\u05d1”\u05d4<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A person can be intelligent, learned, sincere and convinced that he is doing what is right \u2014 and nevertheless be blind. That is perhaps one of the deepest lessons of Shoftim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last week\u2019s parshah began: \u05e8\u05e2\u05d4<\/em> \u2014 See. Open your eyes. See the blessing and the opposite. See what G-d places before you. Then comes Shoftim and seems to add: but be careful, because seeing Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski brings a powerful teaching from Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler: we are all, in a certain sense, bribed. Not ecessarily with envelopes of money \u2014 we are bribed by our own desires. When I strongly want something to be true, I can suddenly find many intelligent arguments explaining why it really is true. When I want to do something, my mind becomes remarkably creative in explaining why it is justified. This is rationalization. And the frightening part is that we often do not experience ourselves as lying. We actually believe our own arguments.\u2074 Before judging somebody else, and before justifying yourself, ask: what is influencing the judge inside me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The judge within still needs a standard beyond himself \u2014 and here the message of Shoftim belongs to both Jews and Bnei Noach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now the Rebbe takes us one step deeper. The same parshah discusses the arei mikla<\/em>t, the cities of refuge, and the Rebbe asks: why were judges appointed wherever Jews lived, even outside Eretz Yisrael, while the cities of refuge were established specifically in Eretz Yisrael?\u2077 The Rebbe illustrates this with a remarkable story. A person once entered the Mitteler Rebbe, Rabbi DovBer of Lubavitch, and asked for help correcting a particularly degrading wrongdoing. The Mitteler Rebbe interrupted his private audiences for some time. He later explained that before he could truly help another person correct his failing, he needed to discover within himself some Shoftim is always read around the beginning of Elul. Just as the city of refuge provided a refuge in space, the Rebbe teaches, Elul provides a refuge in time: a period in which a person can step Not only justice in our courts. Justice in our societies. Justice in our relationships. Justice in the way we see others. And perhaps most difficult of all \u2014 justice in the way we see ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By Rabbi Avriel Rabenou<\/strong>, MSc. MBA<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u05de\u05e7\u05d5\u05e8\u05d5\u05ea \u05d5\u05d4\u05e2\u05e8\u05d5\u05ea <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a9 \u05db\u05dc \u05d4\u05d6\u05db\u05d5\u05d9\u05d5\u05ea \u05e9\u05de\u05d5\u05e8\u05d5\u05ea. \u05d0\u05dd \u05e0\u05d4\u05e0\u05d9\u05ea\u05dd \u05de\u05de\u05d0\u05de\u05e8 \u05d6\u05d4, \u05d0\u05e0\u05d5 \u05de\u05de\u05dc\u05d9\u05e6\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05db\u05dd \u05dc\u05d4\u05e4\u05d9\u05e5 \u05d0\u05d5\u05ea\u05d5 \u05d4\u05dc\u05d0\u05d4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u05d4\u05d1\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05dc\u05e0\u05d5 \u05e2\u05e9\u05d5\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05d4\u05db\u05d9\u05dc \u05d8\u05e7\u05e1\u05d8\/\u05e6\u05d9\u05d8\u05d5\u05d8\u05d9\u05dd\/\u05d4\u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05d5\u05ea\/\u05e7\u05d9\u05e9\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05db\u05d5\u05dc\u05dc\u05d9\u05dd \u05d7\u05d5\u05de\u05e8 \u05d4\u05de\u05d5\u05d2\u05df \u05d1\u05d6\u05db\u05d5\u05d9\u05d5\u05ea \u05d9\u05d5\u05e6\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05dc \u05de\u05db\u05d5\u05df-\u05de\u05de\u05e8\u05d4.org<\/a>, Aish.com<\/a>, \u05e1\u05e4\u05e8\u05d9\u05d4.org<\/a>, \u05d7\u05d1"\u05d3.org<\/a>, \u05d5\/\u05d0\u05d5 AskNoah.org<\/a>, \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05e0\u05d5 \u05de\u05e9\u05ea\u05de\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05d4\u05df \u05d1\u05d4\u05ea\u05d0\u05dd \u05dc\u05de\u05d3\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05d5\u05ea \u05e9\u05dc\u05d4\u05dd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u05d1”\u05d4 Parshat Shoftim begins with a command that seems addressed to governments and courts: \u201cShoftim v\u2019shotrim titein lecha b\u2019chol she\u2019arecha\u201d \u2014 \u201cYou shall appoint judges and officers in allyour gates.\u201d\u00b9 The Torah then immediately warns: \u201cLo tateh mishpat, lo takir panim, v\u2019lo tikach shochad\u201d \u2014 \u201cDo not distort justice, do not show favoritism, and do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":24882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-parshot-of-the-rabbis"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Parshat Shoftim begins with a command that seems addressed to governments and courts: \u201cShoftim v\u2019shotrim titein lecha b\u2019chol she\u2019arecha\u201d<\/em> \u2014 \u201cYou shall appoint judges and officers in all
your gates.\u201d\u00b9 The Torah then immediately warns: \u201cLo tateh mishpat, lo takir panim, v\u2019lo tikach shochad\u201d <\/em>\u2014 \u201cDo not distort justice, do not show favoritism, and do not take a bribe.\u201d And it explains why: \u201cKi hashochad ye\u2019aver einei chachamim\u201d<\/em> \u2014 \u201cBecause bribery blinds the eyes of the wise.\u201d\u00b9
There is something remarkable in those words. The Torah does not say that bribery blinds foolish people. It says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Einei chachamim \u2014 the eyes of the wise.<\/em>
<\/p>\n\n\n\nFROM RE\u2019EH TO SHOFTIM<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
is not enough. Even when our eyes are open, what we see can be distorted.
