that Hadrian changed the name of Judea to “Palestine,” there has never been a Palestinian people separate and apart from the Jewish people, nor has there ever been a State of Palestine.
 
The modern-day Arabs who call themselves “Palestinians” are nothing more than a people who lost any contemporary legal right to Eretz Yisra’el that they might arguably have had – including Judea and Samaria – during the wars of 1948 and 1967.

​V. The Jewish Sins Which Require National Teshuvah

​The first sin which requires teshuvah is the failure of the Jewish people, through their elected government officials in Medinat Yisra’el (the State of Israel), to have immediately asserted sovereignty over the entirety of Medinat Yisra’el following the conclusion of the 1967 war.  When a person reacquires a lost object, his natural inclination is to immediately claim ownership of the object.  If he does not immediately do so, he “opens the door” to competing claims.  So too, it is with Medinat Yisra’el and the liberated territories of Judea and Samaria.
 
The reason Medinat Yisra’el did not – and has not yet – asserted sovereignty over the liberated territories has to do with separate, but interrelated issues of demographics and an erroneous application of certain provisions of Medinat Yisra’el’s founding documents.
 
Regarding demographics, Medinat Yisra’el is concerned, as it has continually been concerned since its founding in 1948, that Israeli-Arabs will someday become a majority, rather than a minority.  Were that demographic shift to occur, Medinat Yisra’el, through its democratic elections, would cease to be the nominally Jewish state that it is today.
 
Medinat Yisra’el’s founding documents provide that Medinat Yisra’el is both a Jewish state and a democracy.  Since its founding in 1948, Medinat Yisra’el has assumed that Israeli-Arabs must be granted the same political rights (e.g., the right to participate in the political process through voting and the ability to hold public office) as Jewish-Israeli citizens.  This irrational, indeed schizophrenic, assumption has led to the present situation wherein the Jewish government is literally afraid to do what is in the best interest of the Jewish state and the Jewish people, for fear of antagonizing its Arab residents.
 
The only way Medinat Yisra’el can hope to be both a Jewish state and a democracy is for citizenship, and the democratic rights of citizenship, to be reserved solely for its Jewish citizens, to the exclusion of all others.  To some, this idea might sound outrageous.  The question that should be posed to these individuals is, simply: Which Arab state(s) allows Jews to vote?
 
There is no historical precedent of two peoples, both of whom claim a legal right to a particular geographic area, to live together peaceably on that land for any prolonged period of time.  Medinat Yisra’el is no different.
 
The second sin which requires teshuvah is the failure of the Jewish people, through their elected government officials in Medinat Yisra’el, to adopt a legal system based on the Torah and to encourage non-Jews who claim a right to the lands of Medinat Yisra’el, through financial and political incentives, to emigrate from Medinat Yisra’el to other countries.
 
May we, the Jewish people, do teshuvah for our national sins; receive atonement for those national sins; and thereby be written and sealed in the Book of Life.
 
שנה טובה ומתוקה
Shana Tova u’Metuka!

​Many have asked: “How could G-d have allowed the Holocaust?”  It’s a fair question.  HaShem is a loving G-d; so how could HaShem have allowed something as terrible as the Holocaust to have occurred?  After all, many good and righteous people, and many innocent children, were murdered at the hands of the Nazis and their coconspirators.
 
In last week’s Parasha, we read about the blessings HaShem will bestow on the Jewish people if they observe the Torah and keep its commandments.  We also read the admonitions [תוכחה], which warn of the curses which will befall the Jewish people if they fail to observe the Torah and its commandments.
 
Parasha Nizzavim, which relates events which occurred on the last day of Moshe Rabbeinu’s life and which was given in the context of the Jewish people’s imminent entry into Eretz Yisra’el, continues the theme of last week’s Parasha through a renewal of the covenant between HaShem and the Jewish people:

​Debarim 29:9-14.
 
Two important aspects of these pesukim are that: (1) the renewed covenant is binding not only on the Jews who were physically present at the time the covenant was renewed, but also on all future generations of Jews (“Not only with you alone . . . and also with him who is not here this day. . . .”) and (2) Jews are responsible not just for themselves as individuals, but also for each other.  This second aspect of the pesukim introduces for the first time the concept of collective responsibility ([ערבות], literally “guarantee”), which obligates every Jew to assist other Jews in observing the Torah and not violating its commands.  The great commentator Or HaHayyim wrote:

​Or HaHayyim, Debarim 29:12.
 
