Parshat Ki Tetzei: Share the Wealth (it's not ours to begin with)
This week's parashah /portion, Ki Tetzei ( Devarim / Deuteronomy 21:10 - 25:19), contains the greatest number of mitzvot /commandments of any Torah portion. The 72 mitzvot found in the parashah focus on such diverse issues as the treatment of captives, defiant children, lost animals, suspected adulterers and the poor. This amalgam of mitzvot may seem random at times, and yet there is a guiding principle which reminds us not to be indifferent to other people and the world around us. One of the mitzvot found in the parashah is that we must return lost property, no matter what it may be or how long ago we may have discovered it. There is a Hassidic tale which relates to this mitzvah . In the story there was a man who came to the great Rabbi Aaron of Chernobyl to tell him of a terrible recurring nightmare that he was having. In the nightmare the man found a wallet containing a fortune. When he could not find the owner in the crowd he kept the money; with it became even w...