Shoftim/Elul - Staying Calm when Life isn't

The following has been adapted from the Sefer Ohr G’Deliyahu and Rav Kook in Ein Aya. Feel free to print this out and read it over Shabbos Kodesh just please not during Tefilos!

As we have been taught, there is a famous concept called ‘HaKriya Me’oreres Es HaZman’ – the concepts that flow from the weekly Parsha are always interfacing with and relating to the events on the Jewish calendar. ‘The Scripture is inspiring the Season.’ As Parshas Shoftim is the first Torah Portion read after Rosh Chodesh Elul (the first day of the month) we must keep our eyes open for the theme that connects them.

The beginning of this week’s Parsha deals with the concepts of Jewish law-enforcement. Shoftim V’Shotrim Titen L’cha B’chol She’arecha – Place for yourselves Judges and officers at all of your gates.

We know that the Torah is Divine and therefore it is exact. Each letter is filled with godliness, and because of this each one needs to be analyzed with intense scrutiny. There is no fluff, no need for repeats or padding. If this is true then what does the Torah HaKedosha specifying in its split of Shoftim and Shotrim – Judges and Officers? What differing roles do they play?

Rashi on the verse gives us the answer. Shoftim, the Judges, are there to make decisions. They discover the truth in Halachically-sticky situations. Hopefully those involved in the cases will adhere to their rulings. It’s when the constituents don’t listen that the need for Shotrim, Officers, arises. These Officers are really enforcers. When a Jew chooses not to listen to the Torah and its rules the Shotrim step in to forcibly persuade them back into doing the right thing.

That’s very nice. But the Torah was given to be relevant and applicable in every person in every culture in every generation. So what do I learn about my life when I learn about ancient law-enforcement?

The Sh’lah HaKadosh explains that the concepts in this verse could not be more relevant. Shoftim V’Shotrim Titen L’cha B’chol She’arecha – Judges and Enforcers shall you place in all of your gates. These gates are the human senses. How do I know this to be true? Well, what is a gate of a city? The city gates are the place where products, culture, information and everything else comes in and out of the city. The gate of the city is the place where the city interacts with the rest of the world. Based on this my eyes are gates. My nose, ears, mouth skin – they are all gates. Information comes in and out through there. Taste, sight, sound and the like are all tantamount to that which passes through the entry to a city.

Shoftim V’Shotrim Titen L’cha B’chol She’arecha is telling us that just as city gates need Judges and Officers, so too the ‘gates’ of the human experience, my relationship to the world around me need Judges and Officers just the same.

In my personal life, my intellectual faculties serve as my Judges. I use logic and reasoning to determine right from wrong; what to do and what to refrain from. Under ideal circumstances I can succeed in Avodas Hashem simply by making and intellectual decision to do so.

But sometimes the situations I find myself in deprive me of my normative logical properties. Sometimes I’m simply not ‘feeling it’. I’m burnt out. I’m having a bad day. My brain is already turned off. How am I supposed to accomplish in Avodas Hashem now? In these situations, how do I overcome the tests that HaKadosh Baruch Hu throws my way? The answer is Shotrim - Officers. We force ourselves. Hashem has commanded us not only to serve him with logic, but also to have a back up, a storehouse of energy that we can use to pull through when we are simply overwhelmed by exterior or internal circumstances.

But from where do the Jewish People derive this ‘auto-pilot’-like strength? If we can pinpoint the moment where Hashem gave us that inner wellspring of inspiration then when an immensely difficult situation attempts to overpower us we can draw vigor from there and emerge victorious even in the most difficult situations.

At Ma’amad Har Sinai, the Jews accepted the Torah with full hearts and open arms. They lovingly declared Na’aseh V’Nishma – We will do and we will listen! We are totally yours! We want this and we want You.

But Chazal reveal to us that the story didn’t end there. Right after the dramatic moments of Na’aseh V’Nishma, God lifted Mount Sinai off of the ground, held it over the heads – Har K’Gigis - of the Jewish people and laid down an ultimatum: ‘If you accept the Torah, great. If not, I’ll bury you right here.’ What’s going on here?

Rav Dessler taught us that free will doesn’t always extend to every option that I am offered. I only have free will when the options are reasonably close to one another. For example: ‘Chocolate or Vanilla’ is a choice. ‘Chocolate or Cyanide’ is not. If a father were to tell his son ‘Go to school or I’ll break your nose!’ it wouldn’t be much of a choice. In fact, by giving him these two options the son’s free will has actually been taken away! He’s being forced to go to school. Based on this, when HaKadosh Baruch Hu said ‘If you accept the Torah, great. If not, I’ll bury you right here’ He wasn’t giving us a choice, He was really removing our ability to choose. But why?

