SHOFTIM: Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9, Rosh Kodesh Elul

 

SHOFTIM: Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9, Rosh Kodesh Elul

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In Shoftim,  this week’s Parsha, at 16:18-20:

Moses instructs us to appoint judges and police, all part of judicial reform (?).😀 

“Justice, justice shall you pursue,” administered without corruption or favoritism.

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On this particular Shabbat we bless the New Moon of the Hebrew month of Elul.

Usually seven days after blessing the moon we perform a ritual known as  קידוש לבנה

Sanctification of the Moon , or Kiddush Levanah.

In this ritual we ask Hashem to renew us as He has renewed the moon.

It may be only through our children that we are renewed.

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In Parshat Shoftim, Hashem says at 16:20 -
צֶ֥דֶק צֶ֖דֶק תִּרְדֹּ֑ף
“Justice, justice shall you pursue…”

The verse just as well could have substituted honesty or integrity or fair dealing as well as lawfulness and truthfulness for the word justice.
All of those characteristics are a part of doing deeds of kindness.

We are a people of kindness and compassion.

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In Parshat Shoftim at 20:1-20, we learn some of the rules of war.

Rambam writes extensively about this subject in his Mishneh Torah  He describes two categories of war:

• Milchomet Mitzvah which is a war fought to assist Israel from an enemy that attacks us.  There is no need to ask permission in order to fight this war.
  
• Milchomet Reshut which is war fought in order to expand the borders of Israel or to magnify the king's greatness or reputation.  In this case the 71 judges of the Sanhedrin must give its approval.

In 609 BCE, the good King Josiah of Judea was mortally wounded when he led an Israeli army beyond the borders of Judea in support of the Babylonian king Nabopolassar (Nebuchadnezzar's father) against the armies Assyria and Egypt. 

This was the start of events that led to the destruction of Jerusalem some 23 years later. 

 I wonder if the king had the approval of the Sanhedrin, if indeed there was a Sanhedrin.? 

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In Parshat Shoftim at 17:14 we learn about the setting up of a king:

 

וְאָֽמַרְתָּ֗ אָשִׂ֤ימָה עָלַי֙ מֶ֔לֶךְ כְּכָל־הַגּtוֹיִ֖ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר סְבִֽיבֹתָֽי

 

“… you will say, "I will set a king over me, like all the nations around me"

 

This inevitable situation foreseen by Hashem did not lead to anything good for us Jews in the Kingdom of Judah.  In the period from the reign of the son of Solomon until Zedekiah the son of Josiah we had no less than 18 rulers. 

 How many do you recall? 

 How many were any good?

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At 17:16-20 we learn about restrictions put on a King:

16 "Only, he may not acquire many horses for himself, so that he will not bring the people back to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, for the Lord said to you, "You shall not return that way any more."

17 And he shall not take many wives for himself, and his heart must not turn away, and he shall not acquire much silver and gold for himself.

18 And it will be, when he sits upon his royal throne, that he shall write for himself two copies of this Torah on a scroll from [that Torah which is] before the Levitic kohanim.

19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord, his God, to keep all the words of this Torah and these statutes, to perform them,

20 so that his heart will not be haughty over his brothers, and so that he will not turn away from the commandment, either to the right or to the left, in order that he may prolong [his] days in his kingdom, he and his sons, among Israel".

This brings into question the sins of King Solomon, his lack of wisdom,  and why the Kingdom of Judea was split into two separate entities. 

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At 18:20 we again hear about the false prophet.  The world has certainly had its share. The mass suicide at Jonestown in 1978 comes to mind. So before you dip into that tub of cyanide laced Kool-Aid think of the warning within the Parsha:

"But the prophet who intentionally speaks a word in My name, which I did not command him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die".

In the Book of Jeremiah there is a poignant encounter with the false prophet Hananiah.  In terms of background it begins at Chapter 26:6 where Hashem tells Jeremiah that Nebuchadnezzar is Hashem’s servant and is doing Hashem’s will.

“And now, I have given these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and even the beasts of the field I have given to him to serve him”.

The warning continues at verses 9 and 10:

“And you, heed not your prophets or your diviners or your dreams or your soothsayers or your sorcerers, who say to you, saying, "You shall not serve the king of Babylon."

For they are prophesying falsely to you in order to remove you far from your land, and so that I will drive you out and you will perish”.

In Chapter 28 there is a confrontation between Hananiah and Jeremiah in which Hananiah refutes Jeremiah’s prophesy and says falsely at Verse 11:

“And Hananiah said before the eyes of all the people, saying: So said the Lord: So will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, in another two full years, off the neck of all the nations. And Jeremiah the prophet went on his way”.

Verses 15-17 conclude the confrontation:

“And Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet: The Lord did not send you, and you assured this people with a lie.

Therefore, so said the Lord: Behold I send you off the face of the earth; this year you shall die, for you have spoken perversion against the Lord.

And Hananiah the prophet died in that year, in the seventh month”. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

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Parshat Shoftim concludes with the law of the “Eglah Arufah” — the beheading of a calf  -  a special ritual procedure followed when a person is killed by an unknown murderer and the corpse is found in a field distant from villages and towns.  This ritual underscores the responsibility of the community and its leaders not only for what they do, but also for what they might have prevented.  It also signals all of us that if we do what is right, then tragedies such as this will be prevented.

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This is one take-away from Reb Yitz’s Monday morning shiur a couple of year's ago:

From Rav Kook’s final shiur – During the month of Elul and on Rosh Hashanah we blow the shofar.

In terms of acceptability there are three available sources for this shofar :

1, A shofar made from a sheep’s horn is the most acceptable.

2. A shofar made from a kosher animal other than a sheep is also acceptable but is not as favorable as that made from a sheep.

3. Where there is no horn from a sheep or other kosher animal available, it is permissible for us to use the horn of a cow.

The gist of the hierarchy of sources for making a shofar is that not all Jews do a Mitzvah or lead a Jewish life, and all of its implications, in the same way or to the same degree of acceptability.

But the important thing is to reach out to Hashem as best we can and in doing so show the unity our Jewish nation and people.