Shabbat Shalom! From a young age, I have always
been intrigued by Disney. But over the last couple of years, I have become obsessed!
I love everything Disney, but especially the theme
parks.
While some 13-year olds spend their time surfing YouTube for videos of cats or gaming, I follow the latest video updates from Disney
World vloggers… yes, they really do exist… and there’s more than three of
them!
If you want to know about the latest in happenings at
Disney World, I’m your man! I’m sure some of you know that Star Wars Land
opened just two weeks ago, including a ride where you can pilot the
Millennium Falcon. But, did you know ‖ that on August 23rd, Disney filed
for a land permit to install pre-fabricated stairs at the Droid Depot in
Star Wars Land? ...I did.
I’ve even researched the price of living at Walt
Disney World for a year… it’s a whopping $287,000 per person… since I
know you all wanted to know.
So, it was natural for me when I began to look at my
Torah portion of Ki Tetze, to see everything through the Disney lens. (Put
on glasses). When viewed this way, it
almost seems like the entire portion came from Space Mountain instead of
Mount Sinai.
The portion has 72 mitzvahs, or laws – that’s about 12%
percent of the 613 commandments in the Torah. Most of Ki Tetze’s laws have
to do with relationships between humans, but Disney has done an excellent
job of teaching these same rules through their iconic movie characters and
parks.
Here are some examples -
The first mitzvah found in the portion talks about how
important it is not to treat people as slaves. A woman captured in
war cannot be mistreated. In verse 21:14, it says clearly, “You must not
enslave her.”
So many Disney characters faced that kind of treatment – like Rapunzel, or Jasmine or even Dumbo or Pinocchio.
Or, take the rebellious child, which we find in verse 18 of that same chapter. The Torah calls it a capital offense to not obey
your parents. I know that now that I am a bar mitzvah, I am responsible for my actions, and hopefully I won’t get executed for not making my bed
this morning.
This verse is teaching us ‖ that kids should be responsible and not let family issues turn into a full-scale rebellion. Peter Pan and company learned that lesson well – almost at the cost of their lives. When the
Lost Boys ran away from home ‖ and got to Neverland, what they wanted most
of all was a parent.
In verse 22, we are instructed to return lost items to
their owner. Disney parks have taken that commandment to a whole new level.
If you lose an item anywhere on the property, Disney
Cast Members will search for it and send updates to your phone.
Disney really takes seriously another commandment found in
this portion… the mitzvah to love the stranger. As soon as you set foot in the park, you are greeted warmly by cast members, even though they have probably never seen you before.
In chapter 22, verse 6, we are instructed to shoo away
a mother bird before taking her eggs. The idea is to show compassion for
animals – which is pretty much a part of every Disney movie… except for maybe
Bambi’s mom and Mufasa.
In verse 4, it says that if you see an animal fallen in the road, help it up… like Pumba
and Timon helped to raise Simba, or the mouse in Dumbo.
In the next verse, women are instructed not to wear man’s
apparel and vice versa. Fashion has changed these days, but in
traditional society, these things were forbidden – as we can see with
Mulan. The real message here is that
women and men do not need to pretend to be what they are not.
At the very end of the portion, we read about Israel’s
arch enemy, Amalek. We are commanded to defeat them and wipe out their
memory. Good defeats evil throughout the Bible and in just about every
Disney movie. I’d like to think that this always happens in real life,
but unfortunately, it does not. The Yankees can’t win every game. Life is
not always a Disney movie.
On the other hand, there are no Amalekites around anymore, no ancient Romans, no ancient Egyptians, no Haman, and the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany are gone - but the Jews are still here!
And so is Disney. Good things never die (and according
to some, neither has Walt Disney)!
For my Mitzvah project, I’ve chosen to work with David’s
Treasure Chest Toy Closet, which provides free toys to hospitalized
children. Toys bring life to children, even if they don’t come to life like they do in Toy Story. I’ll be donating, and I’m encouraging you to donate
too.
If you would like to contribute toys ‖ or make a monetary
donation, ‖ please see the information ‖ in my Bar Mitzvah Booklet, ‖ or the
flyers in the lobby ‖ next to the toy collection box. ‖
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