Parasha Nizzavim continues:

​Debarim 30:1-5.
 
Parasha Nizzavim concludes:

​Debarim 30:15-20.
 
In discussing the Holocaust [שואה], many people have asked, “How could a loving G-d have allowed that to happen?”  Many say there is no answer to this question.  Others, having not found a satisfactory answer, have abandoned religion altogether.
 
The Torah, however, is quite clear.  “[Y]ou will take it to your heart among all the nations where HaShem, your G-d, has dispersed you and you will return unto HaShem, your G-d, and listen to His voice. . . .”  Debarim 30:1.  “I have placed before you . . . life . . . and . . . death. . . .  [If you will keep the Torah], then you will live. . . .  But if . . . you will not listen . . . you will surely be lost. . . .”  Debarim 30:1-5.
 
During the latter half of the 1800s, the Jews of eastern Europe were, indeed, religiously observant.  They lived mostly in Jewish communities (the “shtetl”) which were separated from their gentile neighbors.  Under such conditions, they had to be religiously observant; there was no other practical alternative.
 
Things changed toward the end of the 19th century, with the coming of The Enlightenment.  The Jews of eastern Europe suddenly had a choice.  Almost overnight, many Eastern European Jews abandoned their religious lifestyles and communities and joined the ranks of communists and socialists.  They assimilated into gentile culture.  Reform Judaism was “born.”
 
Some might – correctly – point out that it cannot be that every Jew who met his fate during the Holocaust was a Jew who, through his own conduct, deserved to endure such terrible atrocities.  There is no question that there were many righteous individuals – both adults and children – who perished in the Holocaust.
 
Nevertheless, as we learn from our Parasha, each Jew is responsible for the conduct of his fellow Jew.  Furthermore, the Talmud teaches that: “[W]hen there are righteous in a generation, the righteous are punished for the sins of the generation.  When there are no righteous in a generation, the children are punished for the sins of the generation.”  Masekhet Shabbat 33b.
 
Thus, when we read in this week’s Parasha that HaShem has “placed life and death before you, blessing and curse.  You shall choose life. . . .” we should not be surprised to learn that there are real-life consequences for choosing curse over blessing, and for not choosing life.
 
Although Parasha Nizzavim repeats the blessing and curse from last week’s Parasha, and adds the element of collective responsibility for Torah observance, our Parasha does not stop there.
 
HaShem, of course, knew in advance of the Holocaust that not all Jews would choose blessing over curse.  Nevertheless, the Master of the Universe, in all of His kindness, also promised that, after the Holocaust was over, He would gather the Jewish people and return them to Eretz Yisra’el.  “He will return and gather you in from all the peoples to which HaShem, your G-d, has scattered you.  . . . .  [He] will bring you to the Land that your forefathers possessed and you shall possess it. . . .”  Debarim 30:3-5.
 
Medinat Yisra’el (the State of Israel) was established after World War II, restoring sovereignty over Eretz Yisra’el to the Jewish people, for the first time in almost 2,000 years.  Reestablishment of the Medinat has not, however, been easy.  The Medinat has had to fight for its very survival, sometimes fighting day-by-day, sometimes hour-by-hour, minute-by minute, or even second-by-second.  With the help of HaShem, the Medinat has, so far, managed – against all odds – to retain some semblance of the sovereignty over Eretz Yisra’el that HaShem so graciously restored to the Jewish people in 1948.
 
The Holocaust, like Parashat Nizzavim, taught that: (1) there are real-world consequences to choosing the ways of Torah over the ways of the gentile nations, that is, choosing blessing over curse, life over death; and (2) Jews, all Jews everywhere, are collectively responsible for all other Jews.
 
When the 19th century religious Jews of eastern Europe chose to abandon their religious lifestyles and communities, when they voluntarily joined the ranks of communists and socialists, and when they assimilated into gentile culture, they did exactly the opposite of what the Torah commands: They chose curse over blessing, death over life.
 
Likewise, when the Jews who constitute the political class of Medinat Yisra’el (as well as those who vote for these individuals and their political parties) continue to choose Western-style “democracy” and “equality” over the commands of the Torah to establish a Jewish state in Eretz Yisra’el (as opposed to sharing de facto sovereignty with those who seek the destruction of the Jewish people), the Jewish people are choosing curse over blessing, and, literally, death over life.
 
