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Perasha -  Shoftim

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Table of contents

1) Perashat Hashavoua - Rabbi Eli Mansour

2) Halakhat Hashavoua (Halakhot related to day to day life) By Hazzan David Azerad  -The Basis for the Custom of Reciting Seliḥot Peninei Halacha

3) Holy Jokes!

4) For KIDS

 This Week's Parasha Insight with Rabbi Eli Mansour

Parashat Shoftim: We are All Judges

Parashat Shoftim begins with the command to appoint judges throughout the land: "Shoftim Ve’shoterim Titen Lecha."

While the simple meaning of this Pasuk is that it refers to courtroom judges, there is also an additional level of interpretation. The Torah is telling that "Titen Lecha" – each one of us is a judge. Throughout the day, every day, whenever we speak with or even just see another person, we judge. We make judgments about people based on how they look, what they say and what they do. This is inevitable. We are thinking beings, and we thus naturally cast judgments in our minds every time we have any sort of contact with others.

The Torah therefore instructs at the conclusion of this opening Pasuk, "Ve’shafetu Et Ha’am Mishpat Sedek" – "They shall judge the nation justly." We are bidden to give people the benefit of the doubt, rather than hastily reach negative conclusions. If we see behavior which appears to reflect negatively upon a person, we are to find a basis on which to judge that person favorably, rather than immediately assume the worst.

The Torah then adds, "Sedek Sedek Tirdof" – literally, "Justice, justice you shall pursue." This has been explained to mean that we are to go as far as we need to for the sake of giving the benefit of the doubt. We are to "pursue" a favorable judgment regardless of how far we must go, no matter how far-fetched an explanation we need to come up with.

The Gemara in Masechet Shabbat tells a story of a poor man who worked for three years for a certain wealthy person. When he completed his term of service, on Ereb Yom Kippur, he came to his boss and asked to be paid so he could support his family. The man said he was unable to pay, because he had no money. The worker asked if he could be paid through other assets – fruits, animals, land, or even houseware – but the man said he had done. The worker returned home empty-handed. Several weeks later, the employer obtained the money he needed and brought it to the worker. He paid him, and asked what he was thinking in his mind when he said he could not afford to pay. The worker he said he assumed that the employer had invested all his cash in promising business ventures, had not yet tithed his produce, lent out all his animals, leased his property to sharecroppers, and consecrated all his houseware. The employer swore that this was all correct. The worker went out on a limb to judge his employer favorably, and he turned out to be correct.

The employer then blessed him, "Just as you judged me favorably, so may you always be judged favorably."

Indeed, the Gemara there comments that if a person judges other people favorably, then Hashem will judge that person favorably.

For this reason, the Torah writes, "You shall pursue justice, in order that you live…" If we judge people favorably, then Hashem will judge us favorably, as well, and bless us with life and happiness.

It is no coincidence that Parashat Shoftim is always read around the time of Rosh Hodesh Elul, as we start preparing for the judgment of the High Holidays. During this period, especially, we must heed the message of "Sedek Sedek Tirdof" – the need to give people the benefit of the doubt and judge them favorably. As we prepare ourselves for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we need every possible "strategy" for earning a favorable sentence. And perhaps the most effective strategy is to give others the benefit of the doubt, to view other people from a positive angle, in the merit of which we, too, will be judged favorably and blessed with a happy, healthy, successful new year, Amen.

Halachot this week are selected and Translated by Hazzan David Azerad

The Basis for the Custom of Reciting Seliḥot Peninei Halacha

Many Jews have a custom, extending back to the times of the Ge’onim, to wake up early during the Ten Days of Repentance to recite Seliḥot. This is done primarily to inspire people to repent, ask God for forgiveness and atonement, and beg Him to be merciful to His exiled and suffering people. We ask that He not look at our sins and transgressions, but rather that He remember His covenant with our ancestors and with us. We ask Him to remember the sacrifice of Yitzḥak and all the martyrs who sacrificed their lives to sanctify His name. We also pray for the ingathering of the exiles, the rebuilding of Eretz Yisrael, Jerusalem, and the Temple, and the return of the Shekhina to Zion. It is customary to recite Seliḥot specifically during the Ten Days of Repentance because it is a time of judgment and prayer is more readily accepted then. It is proper for every individual to join the community and pray fervently for the Jewish people, for the Shekhina to dwell among us, and for God’s name to be sanctified in the world. Through this, one’s personal prayers will be accepted as well.

Indeed, we find that the prophets encouraged the Jews to gather together in times of trouble to fast, pray, and beg God to have mercy on His people and His land. Thus, we read:

Blow a shofar in Zion; solemnize a fast; proclaim an assembly! Gather the people; bid the congregation purify themselves. Bring together the old, gather the babes and the sucklings at the breast. Let the bridegroom come out of his chamber, the bride from her canopied couch. Between the portico and the altar, let the priests, the Lord’s ministers, weep and say: “Oh, spare Your people, Lord! Let not Your possession become a mockery, to be taunted by nations! Let not the peoples say, ‘Where is their god?’” Then the Lord will be roused on behalf of His land and have compassion upon His people. (Yoel 2:15-18)

Together with reciting Seliḥot and prayers, we must repent and improve our behavior. Thus, during this time period, it is customary to recite Seliḥot, to study works of musar (ethical improvement), and to have sermons that exhort us to repent. Some have the custom to have sermons before Seliḥot, to rebuke and inspire.

Biverkat Shabbat Shalom Umevorach

David Azerad 

 3) HOLY JoKeS!!

Selection of funny snippets, loosely related to this weeks parashah or current events, to brighten your day  

4) FOR KIDS

Click on the image to open the youtube video

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