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Conrad Elissa Berg, Religious School Director TEMPLE KOL AMI A Reform Congregation 5085 Walnut Lake Road • West Bloomfield LU I- 30 FOR INFORMATION AND MEMBERSHIP, CALL (810) 661-0040 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.