Similarly, when the Jews of Medinat Yisra’el (politicians and voters) continue to choose socialism over the Torah’s commands to establish and maintain a free-market economy, they are choosing curse over blessing, death over life.
 
As is explained in detail in our other articles on the weekly Parashat, the choice of blessing over curse, life over death, is nothing less than the choice of: (1) full and complete Jewish sovereignty in Medinat Yisra’el, as opposed to the current system of gentile, Western-style, “democracy” and “equality,” and (2) a free-market economy, as opposed to the current socialist economy, both of which have been commanded by our Holy Torah.
 
May the Jewish people choose Torah over the ways of the gentile nations, that is, may the Jewish people choose blessing over curse, life over death.
 
שבת שלום
Shabbat Shalom!

​Parashat Ki Tavo restates that the Jewish people are a nation, separate and apart, and, above all of the other nations, not because the Jewish people are somehow “better” or “superior” to gentiles, but solely because the Jewish people accepted the Torah.

​Debarim 26:17-19.
 
In other words, the Torah is reminding us that the Jewish people exist solely because their ancestors, the Israelites, accepted the Torah.  The Torah is also telling us that, by extension, the Jewish nation likewise exists solely because the Jewish people accepted the Torah.
 
Parashat Ki Tavo then relates the second “Admonition” (“reproof,” “rebuke”) [תוכחה], which was given to the Jewish people by Moshe Rabbeinu shortly before the people crossed the Jordan river [נהר הירדן] to conquer Eretz Yisra’el.  The first “Admonition” was given to the Jewish people by HaShem.  Vayyiqra 26.
 
Although the text of the two sets of Admonitions differ, the message of both is the same:  If the Jewish people keep the Torah, they will be blessed; if not, they will be cursed.  The first Admonition provides:  “If you walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you [blessings]. . . .”  Vayyiqra 26:3.  “But if you will not harken to Me, and will not do all these commandments [you will be cursed].”  Vayyiqra 26:14.
 
The second Admonition states:

​Debarim 28:1.

​Debarim 28:15, et seq.
 
Often overlooked is the fact that both sets of Admonitions warn against not performing the misvot in Eretz Yisra’el.  The first set of Admonitions warns, “And you shall do My statutes, and keep My judgments, and do them; and you shall dwell in the land in safety.”  Vayyiqra 25:18.  The second set of Admonitions, as mentioned earlier, was given shortly before the Jewish people entered and conquered Eretz Yisra’el.  Viewed in this context, it’s clear that the misvot are to be performed in Eretz Yisra’el.
 
Religious Jews the world over are known for scrupulous adherence to keeping personal misvot.  They keep Shabbat, pray three times a day, lay tefillin, keep Kosher, etc.
 
Observance of national misvot, however, is much less widespread.  Only a small number of Jews make Aliyah and, of those Jews who do reside in Medinat Yisra’el (the State of Israel), few seek the implementation of political reforms that would result in the Medinat being governed as a Jewish State, instead of its current, Westernized, Hellenist, and distinctly non-Jewish mode of governance.
 
In this month of Elul, as we approach the High Holidays, may the Jewish nation endeavor to avoid the curses that the Torah describes in Parashat Ki Tavo, and elsewhere, by engaging in true Teshuvah (repentance) [תשובה] for its collective failure to keep all of the misvot of the Torah, including, and especially, the national misvot.  As a part of its process of Teshuvah, may the Jewish nation undertake to reform Medinat Yisra’el so that the Medinat becomes a true Jewish state, as envisioned by the Torah.
 
שבת שלום
Shabbat Shalom!

​There are a number of laws distributed throughout Parasha Ki Teza which, on their face, may not seem to have any readily apparent connection.  Those laws include:

1. The inheritance right of the firstborn. “If a man will have two wives, one beloved and one hated, and they bear him sons . . . he [may not change the order of inheritance to disinherit the son of the hated wife].  Rather, he must recognize the firstborn, the son of the hated [wife].”  Debarim 21:15-17.
   
