Parashat Ki Teitzei

כִּ֤י תִבְנֶה֙ בַּ֣יִת חָדָ֔שׁ וְעָשִׂ֥יתָ מַעֲקֶ֖ה לְגַגֶּ֑ךָ וְלֹֽא־תָשִׂ֤ים דָּמִים֙ בְּבֵיתֶ֔ךָ כִּֽי־יִפֹּ֥ל הַנֹּפֵ֖ל מִמֶּֽנּוּ׃

When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, so that you do not bring bloodguilt on your house if a person should fall from it.

Historically speaking, this mitzvah probably spoke directly to a reality in which homes in the Middle East all had flat roofs. These flat roofs were used for a variety of purposes including storage, drying fruit, and sleeping in the warmer months. In hillier settings, one house’s flat roof could also easily be or become a walkway for the next house up the hill. 

This mitzvah has a practical application to this day, especially when you think about multi-story apartment buildings, but I think it also shares a deeper message about taking responsibility and how we can best conduct ourselves in society.

It’s worth noting that based on the Hebrew grammar in the pasuk, this mitzvah is not about self-preservation. When you build a house, the Torah says, you must build a parapet (a protective wall), so that you won’t be guilty if . . . someone falls off your roof. You have to build the parapet, but it isn’t to protect you, it’s to protect the someone. It would be easy to say: Wait a second — what was the someone doing on my roof?! If someone is trespassing on my roof, why should I be responsible if that person falls off and hurts themself?

It would indeed be easy to say that, but according to the Torah, we would be missing the point. We aren’t only judged for our actions, we are also responsible for situations where we fail to act. According to this mitzvah, we are responsible for situations where we have the capacity to intervene to help our neighbors, but we don’t. 

In a society of pure self-interest, whether to build a parapet on my roof would be entirely my choice. After all, it’s my roof, and if I fall off, I will have only myself to blame. In the Torah’s vision, we should seek to live in a society where our natural instinct is to worry not only about ourselves, but about our neighbors and their safety as well. It’s about building parapets on our flat roofs, yes, but it’s also about so much more than just that.

Shabbat Shalom