The following is a reprint of the Weekly Publication "the Voice os Sassoon" Parasha of the week by RAV Yehuda Cohen Dated Sept 6th 2008
PERASHAH OF THE WEEK
PERASHAT SHOFETIM
by Rabbi Yehudah L Cohen
Most of the Perashah of today deals with commandments directed to the leaders of the nation e.g. Courts of justice and policemen, appointment of king, etc… . The leaders’ conduct has a powerful influence on the nation for good and for bad. Law, righteousness, honesty , equality, respect to leadership and discipline play a big role in the nation’s conduct and behavior.
The Torah commanded that at some future point, Israel would request the appointment of a king. The nation was not at liberty to choose their own king but he must be the one ‘whom Hashem ..shall choose..(Debarim/Deuteronomy 17:15)’. Moreover, all the prophecies about Messianic times revolve around a king from the Dynasty of King David. For that, the Torah devotes six verses (17:14-20) to the role of the future king of Israel. After conquering the Land, two atrocities could be avoided, if there had been a righteous king in Israel as he would never have permitted such outrages to take place. These two atrocities are described in the Scripture: the graven image of Micah (Judges Ch17-18) and the atrocity involving the concubine at Gibeah (Judges Ch19-21).
The king may not accumulate many horses (17:16), he may not have many wives (17:17), and he may not accumulate much gold and silver (17:17). The Torah emphasizes that the king should not feel superior to his brethren as ‘Superiority belongs only to Hashem’ and he may ‘not turn from the commandment right or left’ (17:20).
The following persons are unqualified to fight and need to be sent away from the battlefields by their officers (Debarim/Deuteronomy 20:5 to 9):
- The man who has built a house and has not inaugurated it
- The man who has planted a vineyard and not redeemed it.
- The man who has betrothed a woman and not married her. Debarim/Deuteronomy 24:5 tells us : "When a man has taken a new bride he shall not go out with the army, or be assigned to it for any purpose; he shall be exempt one year for the sake of his household to give happiness to the woman he has married".
- The ‘fearful and fainthearted’
However, all those who are unqualified and excused from combat were responsible to assist the army by supplying food and water. Moreover, Rambam believes that these exemptions apply only in an optional war but not in the wars to conquer the Land (Hilchot Melachim 7).
The Talmud, in Sotah 44a, records two opinions for sending the above unqualified soldiers from the battlefield:
- According to Rabbi Aakibah, these fearful soldiers were sent home in order to eliminate the cowardly people from the battlefield, because if the army included those who lacked faith in Hashem, the people would not be worthy of the miracle of victory.
- According to Rabbi Yoke Ha'Galili, those who are fearful and fainthearted were sinners who knew that they were unworthy of Hashem's assistance. Therefore, they needed to leave the battlefield. However, In order to protect the dignity of the sinners, the Torah also dismissed those with new homes and new brides so that when the sinners left they could not be identified among the others.
If Hashem’s Torah deliberately avoid the shaming of others, then we should certainly be careful not to embarrass our fellow man. Our Sages say that whoever insults his fellow man in public forfeits his place in the world to come (Baba Metziah 59a).
Haphtarah: (Isaiah 51:12-52:12 AnoKhi Anokhi Hu Menahemkhem) This Haphtarah is the fourth of the Shiva De-nehemata, the seven Haphtarot that provide consolation after Tish’aa Be'Ab when the destruction of the Temple was commemorated. The Torah portion of Shofetim begins by describing a variety of leadership roles required by the Jewish people. Magistrates and officials, priests and Levites, prophets and kings--each has a role to play and none can function independently of the others. But most important, each must be cognizant of the ultimate authority of G-d. When the prophet Isaiah speaks of the suffering of the Jewish people in the wake of G-d's punishment, he notes the lack of leadership endured by Jerusalem. "She has none to guide her of all the sons she bore; None takes her by the hand, of all the sons she reared" (Isaiah 51:18). And when the prophet comes to comfort Zion, he depicts the footsteps of a herald to be heard on the mountain telling Zion, "Your G-d is King!" (Isaiah 52:7) Not just a message of G-d's victory, Zion will be reminded of the foundation of G-d 's authority underlying all other strata of Jewish leadership.
Jewish Joke: Rabbi Yoseph was cleaning up the house when he came across a box he didn't recognize. His wife told him to leave it alone as it was personal. One day, when she was out, his curiosity got the best of him. He opened the box and inside found 3 eggs and $4,000. When his wife came home, he admitted that he opened the box and he asked her to explain the contents to him. She told him that every time he had a bad sermon, she would put an egg in the box..........
He interrupted, "In twenty years, only three bad sermons, that's not bad."
His wife continued...... and every time I got a dozen eggs, I would sell them for $2.
CHABBAT CHALOM
MAGHEN ABRAHAM