The answer begins with an important spiritual understanding of the human psyche. The fact that I am alive expresses itself in the universe on two levels: There is the exterior stage of my personality that is revealed by the choices that I make. My reactions, the clothing that I wear, my mannerisms are all reflections of my choices. This is me as I manifest in Choice. But then there is a level that is yet deeper: The very fact that I am alive. The fact that I exist takes on an expression of its own. I take up a space in the universe. My soul is unique. This is me as I manifest as a living being.

The fact that we accepted the Torah on the level of Na’aseh V’Nishma is very good. We made a choice. We decided that we wanted to be on the side of Avodas Hashem. While that’s nice, it’s still only the exterior level of my being. When God threatens my life over the Torah’s acceptance I receive the Torah not on the level of choice but rather on the level of being. The very fact that I exist was put on the line in the name of Kabalas HaTorah. And the fact that I accepted it under such circumstances means that it is no longer just tied to how I choose to live, rather it is a part of my life intrinsically.

This is Shoftim and Shotrim. The Shofeit – the Judge – he makes decisions and if all goes well he is listened to. This is the level of Na’aseh V’Nishma. It’s the beautiful feeling of lovingly serving God because I want to. But there is the even deeper level of the Shoteir – the Enforcer. This is the level of Har K’Gigis. The Torah is not just something that I choose to incorporate into my life – it is my life itself. It as intrinsic to my being as the fact that I am alive. And just like I can’t force myself to stop breathing, so too with the proper awareness I’ll always manage to pull myself back to the Torah.

We know that through the sin of the Golden Calf we lost that which we accomplished when we stood at Sinai the first time. But Chazal explain that it is on Rosh Chodesh Elul that Moshe Rabeinu ascended Mount Sinai for the second time to receive the second set of Tablets. The depth of this is that Rosh Chodesh Elul marks the beginning of our journey back to that original level.

As we begin the month of Elul, we say the chapter of Tehilim entitled L’David Hashem Ori V’Yishi – David HaMelech declares that God is his Light and Salvation. In this chapter is the famous verse: Shivti B’Veis Hashem Kol Yimei Chayai, LaChazos B’Noam Hashem U’L’Vaker B’Heichalo! – Let me sit in the House of Hashem all the days of my life, to perceive the Sweetness of Hashem and visit in His Chambers!

What is David HaMelech saying here? Let me sit in Hashem’s house all the days of my life. He wants to be there all the time. But then he says, ‘To perceive the Sweetness of Hashem and visit in His Chambers.’ Wait – does he want the equilibrium and continuity of being there all the time or does he want the exhilarating charm of the occasional visit? He seems to be implying both!

The answer is both. Of course David HaMelech wants to feel the rush that comes with embracing God. He years to have that feeling all the time. But he knows that he won’t. And even so he wants to cleave to God with all of his might even when it’s not so easy. Shivti B’Veis Hashem Kol Yimei Chayai – Let me be there no matter what. Let me realize that the my relationship to you is as constant as my heartbeat. Bless me with the level of Shoteir. LaChazos B’Noam Hashem U’L’Vaker B’eihalo – but on that platform indulge me in loving every second of it. Let it sweet. Let is be like Na’aseh V’Nishma. I don’t just want it to be right, I want it to feel right as well.

There are times when Avodas Hashem feels amazing. There are times where I truly love it. But there are times where I need to remember that I need to push through and carry on because this is who I am. My relationship with Hashem is more ‘Me’ then my choices of clothing or friends. It’s more true to who I am then the music I listen to or the books that I read. In the same way that blood pumps through my veins and air flows from my lungs I am connected to Hashem. The more we remember that the easier it becomes to live by.

As Parshas Shoftim and Chodesh Elul meet, may HaKadosh Baruch Hu bless us with both levels needed to fully relate to Him. He should infuse us with the inner strength to always pull through and he should bless us with the delight of enjoying every moment of Avodas Hashem. If we can bring ourselves to live with this consciousness there is no doubt that we live live lives full of Simcha and Shleimus moving closer to the Creator and ultimately the Geulah Sheleimah!