   
2. Returning lost property.  “You shall . . . surely return [lost property] to your brother. . . .  So shall you do for his donkey, . . . his garment, and . . . for any lost article of your brother that . . . you find. . . .”  Debarim 22:1-3  
   
   
3. Dangerous conditions on real property.  “If you build a new house, you shall make a fence on the roof [to prevent people from falling off the roof]”  Debarim 22:8
   
   
4. Farming operations.  “You shall not sow your vineyard with a mixture. . . .”  Debarim 22:9
   
   
5. Collateral for loans.  “One shall not take a lower or upper millstone as a pledge, for he would be taking a life as a pledge.”  Debarim 24:6
   
   
6. Collection of loans.  “When you shall claim a debt of any amount from your fellow, you shall not enter his home to take security for it. . . .  Debarim 24:10-13
   
   
7. Payment of wages.  “You shall not cheat a poor or destitute [employee]. . . .  On that day, you shall pay his [wages.]”  Debarim 24:14-15
   
   
8. Charity.  “When you reap your harvest in your field, and you forgot a bundle in the field, you shall not turn back to take it; it shall be [charity] for the convert, the orphan, and the widow. . . .”  Debarim 24:19-22
   
   
9. Weights and measures.  “You shall not have in your pouch a weight and a weight – a large one and a small one. . . .   A perfect and honest weight shall you have, a perfect and honest measure shall you have. . . . .”  Debarim 25:13-16

 
The unifying theme that can be discerned from these pesukim from Parasha Ki Teze is that the Torah has a preference for – and indeed presumes – the private ownership of property.
 
The next logical question, of course, is: What is implied by the Torah’s preference for the private ownership of property?
 
Ownership of property, by definition, means the legal right of an individual, without interference from others, to use or dispose of property which is owned by that individual, provided that such use or disposition does not infringe on another person’s legal rights with respect to that person’s property.  This definition, of course, is consistent with the command “Thou shalt not steal” [לא תגנב].  Shemot 20:13.
 
The Torah prohibition against stealing is absolute.  The prohibition is not limited to individuals who commit theft, but rather, applies to both individuals and to groups consisting of more than one individual.
 
The fact that the Torah prohibits stealing leads, logically, to the question: How may property be acquired without violating the prohibition against theft?
 
There are two, and only two, methods in which property may be acquired.  The first is through a voluntary act – a sale or a gift.  The second is through the use of force or the threat of force.
 
There is no material difference whether the force needed to acquire property is applied by a common street criminal or by the State, under an illusion of legitimacy which the State attempts to create through the enactment of laws.  When a State takes property from a person by force or the threat of force, that taking constitutes theft, if the property which is taken is used for any purpose other than to achieve the legitimate ends of government.
 
Although reasonable minds might differ as to what constitutes a legitimate end of government, it must be remembered that any and all property acquired by the State is acquired through the use, or threatened use, of force.
 
Just as there are two, and only two, methods in which property may be acquired, there are two, and only two types of economic systems: the free market, the foundation of which is voluntary exchange, and Socialism, the foundation of which is the use, or threatened use, force.  Thus, we see that just as the acquisition of property by way of voluntary transaction or by force are polar opposites, so too, the free market and Socialism are polar opposites.
 
Rabbi Akiva Tatz wrote that “[f]ree will defines the human being.  The human is a reflection of the Divine; just as [HaShem] acts autonomously, we are free to express ourselves autonomously.  That is not true of other created beings. . . .  Only humans are free to choose what they do.”  Akiva Tatz, Will, Freedom and Destiny:  Free Will in Judaism, p. 15.  In other words, an economic system which is based on free will – voluntary exchange – is a system which is consistent with Torah, and any system which is based on force or the threat of force, is a system which is inconsistent with Torah.
 
Medinat Yisra’el (the State of Israel) was founded in 1948 by Socialists.  One of the fundamental tenants of Socialism is a rejection of G-d.  According to Socialist doctrine, everything, including G-d and religion, must be subordinate to the State.
 
Not surprisingly, Medinat Yisra’el, in its early years, was an openly Socialist state.  Consistent with Socialist principles, the State regulated almost every aspect of the economy, including the monetary system.
 
