What is the inner meaning of the commandment to “place a guardrail around your roof?”
Table for Five: Ki Teitzei
In partnership with the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles
Edited by Salvador Litvak, the Accidental Talmudist
When you build a new house, you shall make a guard rail for your roof, so that you shall not cause blood [to be spilled] in your house, that the one who falls should fall from it [the roof].
– Deut. 22:8
Elan Javanfard L.M.F.T., Professor & Author, Psycho-Spiritual Insights blog
Rashi on this pasuk describes to us the idea of making a fence or guard rail around things to protect what is inside. Psychologically, this can be seen as a metaphor for the necessity of establishing boundaries in our lives, internally and externally.
Just as a guardrail on a roof protects against physical harm, personal boundaries protect against emotional and psychological harm. These boundaries help maintain healthy relationships by clearly defining what is acceptable and what is not, preventing misunderstandings and potential emotional “falls.” Boundaries can also provide emotional containment and provide us with larger borders to understand the spaces in which we can engage others.
Growing up in school, our basketball court was on the rooftop. Imagine if that roof did not have a fence around it. How many of us children would play on the edge or shoot from the three-point line, giving us much less space to play. However, since the fence was there, we all ran to the roof and jumped into the padding on the fence, giving us ample space to play. When it comes to children, setting boundaries is especially important. Children need clear, consistent limits to feel secure and to understand the world around them. Just like a guardrail protects from danger, boundaries guide children in their behavior, teaching them self-discipline, respect for others, and the difference between right and wrong. Boundaries overall are not about restricting their freedom but about creating a safe environment where they can grow and thrive.
Rabbi Aryeh Markman, Executive Director, Aish LA
How responsible are you to guard others from any hazard in your home? Consider 100%.
Building a guard rail around an accessible rooftop is an elaboration of another commandment, “Thou shall not stand by thy brother’s blood.” You are morally liable for whatever happens in your home even if it isn’t your fault. Because if you failed to take the necessary precautions, even though no accident occurs “accidentally” -that is, without God’s consent, nevertheless we are warned not to be the agent through whose fault misfortune occurs. You’re liable.
Consider this statistic: Rabbi Avigdor Miller would constantly caution parents to keep all dangerous items out of the reach of their children. Indeed, the Directors of children’s emergency wards in Israel have stated that home-related accidents are the primary cause of accidents and deaths among infants and children. When children start to walk and climb, parents must ensure that all medications, cosmetics and poisonous liquids such as bleach and cleaning agents are kept out of their child’s reach as 50% of poisonings come from ingesting these items. Parents must also keep an eye on climbing children to protect them from a dangerous fall.
The Talmud says that a person is liable for damage even in one’s sleep, such as arms flailing about. Our inherited godliness should not just be focused on creating a caring and just world, but also making sure we are not putting anyone in harm’s way, be it with our actions or possessions.
Yehudit Garmaise, Writer, Marriage and Family Therapy student
Parshas Ki Seitzi includes 74 mitzvos, however, Rav Chaim Epstein says that serving Hashem is not the result following a list of “do’s and don’ts.”
Rather, by making the effort to learn the halachos of 613 mitzvos, Jews develop the seichal [wisdom] to intuit the best course of action in unanticipated situations. Learning “Hashem’s logic” through Torah study makes us more refined, more kind, more sensitive, and more equipped to access our common sense, says Rabbi Yaakov Bender.
Practically, Hashem reminds us “to place a guardrail around your roof” to keep our families and houseguests safe from, G-d forbid, falling off unenclosed high spaces. But Jews’ bodies are also our “homes,” that we must carefully guard from negative influences on our thoughts, speech, and action.
The “inner meaning of the guardrail,” the Lubavitcher Rebbe says, represents the preventative measures that Jews faithfully undertake to serve Hashem properly. By making conscious choices about what we say, eat, do, and see, we are doing our holy work of birurim, or sifting through the dross of this world to find and gather the holy sparks.
When Jews adhere to the delineations decreed by Hashem, we also have the merit to create something new: a beautiful edifice that creates a physical home for G-d, Who manifests in the world as a result of Jews’ bittul [self-nullification] to His will. The Rebbe says that such Jews also benefit themselves by purifying and elevating their bodies, so that their souls soar to even higher states of existence.
Niva Taylor, Freelance Writer
Right before commanding us to build guardrails around a new roof, the Torah details the mitzvah to send a mother bird away from her nest before removing the eggs. This is a curious juxtaposition. Is there a connection between the two mitzvot?
According to Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, both laws sensitize us to the significance of the home, whether for the animal kingdom or humanity. But the similarities end there. The bird, remarks Rav Hirsch, builds her home instinctively, concerned only for her own survival and that of her offspring. For man, building a home is a moral enterprise, with implications far beyond providing warmth and shelter for one’s immediate family. Unlike the bird, who is preprogrammed to act as she does, human beings have the gift of agency. We can draw up plans with forethought and sensitivity, recognizing that everything we do impacts the klal. We can look beyond ourselves, asking “will my home be a safe place for visitors and future residents?”
What of those visitors who may be inclined to fall? According to Rashi, the Torah’s choice of words hints that “the fallen one” mentioned in the text may actually deserve to fall due to his crimes. Nevertheless, Rashi continues, we do not want our negligence to be the vehicle for such a catastrophe, for good things are brought about through good people, and bad things only through evil people. Let us use our G-d-given agency to bring blessing into the world, and not, Heaven-forbid, the opposite.
Rabbi Cheryl Peretz, Associate Dean, Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, AJU
Long before the existence of building codes, the Torah identified that flat roofs were potentially dangerous and required the addition of a protective wall. Ancient roofs were often built to bear weight and structures were added to provide shade for people who might sit, sleep, walk or work outside. Consequently, the Torah commands that it was not enough to refrain from pushing someone off the ledge. Rather, the requirement was to anticipate the danger and protect those who might be at risk while in your home.
The second century Talmudic scholar Rabbi Natan extended the prohibition to include vicious dogs or a precarious ladder. This becomes the source to which Maimonides points as a positive commandment to remove all obstacles and sources of danger from our home and all places in which we live. So, it makes sense that we remove medicines, install child safety locks and repair faulty wires and/or brakes on a car. But, according to Maimonides, there is more. We must guard against every obstacle which constitutes a threat to life and limb.
Rabbinic text refers to our bodies as homes for the soul. Without careful attention, our own actions can distance us from the essence of our Divine creation. So, we install boundaries and limits to protect against that potential harm. This is the work of our lifetime and is the invitation to reflection and redirection we are offered these days leading to the High Holidays.
With thanks to Elan Javanfard, Rabbi Aryeh Markman, Yehudit Garmaise, Niva Taylor and Rabbi Cheryl Peretz
Image: Beit HaKerem, Israel 1925
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