Shoftim/Elul: Digging for His Merit and Finding Your Own

This week’s Parsha has an interesting emphasis on the concept of Tzedek - Justice. We need to understand the deeper meaning of what Tzedek is in context of the content of the Parsha and see how it is deeply connected to Chodesh Elul as we prepare for Rosh HaShana. Hopefully through a deeper understanding of these concepts we will be able to walk away a new perspective on how to get the most out of these times of Teshuva, of returning to Hashem.

The following is an adaptation of ideas I heard from Rav Sitorsky.

The Parsha opens up with Hashem commanding the Jewish people to appoint judges and officers to ensure order and justice. “Shoftim V’Shotrim Titen Lecha B’Chol Shearecha…V’Shaftu Es Ha’Am Mishpat Tzedek.” - ‘Judges and officers shall you give to yourself in all your gates…and you shall judge the nation in a Judgment of righteousness.’

Let’s point out a few interesting anomalies in the Passuk: For starters, the audience to which the Passuk is speaking to seems to switch half-way. The Passuk begins, Shoftim V’Shotrim Titen Lecha, Judges and officers shall YOU - in the singular – give to yourself. But the Passuk ends V’Shaftu Es Ha’Am Mishpat Tzedek - the whole nation needs to get judged appropriately! If the Passuk stuck to the singular we wouldn’t have the same problem, for if it did we could simply say that the overall singular reference is going on the Jewish people as a whole, but the fact that the Passuk switches in the middle to speak about the masses means that the singular individual spoken about in the beginning of the Passuk is in fact really one guy!

Two Psukim later the term Tzedek arises again. “Tzedek, Tzedek Tirdof” – ‘Justice! Justice shall you pursue.’ What is this emphasis of Tzedek that it appears three times within three Psukim and again multiple more times throughout the Parsha?

Now let’s jump to the end of the Parsha. The last concept spoken about in the Parsha is the idea of Egla Arufa. The case is the following. A dead victim, presumably murdered, is found lying out in the fields between two cities. Those who investigate cannot figure out who he is and to which city he belongs. What do we do now? We measure to see which city he closest to and break the neck of a cow in order to achieve atonement.

Here too we need to look a little deeper and ask some questions. The Passuk says, “Ki Yimtza Chalal Asher… Nofel Ba’Sadeh”, ‘When you find a corpse who fell in the field. (What will happen?)’ “V’Yatzu Ziknecha V’Shoftecha” ‘And your elders and your judges shall come out (to the scene)’ And they will take a cow to the river and break it’s neck. They will say to Hashem ‘Forgive your people’.

“Ki Yimtza Chalal” – this word is translated as ‘corpse’ but it means ‘desecrated’ and ‘empty’, how is that relevant here? “Asher Nofel Ba’Sadeh” – Who fell in THE field, why so specific? It would be sufficient to say Bi’Sadeh, in a field! And who are the Ziknecha V’Shoftecha? Lastly, Why do the officiators involved need to request forgiveness on behalf of all of Am Yisrael?! It would be quite enough to ask on behalf of the suspected city to which the Challal was closest! And even that would be a lot, for it was not the whole city that was responsible, rather one person was the murderer!

And surely all of this is connected to the month of Elul, because Parshas Shoftim is always the first Parsha read in this month! Let’s pick out one specific detail of this month. The Arizal explains that Hashem’s name of Yud-Kay-Vav-Kay has twelve possible permutations not including the repeats. He goes further to say that each one of these is associated with a month of the year and attached to each one is a scriptural reference to which the permutation can be derived. For example, our month, the month of Elul’s permutation is Kay-Kay-Vav-Yud and it emerges from the line “U’Tzedaka Tihiye Lanu Ki” The line means ‘And there shall be Tzedeka for us’ and it emerges in that the last letter of each of those four words spells the permutation connected to this month.

But here is that term Tzedek again! How is this reference in the month of Elul connected to the same term used so often in our Parsha?

Let’s begin to answer our questions by understanding a deep and beautiful teaching from the Ba’al Shem Tov.

There is a famous line in Pirkei Avos that tells us that we should not judge our friend until we arrive in his place. The simple understanding is that you will never know exactly what someone has gone through that made him arrive at his current decision, and because you can’t know all the factors, don’t judge him negatively.

The Ba’al Shem Tov offers a mystical understanding. It is know that when we do a mistake, if we, heaven forbid, sin; God can address our mess-up in one of two ways: either He can look upon it favorably and find merit on our behalf, or the harsher option would be unleash the full wrath that the misdeed deserves. The first is kindness and the second is a harsher judgment.

