This week's section, Ki tetzé – when you go out, is one of those sections that contains many commandments (74 in total). However, being a relatively short section, it follows that some commandments are expressed in only a few verses, and sometimes in just one or part of a verse.
This is the case with the "fence." The Torah says (Deuteronomy 22:8): "When you build a new house, you shall put a fence around your roof, and you shall not bring blood into your house if someone falls from it." In ancient times, the roofs of houses were used for storing things or for drying agricultural produce during the summer, such as wheat, figs, and dates. Therefore, to prevent accidents, the Torah commands that the roof of the house be protected. In fact, this precept also implies the obligation to remove all hazards and reinforce all weak points of our property.
However, as we have mentioned many times, each Torah commandment contains a lesson in serving God, independent of its practical observance. Even if, for some reason, the commandment cannot be practiced—for example, someone without a house is not obligated to build a fence on the roof—the spiritual teaching remains valid.
To understand some of the ideas behind this precept, we must analyze the verse's syntax more closely, particularly the last word (in the original Hebrew), mimenu, "from him." To which part of the verse does it refer? That is, who is "he," from whom one falls? There are several answers, and each one reveals something different:
1) In the simple sense, "he" refers to the roof from which the injured person falls, "when whoever falls from it (the roof)", teaching us a new law and Mitzvah of the Torah.
2) Going a little deeper, we could say that "he" refers to the one who fell. "When someone falls, it's his fault": Whose responsibility is the fall? His own. All human beings undergo changes throughout their lives. Some for the better, elevating us personally in different aspects (socially, economically, spiritually, etc.), and others the opposite. We are in a constant state of change and adaptation. It is common to attribute positive changes to our own merits, even though it is actually God who gives us the strength to grow, but we tend to forget this and take pride in our achievements. However, when it comes to our "falls," we tend to attribute them to factors external to ourselves, to circumstances beyond our control that, in one way or another, caused us to fail. The Torah comes along and tells us that we are wrong: "When someone falls, it's his fault." Each person is absolutely responsible for their own falls. The fall originated from "him" himself.
3) Finally, we could say that the word "he" refers to the fence, meaning that whoever falls, falls even from the fence. In other words, whoever is in a spiritually fallen state and does not work on their inner self to improve is capable of falling even from the safest and most prepared places designed to save and protect; they fall even from the fence.
Here we see how from one word several concepts can be extracted, thus, each word, each letter and even each crown of each letter (according to the traditional writing of a Torah, where there are letters that carry "ornaments" called crowns) can extract mountains and mountains of issues.
Ktivá veHatimá tová, leShaná tová uMetuká,
""May they be registered and sealed for good, for a good and sweet year.".