During the years 1978-1979, inflation, caused by the Israeli government’s manipulation of the money supply, averaged 77 percent.  By 1984-1985, inflation peaked at 450 percent!  U.S. president Ronald Reagan offered Medinat Yisra’el a $1.5 billon grant if Medinat Yisra’el would abandon Socialism and adopt free-market economic principles.  The Histadrut, Medinat Yisra’el’s labor union, objected.  U.S. Secretary of State George Schultz responded with the threat that if Medinat Yisra’el did not start implementing free-market economic policies, the United States would freeze all monetary transfers to Medinat Yisra’el.  The threat worked.  Medinat Yisra’el started to implement free-market “recommendations” that had been made by the Reagan Administration.
 
The impact on the Israeli economy was immediate and dramatic.  Within one year, inflation fell from 450 percent to 20 percent.
 
Although the economy in Medinat Yisra’el is much better now than it was in the 1980s, there is still much work to be done.
 
Problems which still exist in the Israeli economy include:

1. Income and Sales Taxes. 
   Income and sales (VAT) taxes are exorbitantly high, which in turn cause unnecessarily high rates of poverty.
   
   
2. Price controls, import taxes, and government-created monopolies.  Price controls, import taxes, and government-created monopolies lead not only to prices which are above the market rate, they also cause shortages as well as the total absence and unavailability of some products.  Many Jews from the former Soviet Union have personal experience with this aspect of Socialism.
   
   
3. Health care. 
   State control of the health care system not only results in a loss of medical privacy, it is also causes waiting times to obtain treatment to be longer than would exist with a free market and also results in a quality or level of care which is lower than it would be without State interference.
   
   
4. Employment.
   State regulation of employment contracts between private employers and their employees result in higher prices to consumers, as well as levels of customer service which are significantly lower than what would exist on a free market.
   
   
5. Regulation of Business.
   Businesses of all kinds are heavily and excessively regulated by the State, which results in higher prices and a reduced or complete unavailability of certain products and services.
   
   
6. Real Estate.
   The State owns more than 90% of all the land in Medinat Yisra’el.  Title to those lands should be transferred to Jews, so the lands could be put to productive use.
   
   
7. Fiscal and Monetary Policy.
   ​The fiscal and monetary policies which have been implemented by Medinat Yisra’el are the root-cause of a multitude of economic problems which plague the Medinat, and thus should be reformed consistent with free market principles.

 
The change from a non-Torah (Socialist) economy to an economy which is consistent with Torah began in the late 1980s, with a little help from the Reagan Administration.  Much, however, still needs to be done to change the secular, Socialist government of Medinat Yisra’el to one which is based on, and follows, Torah principles, including the free-market principles which we find in Parasha Ki Teze.
 
One way to effect a change from a State which is not based on Torah principles to one which is based on those principles is through the mass Aliyah of religious Jews who not only understand, but also embrace, the free-market principles which we find in Tanakh and Talmud.  May we all merit to being a part of the process of importing Torah into the government of our beloved Eretz Yisra’el.
 
שבת שלום
Shabbat Shalom!

​The Torah commands:

​Debarim 20:1-4.
 
There are at least two important messages in these pesukim.  The first is that if the Jewish people have “bitahon” [ביטחון] (trust in G-d) and if they perform “hishtadlut” [השתדלות] (exertion of human effort), HaShem will go “with [the Jewish people], to fight for [the Jewish people] with [their] enemies, to save [them].”
 
We saw, in 1948 (War of Independence) and 1967 (Six-Day War) how, when the Jewish people do their part, HaShem responds in kind, just as promised in the Torah.
 
The second is that the Jewish people should treat their enemies as enemies.  The pesuk commands: “when you go out against your enemy” (italics added) to emphasize that war is being fought against an enemy, not a friend.  The Midrash teaches that the Jewish people should, “Go against them as enemies!  Just as they do not have mercy upon you, do not have mercy on them.”  Tanchuma, Shofetim 15.  In other words, when fighting a war, the Jewish people should fight to win, not show weakness, and should avoid taking half-measures in the mistaken belief that doing so is somehow righteous or effective.
 
The Torah then lists three categories of people who are exempt from the obligation to serve in the military.  Those who are exempt include: a man who has built, but not yet resided in, a new house; a man who has planted a vineyard and not redeemed it (in the fourth year, when fruit must be taken to Yerushalayim, or is redeemed and may be eaten for the first time); and a man who has betrothed a woman, but not yet married her.  Debarim 20:5-7.  Furthermore, as can be inferred from the structure and text of the exemptions, only men have an obligation to serve in the military; women are entirely exempt from military service.
 
The Torah continues: