Parashat Shoftim / פָּרָשַׁת שׁוֹפְטִיםDeuteronomy 16:18-21:9

D'var Torah
Rabbi Seth Daniel Riemer

Moses exhorts the people to “pursue” justice by its impartial, strict administration and execution; he adds the reminder that, while the legal system is a communal effort (its judges, officers, courts and witnesses all to be drawn from men of Israel), it is under the sole jurisdiction of YHVH, who will brook no competition from pagan gods.  Their worship, along with practices such as divination, magic and child sacrifice, is a capital offense.  Indeed, those behaviors among Canaan’s native inhabitants are what justify Israel’s ruthless conquest of that land.  In ritual matters, likewise, there may be no compromising:  Animals for sacrifice must be without blemish.  Especially complicated legal matters should be referred to a supreme court of priests working with the current (chief) judge.  Law pertaining to monarchial authority is outlined: Israel must select as king an Israelite (never a foreigner!) who is not trying to “amass” personal wealth, establish a private militia, oppress his fellow Hebrews, or compromise their sovereignty and freedom, but who follows God’s Torah.  A taxation system is set up to provide for God’s servants the Levites since they are landless and rely on the community for sustenance.  Moses, who is about to die, reassures the people that God will appoint a successor prophet but warns them to beware of false – i.e., misleading – prophets.  Three cities of refuge for those guilty of accidental manslaughter are designated, but killers by design can expect no mercy.  Anyone who wants to use the courts for a malicious purpose is put on notice that he will receive the very punishment he conspired to inflict on his enemy.  The parashah also discusses military ethics.  A prerequisite for readiness for battle is unfaltering trust in God.  Therefore, conscripts who harbor any fear should return home.  The same applies to newlyweds and those who have not yet harvested their vineyards.  Before attacking a city, Israel’s army must first invite the enemy to surrender in order to avoid being killed.  In battle all enemy males must be slaughtered; legitimate spoils of war include women, children and possessions.  However, Canaan’s native inhabitants are irremediably wicked, so all men, women and children among those conquered must be killed.  In besieging a town, Israel’s army may not cut down fruit trees to use in constructing a “siege-work.”  To expiate blood-guilt in the case of a slain person found in an open field between towns, the authorities will assign blame to the closest town and have priests perform for it a ritual involving the killing of a heifer. 

From Rabbi Jan, Roach HaMaqom

This week, in Shoftim, we find one of the most powerful statements in Torah: 
 

צֶ֥דֶק צֶ֖דֶק תִּרְדֹּ֑ף לְמַ֤עַן תִּֽחְיֶה֙ וְיָרַשְׁתָּ֣ אֶת־הָאָ֔רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ נֹתֵ֥ן לָֽךְ׃ {ס}        

Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that your God יהוה is giving you.  Deut. 16:20.

This text is followed by numerous examples of what 'pursuing justice' means: you need more than one witness to convict; those who provide damning testimony need to administer the prescribed punishment; erecting safe refuge for those who committed unpremeditated manslaughter, thereby interrupting the cultural norm of carrying out of revenge by family members of the deceased; and so on. 

With the focus on the details of setting up a system of justice, the heart is also called into the configuration: 

תָּמִ֣ים תִּֽהְיֶ֔ה עִ֖ם יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶֽיךָ׃

You must be wholehearted with your God יהוה.  Deut. 18:13

Why does the Torah include this obligation to be wholehearted in matters of judicial process? The word, תָּמִ֣ים/tamim, means to be 'sound, whole, unimpaired, innocent, having integrity, and to be in accord with truth and fact. (source, BDS dictionary). To administer justice, a pursuit which is a non-negotiable in Jewish tradition, one must go beyond the facts and reach out with your heart in considering the fate of the individual standing before you.  

We are entering  the new month of ELUL this week, an acronym which means "I am my beloved and my beloved is mine"  from Song of Songs.  For a full month before Rosh haShannah, we are invited into the relationship of the heart, for that is the metaphor of compassion, commitment  and wholeness. Why would our tradition assign that name to the month? (Most of the months of the Jewish calendar are from Babylonian gods!) One way to understand this can be connected with the system of justice established: without the yearning to be wholehearted, there is only the perfunctory Justice that is defined by blind obedience to rules. A system that has only rules and no heart is the definition of tyranny. 

As harsh as the words of Torah can be at times, there is always this counterbalance of compassion.  For the next month, we linger in the waters of compassion, strengthening ourselves for the inner work of making ourselves tamimonce again. 

--- Rabbi Jan