What distorts it? Shochad <\/em>\u2014 bribery.
On the simplest level, shochad means a judge receiving money or a benefit from one of the litigants. The Torah treats this with extraordinary severity: a judge may not accept a bribe even if
he intends to judge correctly. The problem is not merely that a dishonest judge may sell his verdict. The Torah understands human nature more deeply: once I receive something from you,
my relationship with you has changed, and complete objectivity becomes almost impossible.\u00b2
The Sages took the appointment of judges just as seriously. The Talmud teaches that whoever appoints an unfit judge \u2014 a dayan she\u2019eino hagun <\/em>\u2014 is as if he planted an asherah, an idolatrous
tree, beside the Altar.\u00b3 Appointing the wrong person to judge is therefore not a minor administrative mistake. The integrity of society depends upon the integrity of those administering
justice.
\u05d0\u05b2\u05d1\u05b8\u05dc shochad<\/em> has a meaning far beyond the courtroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTHE BRIBE INSIDE US<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Rabbi Twerski tells the story of the tzaddik of Apt, who was judging a case and suddenly felt he had lost his objectivity. He could not understand why, so he withdrew from the case. Later he
discovered that one of the litigants had secretly placed money in his clothing. He had not even known he had received the bribe \u2014 and yet his thinking had already begun to shift. If an external
bribe can influence a person without his knowledge, Rabbi Twerski asks, how much more powerful is the bribe already inside us \u2014 the thing we desperately want?\u2074
Our shochad<\/em> can be money. But it can also be ego. Honor. Anger. Jealousy. Friendship. Fear. The desire to win an argument. Or simply the difficulty of saying: \u201cMaybe I was wrong.\u201d
Is there a defense? A chassid once asked Rabbi Yisrael of Ruzhin for a guideline to avoid faulty decisions. The Ruzhiner answered with the image of a tightrope walker: when he feels himself
pulled strongly toward one side, he deliberately leans somewhat toward the other side to regain his balance. So too, when we desperately want something, we should stop and deliberately ask:
what are the reasons not to do it? Not because every desire is wrong, but because once we strongly desire something, we are no longer impartial judges of our own case.\u2074
And suddenly we can hear the opening verse of Shoftim on another level. \u201cShoftim v\u2019shotrim titein lecha\u201d<\/em> \u2014 not only: appoint judges for society. But also:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Put a judge at your own gates.<\/em>
<\/p>\n\n\n\nJUSTICE IS UNIVERSAL<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
For the Jewish people, Shoftim establishes a detailed Torah system of judges and courts. The Rebbe explains that a Jewish judge has a mission far beyond maintaining civil order. Quoting the
Rambam regarding the supreme Torah court, he describes the Sages as \u201cthe interpreters of the Oral Torah,\u201d \u201cthe pillars of practical law,\u201d from whom Torah law and justice emanate to all Israel.\u2075 Jewish justice is therefore bound to Torah itself.
