FOUR PILLARS OF SOCIETY

Parashat Shoftim
Elul 7, 5782 / September 2-3, 2022
Torah - Deuteronomy 16:18 - 21:9
Haftarah - Isaiah 51:12 - 52:12 (Fourth Haftarah of Consolation)
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My Cheshbon Hanefesh Worksheet - 5783 Edition, is now available at my blog:

https://rav-rich.blogspot.com/2022/08/cheshbon-hanefesh-worksheet-5783.html 

I hope you find it useful.

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This d'var torah is offered in memory of Lynn's sister, Janis Devorah Kronzek, died far too young, whose 21^st yahrzeit falls on this Shabbat, Elul 7. Y'hi zikhronah liv'rakhah - may her memory be a blessing.
 
This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Chanah Bella bat Kreina, Feigel bat Kreina, and Devorah bat Feigel.
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Lunch and Learn meets Tuesdays at 12:30 PM on Zoom and Facebook Live. We're continuing to read and discuss the Midrashic collection Ein Ya'akov. On October 4, we'll be at BT Shabbat 15a - page 112 of Ein Ya'akov Volume 1 - "...אמר רב כהנא" - "R. Cahana said:..." Or, we might do something a little different for Yom Kippur.
 
There will be NO Lunch and Learn in September due to travel and holy days. We will next meet on October 4, Erev Yom Kippur. 
 
Ein Ya'akov is available for on-line reading or as a downloadable PDF at: 
HebrewBooks.org Sefer Detail: Ein Yakkov Vol 1 -- S. H. Glick 
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Rabbi Van Leeuwen has a blog which you should read at: 
https://rebjasonblog.wordpress.com/blog/ 
Dr. Steve Pearlman writes up the "Midrashim of the Week", which you should read at: 
https://midrashsrp.wordpress.com 
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Check out our wonderful community, and get lots of info about our various programs and becoming a Member at: https://bnaihayim.org/ 
 
Rosh Hashanah is three weeks from Sunday! Please submit your TBH Membership/High Holy Day forms ASAP! And your Book of Remembrance forms! And check your mail for the High Holy Day bulletin! For more info call the temple office at (818) 788-4664. 
 
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FOUR PILLARS OF SOCIETY

“You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the LORD your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous justice. You shall not pervert justice: you shall not show partiality; neither shall you take a bribe; for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may live, and inherit the land which the LORD your God gives you.” Deuteronomy 16:18-20

These opening verses of this week’s parashah are most famous – and most difficult to translate. Why? Because the word tzedek (צדק), traditionally translated as “justice” in verse 20, also means “righteous”, as in verse 18, and is the root of the word tzedakah (צדקה), “charity” or “righteousness”. In verse 18, the word for “justice” is mishpat (משפט). This word is closely related to Shoftim, “judges”, the name of our parashah. Hence, they shall judge with “just justice” or “righteous justice”.

In Likutei Yehudah, a collection of teachings from the Chasidim of Ger, we learn: “Whenever tzedakah is mentioned, mishpat is also mentioned (citing Gen. 18:19 and Psalms 99:4).” The reason, we are told, is that where there is no justice, there is no righteousness. One might well infer that where there is no righteousness, there is no justice.

But there is more. Hosea 2:21, the verse which is recited as the tefillin shel yad is wound around the fingers, says: “And I will betroth you unto Me forever; yea, I will betroth you unto Me in righteousness (צדק), and in justice (משפט), and in lovingkindness (chesed – חסד), and in compassion (rachamim - רחמים)." I tingle as I read this - and not simply because this comes from the haftarah of my Bar Mitzvah (Parashat Bamidbar).

The Chatam Sofer (Rabbi Moses Schreiber; 1762-1839) teaches that this is an exchange, I imagine as with a double ring wedding ceremony – if we act with justice and righteousness, then God will show us lovingkindness and compassion. We are literally binding ourselves to God in an exchange of vows.

I would like to read even more into this – I must read more into this. These concepts are of a piece. To me, these are the four pillars of the only society worth creating and worth living in.

We are well into the month of Elul, a time for cheshbon hanefesh, an accounting of the soul, leading up to the Days of Awe – Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. What have we done this past year to establish justice and righteousness and lovingkindness and compassion in ourselves and our families and our communities and our world? What will we do in the year to come to make ourselves worthy of living in the world God wants us to create?

Shabbat Shalom!
 
Richard A. Flom, Rabbi Emeritus
TBH/CBM
Sherman Oaks, CA
".איזה הוא חכם? הלומד מכל אדם"
Who is wise? The one who learns from every person.
Ben Zoma - Pirkei Avot 4:1
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