Parashat Ki Tetzei: “Woe to one who builds a city with bloodshed”

Hebrew

In the Jewish tradition, we say a blessing with the formula “who hallows us with Your mitzvot and commands us to…” before doing a commandment between a person and God but not before interpersonal commandments. For example, we say blessing for light Sabbath candles but not for visiting the sick.

There are a variety of reasons for this distinction. One of the earliest commentators on the prayers Rabbi David Abudraham (mid. 14th century) admits that there is no one overarching reason and then offers a guideline: we do not say a blessing on acts that are dependent on another person. Rabbi Barukh HaLevi Epstein (Belarus, 1860-1942) in the Torah Temimah contends that recite a blessing only on uniquely Jewish acts, like ‎tzitzit, Sukkah, and lulav but not on those involving ‎interpersonal relationships that are performed by other civilized nations, such as visiting the sick or honoring parents.‎

In the gray area is the blessing for building a railing around the roof of your house, as we read in this week’s parasha:

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 anyone should fall from it (Deuteronomy 22:8, New JPS translation).

On one hand, this is an interpersonal commandment. Other humans benefit from you keeping that commandment, because it reduces the chance that they will fall off your roof. Moreover, it is also kept by other people (often even more than in Israel, unfortunately). On the other hand, there is a traditional blessing for it (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Blessings 11:12).

I suggest that the reason for this anomaly is that the people who may someday benefit from the railing are most likely not present when the railing is being built and so the benefit for them is abstract. The blessing may be intended to help the railing-builder focus on the importance of the railing. (Hopefully while wearing a safety harness.)

I think about this a lot, because of the many construction workers killed by falling from heights in Israel. I haven't seen any halakhic (Jewish legal) writing equating the biblically-mandated railing with a modern safety harness but I don't think it's too much of a stretch.

Since the beginning of 2020, 18 workers have been killed at construction sites in Israel, most of them after falling from a height. Each has a name, although not all of the names are published. The names of those killed by falling from a height during August 2020 are: 

1. Malek Jabr Muhammad Saeed Barham, 25, who fell from scaffolding on the 4^th story at a construction site in Yafia, on 16 August 2020.  
2. Abed El-Rahman Halil Al-Harish, 30, who fell from scaffolding on 6^th story at a construction site in Jerusalem, on 11 August 2020. 
3. Aviad Bashari, 33, who fell from a 6-meter-high stable roof in Moshav Batzra, on 8 August 2020.
4. Ziad Fawzi Qassem Suleiman, 51, who fell from 7^th story at a construction site in Hadera, on 4 August 2020.

Our brothers cry out as they fall. The blood cries out to us from the ground.

* Habakkuk 2:12. Click here for my thoughts on Habakkuk chapter 2.