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Laws Of The Land
And Torah Teachings
REV. JOSEPH MERMELSTEIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
he sedrah of the week is
Shoftim. Moses is saying
farewell to the B'nai Israel.
He gives them instructions
on how they should run the land
of Israel once they arrive there
and how to prepare leadership
and what kind of qualifies they
should have.
Moses tells them that shoftim
(judges) in proper courts shall be
selected. In Israel, judges were
many times the leaders of Eretz
Israel. They have to be very
honest, fair, righteous and knowl-
edgeable in the laws of the Torah.
They also had to be able to en-
force the laws of the land. The
Midrash explains to us that when
King Solomon built the Temple,
the Beith Hamikdash in Jeru-
salem, he built six steps to enter
the Temple.
Because King Solomon was
also the main judge of the Israeli
people, and those six steps were
to remind them of the six sen-
tences which Moses gave to the
Judges in this weeks parsha: (1)
When judging, don't take bribery;
(2) Don't show favoritism; (3)
Don't bend the law; (4) Pursue
righteousness; (5) Don't plant a
tree for idol worship near the
Temple; (6) You shall not sacri-
fice animal which has a blemish.
The last two sentences are not
connected with the parsha of the
judges. The reason they are men-
tioned is to tell you if you don't
appoint the right shoftim, it's like
you would plant an idol and
judges must be without blemish.
The profit Isaiah says "lasoth
tzadakah umispoth" which
means to do righteousness in the
judicial system is more important
to God than any fasting, praying
or sacrifice. The law in the Tal-
mud states every community
with 120 or more inhabitants
must have shoftim and proper
courts. For capital punishment a
small Sanhadrim which consists
of 23 people has to be in every
community.
The second chapter deals with
the behavior of the king or lead-
ers of Israel in the future. The
king has to be a Jewish person
and must be connected with the
Jewish people. The king is'in-
structed to have two Torahs. One
in his office when he makes de-
cisions or judges and one Torah
with which to travel.
The king must be an Israelite
and the teachings of the Torah
will guide him at all times. He
was to refrain from acquiring ex-
T
Joseph Mermelstein is religious
director of Congregation Beth
Abraham Hillel Moses.
cessive wealth nor have numer-
ous wives. The fear was that
wealth would corrupt a king
while numerous wives would dis-
tract him from his primary oblig-
ations to serve the people and
uphold the laws of the Torah.
The Midrash explains that
when Solomon ascended the
throne, he believed that his in-
telligence and wisdom would
allow him to successfully govern
despite his many wives. Unfor-
tunately, hindsight proved him
wrong. His lust for women proved
to be his Achilles' heal. It is in-
teresting that greed and lust con-
tinue to be the undoing of many
of today's political leaders as well.
Although the first mention of
a monarchy takes place in the
sedrah, there is much debate over
whether the establishment of the
monarchy was, in fact, a divine
commandment. Sources within
the tradition criticize the B'nai
Yisrael for the monarchy's es-
tablishment, asserting that kings
would rule in a tyrannical man-
ner that would be against the
teachings of the Torah and ulti-
mately leading the people astray.
The Torah recognized this dan-
ger, hence the need for Moses'
guidelines specifying the behav-
Shabbat Shoftim:
Deuteronomy
16:18-21:9
Isaiah 51:12-52:12.
for of the royals. Throughout his-
tory, kings have governed by the
concept of divine right unchecked
by any other power. By contrast,
the Torah required the king to be
subservient to God, responsible
for upholding a sacred trust.
, In the event of war with an en-
emy, the Torah gives direction on
how it should be conducted to the
leadership of Israel. The main
idea is that the soldiers who go to
war should be strong minded, not
fearful, and to be ready to fight
the enemy, and not to worry that
they left home a young bride, just
married or that they were build-
ing a house that was not finished ,Z\
or that they were in the middle
of a large project.
The fourth chapter addresses
proper witnesses when murder
is committed and capital pun-
ishment is possible. The Torah is
very sty ict both ways. There must
be two witnesses for the crime to
condemn somebody to the death -'
penalty and the witnesses have \
to be checked thoroughly to make
certain they are telling the truth.