Parashat Shoftim - First Aliyah

The aliyah opens with a sentence that is entirely about personal responsibility: “Shoftim veshotrim titen lecha bechol she’arecha” (judges and officers you shall appoint for yourself in all your gates, Deuteronomy 16:18). Not only “for you all” but “lecha”, for yourself: for every city, every community, and every person who has gates, senses and entrances, that need guarding.

1. The foundations of justice

Three prohibitions at once: “Lo tateh mishpat lo takir panim velo tikach shochad” (do not pervert justice, do not show favoritism, and do not take a bribe, 16:19). The Torah also explains why: “ki hashochad ye’aver einei chachamim” (for the bribe blinds the eyes of the wise, 16:19). Even a wise person is not immune. Then comes the great moral watchword: “Tzedek tzedek tirdof” (justice, justice you shall pursue, 16:20). Not only a just goal, but just means as well.

2. Clean worship, clean justice

The boundaries of holiness must not be blurred: “Lo tita lecha asherah kol etz etzel mizbach” (you shall not plant for yourself an asherah of any tree beside the altar, 16:21) and “Velo takim lecha matzevah” (nor shall you set up a pillar, 16:22). The service of God is free of foreign admixture, and so is the judicial system.

3. The sin of idolatry, and a rigorous law

If someone among the people is found serving idolatry, “asher lo tziviti” (which I did not command, 17:3), there is no acting in haste: “vedarashta heitev” (and you shall inquire thoroughly, 17:4). Only “Al pi shnayim edim o shloshah” (on the testimony of two witnesses or three, 17:6), and the witnesses themselves bear the responsibility: “Yad ha’edim tihyeh bo varishonah” (the hand of the witnesses shall be against him first, 17:7). The justice here is both rigorous and humane, and it blocks a verdict passed on hearsay.

4. From the gates to the place He will choose

When a matter “Ki yipale mimcha davar lamishpat” (is too hard for you to judge, 17:8), you go up: “vekamta ve’alita el hamakom asher yivchar Adonai Elohecha” (and you shall rise and go up to the place that Adonai your God will choose, 17:8). There the ruling is given “el hakohanim halviyim ve’el hashofet” (by the Levitical priests and the judge, 17:9), and of their ruling it is said: “lo tasur min hadavar asher yagidu lecha yamin usmol” (you shall not turn aside from the word they tell you, right or left, 17:11). The authority of the Torah lives “bayamim hahem” (in those days, 17:9), including when the teachers are of our own generation, and in Rashi’s words there: “you have only the judge who is in your days”.

Short depth lines

• “lecha”, for yourself, also means inward. What enters the gates of our awareness determines how we will judge people and situations.

• “Tzedek tzedek”: the repetition demands justice in the goal and in the means. You pursue a worthy court even when it is far away or inconvenient, and in Rashi’s words on the verse: “go after a fine court”.

• The responsibility of witnesses: justice is not conducted from behind a keyboard. Whoever testifies touches the blood of the accused, and therefore examines himself sevenfold.

• The ladder of authority: there is room for a local ruling, and there is a moment to know to go up and ask, in humility and self-effacement, at the place that He will choose.

In short: clean judges, clean worship, and a clean heart. That is the triangle that holds a living society on its land.