Overview of the Weekly
Reading: Shoftim
To be read on 4 Elul
5764 (Aug. 21)
Torah:Deut. 16:18-21:9
Haftorah: Isaiah 51:12-52:12 (4th of the Seven Haftorahs of
Consolation)
Shoftim
is the 5th Reading out of 11 in Deuteronomy and
48th overall, and 27th out of 54 in overall
length.
Pirkei
Avot: Chapter
One
Shoftim
opens with the command to appoint judges and officers to uphold justice.
The Jews are warned not to make idolatrous trees, pillars, or offer
blemished animals, and are told the penalties of idolatry. The Jews
are commanded to set up a Supreme Court and a monarch. The Levites
are not to have territorial shares of the Land, but they receive portions
of the Jews' sacrifices, meat, produce, and shearings. Laws regarding
prophets, both false and true, are given. Also relayed are rules of
cities of refuge, havens for the escaped unintentional murderer. An
intentional murderer, however, receives the death penalty. Additional
laws discussed are the prohibition against moving boundaries to steal
land, or to testify falsely, who is not drafted to the army, who may
or may not be taken captive, and a warning not to cut down fruit trees
when waging siege on a city. Shoftim concludes with laws concerning
a corpse of an unknown murdered individual found in the field: The
elders of the closest city must decapitate a female calf over running
water to atone for innocent blood shed in their midst.
FROM THE MASTERS OF
KABBALA (K:48-64/Shoftim)
From the holy
Zohar, teachings of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai
(Z:48-64/Shoftim)
And why
are the [merits of the righteous] engraved on the bones more than on
the muscles and skin? It is because the bones are white, and the writing
in black ink is not recognized other than on a white background.
For the full article, click to the "Weekly Torah" section
on our KabbalaOnline
site.
* * * * *
From the holy Ari,
Rabbi Yitzchak Luria of Safed (A:48-64/Shoftim)
When
the soul ascends it is inspected. If it is worthy, the gates are opened
for it and it is permitted to enter. If it is not, it is pushed outside,
the gates are closed before it and it is not allowed to enter.
For the full article, click to the "Weekly Torah" section
on our KabbalaOnline
site.
* * * * *
From the Shelah,
Shney Luchot HaBrit by Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz
(S:48-64/Shoftim)
What
all this means in layman's language is that the Sanhedrin is to temper
justice with mercy. This is accomplished when the judges try to arrive
at some kind of compromise between the litigants.
For the full article, click to the "Weekly Torah" section
on our KabbalaOnline
site.
FROM THE CHASSIDIC
REBBES (V48-64/Shoftim)
"Justice, justice you shall follow."
(Deut. 16:20)
Contrary to popular opinion, the end never justifies the means, no
matter how noble or virtuous. Even the pursuit of justice must be
carried out in a just and honest manner.
(Rebbe Reb Bunim)
"You shall be perfect with the L-rd your G-d." (Deut.
18:13)
Prayer is considered to be an offering before G-d - an offering of
the soul. In the days of the Holy Temple, an animal offered for sacrifice
had to be perfect and without defect; in the same way, when a Jew
prays, he must also be whole of limb and without blemish. As all Jews
are metaphorically part of the same body, if a person rejects his
fellow Jew for whatever reason, it is his own self that becomes crippled.
Therefore, it is customary to make the verbal declaration before praying:
"I hereby accept upon myself the positive commandment of 'You
shall love your neighbor as yourself."
(Tzemach Tzedek)
A
MYSTICAL CHASSIDIC DISCOURSE
from the Chabad
Master series, produced by Rabbi Yosef Marcus for
www.ascentofsafed.com and www.kabbalaonline.org
An
essay from Rabbi Shaul Yosef Leiter, director of Ascent
(for a free weekly email subscription,
click here)
(W:48-64/Shoftim)
In
a world of enormous physical and economic opportunity and growth, racing
information highways, and unlimited travel possibilities, we have created
a society of nuclear families and global villages where people move
from city to city and job to job. One negative fallout of the modernization
is spiritual and physical isolation. Experts of all kinds, dating services,
therapists of every possible sort and 24 hour help lines are all industries
that have also grown in the shadow of the last 100 years of development.
One of the themes in the talks and writings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe
during the 70's and 80's was that in the coming period of confusion,
it would be imperative that everyone have an advisor. Decisions are
always difficult and often it is hard for a person in the thick of it
to be objective. The commandment "Place upon you a king" appears
in this week's Torah portion, for the Jews to crown a king once they
entered the Land of Israel (17/15). So also today, the Rebbe requires,
that each and every individual have an advisor with whom to take counsel.
And what type of person should we choose for this position? The Talmud
(Gitten 62) asks who are the kings in our days? The Rabbis! Someone
knowledgeable in how to be a Jew. Every Jew must his own Rabbi/advisor.
If having a king is so important, than why during the time of the prophet
Shmuel, when the Jewish nation demanded that he give them a king, was
Shmuel unhappy? The commentator Kli Yakar compares the verse
from the Torah to the verse from the Book of Shmuel. The Torah says,
'place upon you a king'. The verse from the prophet says, 'give us a
king'. A king is supposed to be a leader, a ruler, of whom the nation
is in awe. 'Give us a king' means the people specifically did not want
a ruler, but a figurehead. For an advisor (today's king) to fulfill
his mission, he has to be someone who is respected and whose advice
you will accept.
The king would read portions of the Torah before the entire nation
every 7th year following Sukkot (known as 'Hakhel') The purpose
was to inspire the people. So too, each person's Rabbi is required to
inspire. The verses to be read by the king include "Shma"-'Hear,
Israel, that the Lord our G-d, G-d is one'-that first and foremost we
have to recognize that there is a divine imperative. There is truly
a G-d and we must serve Him. Then the king reads "V'haya"-that
explains the universal message that 'gathering our grains' (our financial
success) depends on "if we will listen" to and follow the
Torah's teachings. Physical and spiritual are not separate; they are
tied together.
More than ever before, now that we are on the eve of the arrival of
the Mashiach who will be both Rabbi and King to the world, we must not
only prepare ourselves but also hasten his arrival by having our own
advisors.
Shabbat Shalom, Shaul
Leiter
(for a free weekly email subscription,
click here)
For all our insights for this parsha:
from
last year
from
two years ago