But the obligation of justice is also universal. One of the Seven Noahide Laws is Dinim \u2014 the obligation to establish a system of justice. The Rambam rules that Bnei Noach are commanded to
appoint judges to administer their laws and uphold the other Noahide commandments.\u2076 The Rebbe draws the distinction precisely: the special role of Jewish judges includes being entrusted with the wisdom and interpretation of Torah Shebe\u2019al Peh, but the fundamental responsibility to enforce justice is incumbent upon the judges of the other nations as well.\u2075
Jews and Bnei Noach have different commandments and different missions, but there is a shared Divine principle: G-d wants a world of justice. A society cannot call itself just simply because it has courts. The courts themselves must be just.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Power cannot determine truth.
Money cannot purchase truth.
Friendship cannot change truth.
And personal interest must not be allowed to redefine truth.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nBUT JUSTICE ALSO NEEDS EMPATHY<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
He answers with the teaching of Pirkei Avot: \u201cAl tadin et chaveircha ad shetagia limkomo\u201d<\/em> \u2014 \u201cDo not judge your fellow until you have reached his place.\u201d\u2078 A judge cannot sit removed from a person\u2019s reality and assume that he fully understands him. He must know not only what this person did, but what his situation was, what pressures surrounded him, what world he was living in. Judges therefore had to understand the environment of those standing before them \u2014 not merely the action, but the circumstances that brought the person to it.\u2077
Here we discover a fascinating balance. Shochad<\/em> teaches: do not become too close \u2014 if personal benefit connects you improperly to one side, you lose objectivity. But \u201cdo not judge until you reach
his place\u201d teaches: do not remain too far away either \u2014 if you cannot understand another person\u2019s world, something essential is missing from your judgment.
A true Torah judge therefore needs two qualities simultaneously: objectivity without coldness, and empathy without bias.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTHE MITTELER REBBE<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
analogous quality \u2014 even if it existed on an infinitely more refined level. Only then could he genuinely understand the person standing before him.\u2077
This is an extraordinary standard. The Torah does not tell us never to judge \u2014 the entire parshah is called Shoftim, Judges! We must distinguish between right and wrong. But before I condemn
another human being, I have to ask: have I reached his place? Can I recognize some trace of his struggle inside myself?<\/p>\n\n\n\nAND THEN COMES ELUL<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
away from the patterns of the past, examine himself and dedicate himself to a different future.\u2077
Now the entire message comes together. During Elul we all become judges. But whom should we judge first?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ourselves.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
And when judging ourselves, Shoftim gives us two warnings.
First: beware of shochad.<\/em> Do not allow ego and desire to convince you that everything you do must automatically be right. Have the courage to ask: maybe I am wrong.
Second: do not turn self-judgment into despair. The purpose of the judges, the officers and the cities of refuge is ultimately not revenge but refinement, atonement and return \u2014 allowing a
person to regain his closeness to G-d.\u2077 So the question of Elul is not \u201cHow terrible was I?\u201d The question is: \u201cWhere have I been less than I could be \u2014 and where do I go from here?\u201d
That message belongs to every human being. For the Jew: to live more deeply according to Torah and mitzvot. For the Ben Noach: to deepen his relationship with G-d through the Seven Noahide
Laws and his mission to help build a moral and G-dly world.
And for all of us:
Before judging the world, appoint a judge within yourself.
Before believing everything you see, ask whether your vision has been bribed.
Before condemning another person, try to reach his place.
And after discovering something that must change, do not remain trapped in yesterday.
Enter the refuge of Elul. Change direction. And move forward.
Then we can fulfill the great command:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTzedek, tzedek tirdof.\u201d
\u201cJustice, justice shall you pursue.\u201d\u2079<\/em>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u05e9\u05d1\u05ea \u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Blueprint for a Divine Society.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Eliyahu E. Dessler, Michtav MeEliyahu (\u201cThe Perspective of Truth\u201d), Rabbi Twerski develops the idea that personal desires function like an internal bribe, producing rationalization and self-deception. The stories of the tzaddik of Apt and Rabbi Yisrael of Ruzhin appear there. See also Rabbi Twerski\u2019s \u201cBeware Your Mind!,\u201d TorahWeb, Parshat Shoftim, 2010, where the Ruzhiner\u2019s tightrope image is applied directly to Elul
and the daily cheshbon hanefesh.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
talks by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Kehot Publication Society (presented on Chabad.org as \u201cThe Judge and the
Refugee\u201d). The Rebbe connects judges, cities of refuge and Elul; explains the need to understand the environment of the person being judged; relates the story of the Mitteler Rebbe; and develops the concept of Elul as a refuge in time.<\/li>\n\n\n\n