But how does Hashem decide which to use in any given situation? The answer is that Hashem will allow a person to judge himself. How? He will present that person with the sight of someone doing the very same action, which he himself transgressed in the first place. If the man in our case judges the man he sees favorably, then Hashem will judge him favorably in return. But the opposite is also true; if the man in our story looks upon the second man with disdain and judgmentally, so too shall God look upon him, and the strict justice will be delivered in lieu of mercy.

This idea is hinted to in the line we mentioned before. ‘Don’t judge your friend until you arrive in his place.’ The meaning is that any time you are judging your firend it is because you are really judging yourself, you and he are standing in the same place. God has matched up two people who have done the same action in order to determine he best mode of Divine Response.

The rule that we get from here is that the way that we are judged in heaven is a direct response to how we treat our fellow Jew.

And this is the deeper meaning of Tzedek/Tzedaka. Unkelos in Parshas Va’Eschanan defines it as ‘Zechusa’ – Merit in Aramaic. If the goal of all justice is really to find MERIT – then we can begin to tie everything together.

When we say Selichos, when we begin to pray for mercy before Rosh HaShana the very first thing we say is Lecha Hashem HaTzedaka - To you Hashem is the ability to find merit. This is the starting point of all of our requests.

But it really starts from us, for Hashem will only treat us in this way if we treat others in the same manner and this is where Parshas Shoftim comes in.

Why does the Passuk in the start of Parsha switch from singular to plural? We notice that the command to appoint judges and officers applies to the individual, but to the rest of the nation? V’Shaftu Es Ha’Am Mishpat Tzedek. To yourself appoint judges and officers, be very strict, as strict as you want - with yourself. “Shoftim V’Shotrim Titen Lecha.” But when you come to judging everyone else? That is the time to employ Tzedek, V’Shaftu Es Ha’Am Mishpat Tzedek. This explains the general repetition of the term throughout the Parsha as well. A Parsha defined by its qualities of judgment (as evident by its name) needs to have the goal of all justice repeated again and again.

So what is happening by Egla Arufa? The Challal, literally ‘the empty one’ - devoid of spirituality; found randomly murdered, a punishment from Hashem that he certainly had coming to him, who mysteriously cannot be traced to any specific locale – certainly this man has many factors leaning towards seeing him unfavorably.

(This is the meaning of Ba’Sadeh - THE field. What is THE field? The influence of Eisav. Why? He is called Ish Sadeh. This man who fell in the field, it seems that this man seems totally and fully secularized on the outside.) All in all it is very difficult to find merit to this man who died without any clues.

But how do we respond? We send ‘Ziknecha V’Shoftecha.’ And who are they? Rashi tells us that it the Sanhedrin, the highest court from Yerushalayim. Why do we need them, the biggest court we have, to come and investigate? Because Yehshaya HaNavi calls Yerushalayim the Ir Tzedek - the city of Tzedek. Only the biggest judges from the city of merit are able to deal meritoriously with such an estranged man.

Reb Tzadok HaKohen points out that this whole concept of Egla Arufa is teaching us a lesson in Arvus, responsibility for the Jewish people. The highest court from the city which David HaMelech calls Ir She’Chubra LaYachdav’ it’s the city that brings people together – it is they who have the ability to approach the Chalal who has fallen into the Sadeh and find merit, even there. They have the ability to look at this situation and think, maybe Hashem did something to this man to teach a lesson to me, or the Jewish people as a whole! And as such they ask forgiveness on behalf of the entire Jewish people.

And all of this comes down to the fact that we use this Parsha to enter into the month of Elul, the month of “U’Tzedaka Tihiyeh Lanu Ki” – the month that if we can find merit in others, Hashem will find merit in us.

In a world where I am constantly trying my very best to find merit in everyone around me I can make my relationships with those around grow, and through that boost my connection with Hashem. Hashem created all sorts of people around me and He really wants us to get along. It’s a difficult but rewarding task that is truly life-transforming, and it is totally crucial step into making the most out of the Teshuva process.

B’Ezras Hashem we should be Zoche to operate in the world in such a beautiful fashion. For when we begin to place merit on others, Hashem begins to place merit on us. If we can do this then there is no doubt that we will all live lives of fulfillment and happiness, moving closer to the Creator and ultimately the redemption!