Weekly Torah Study: Shoftim 5783/2023

ByNeil Tow

Weekly Torah Study

TRANSLITERATION

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu laasok b’divrei Torah.

TRANSLATION

Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of all, who hallows us with mitzvot, commanding us to engage with words of Torah

Dedication - to Chen Amir, a police officer in Tel Aviv who was killed by a terrorist when he and his partner confronted the individual. May his memory be for a blessing.

במדבר ט״ו:ל״ב-ל״ד

(לב) וַיִּהְי֥וּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר וַֽיִּמְצְא֗וּ אִ֛ישׁ מְקֹשֵׁ֥שׁ עֵצִ֖ים בְּי֥וֹם הַשַּׁבָּֽת׃ (לג) וַיַּקְרִ֣יבוּ אֹת֔וֹ הַמֹּצְאִ֥ים אֹת֖וֹ מְקֹשֵׁ֣שׁ עֵצִ֑ים אֶל־מֹשֶׁה֙ וְאֶֽל־אַהֲרֹ֔ן וְאֶ֖ל כׇּל־הָעֵדָֽה׃ (לד) וַיַּנִּ֥יחוּ אֹת֖וֹ בַּמִּשְׁמָ֑ר כִּ֚י לֹ֣א פֹרַ֔שׁ מַה־יֵּעָשֶׂ֖ה לֽוֹ׃ {ס}

Numbers 15:32-34

(32) Once, when the Israelites were in the wilderness, they came upon a man gathering wood on the sabbath day. (33) Those who found him as he was gathering wood brought him before Moses, Aaron, and the community leadership. (34) He was placed in custody, for it had not been specified what should be done to him.

דברים י״ז:ח׳-י״ג

(ח) כִּ֣י יִפָּלֵא֩ מִמְּךָ֨ דָבָ֜ר לַמִּשְׁפָּ֗ט בֵּֽין־דָּ֨ם ׀ לְדָ֜ם בֵּֽין־דִּ֣ין לְדִ֗ין וּבֵ֥ין נֶ֙גַע֙ לָנֶ֔גַע דִּבְרֵ֥י רִיבֹ֖ת בִּשְׁעָרֶ֑יךָ וְקַמְתָּ֣ וְעָלִ֔יתָ אֶ֨ל־הַמָּק֔וֹם אֲשֶׁ֥ר יִבְחַ֛ר ה' אֱלֹקֶ֖יךָ בּֽוֹ׃ (ט) וּבָאתָ֗ אֶל־הַכֹּהֲנִים֙ הַלְוִיִּ֔ם וְאֶ֨ל־הַשֹּׁפֵ֔ט אֲשֶׁ֥ר יִהְיֶ֖ה בַּיָּמִ֣ים הָהֵ֑ם וְדָרַשְׁתָּ֙ וְהִגִּ֣ידוּ לְךָ֔ אֵ֖ת דְּבַ֥ר הַמִּשְׁפָּֽט׃ (י) וְעָשִׂ֗יתָ עַל־פִּ֤י הַדָּבָר֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יַגִּ֣ידֽוּ לְךָ֔ מִן־הַמָּק֣וֹם הַה֔וּא אֲשֶׁ֖ר יִבְחַ֣ר ה' וְשָׁמַרְתָּ֣ לַעֲשׂ֔וֹת כְּכֹ֖ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר יוֹרֽוּךָ׃ (יא) עַל־פִּ֨י הַתּוֹרָ֜ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר יוֹר֗וּךָ וְעַל־הַמִּשְׁפָּ֛ט אֲשֶׁר־יֹאמְר֥וּ לְךָ֖ תַּעֲשֶׂ֑ה לֹ֣א תָס֗וּר מִן־הַדָּבָ֛ר אֲשֶׁר־יַגִּ֥ידֽוּ לְךָ֖ יָמִ֥ין וּשְׂמֹֽאל׃ (יב) וְהָאִ֞ישׁ אֲשֶׁר־יַעֲשֶׂ֣ה בְזָד֗וֹן לְבִלְתִּ֨י שְׁמֹ֤עַ אֶל־הַכֹּהֵן֙ הָעֹמֵ֞ד לְשָׁ֤רֶת שָׁם֙ אֶת־ה' אֱלֹקֶ֔יךָ א֖וֹ אֶל־הַשֹּׁפֵ֑ט וּמֵת֙ הָאִ֣ישׁ הַה֔וּא וּבִֽעַרְתָּ֥ הָרָ֖ע מִיִּשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ (יג) וְכׇל־הָעָ֖ם יִשְׁמְע֣וּ וְיִרָ֑אוּ וְלֹ֥א יְזִיד֖וּן עֽוֹד׃ {ס}

Deuteronomy 17:8-13

(8) If a case is too baffling for you to decide, be it a controversy over homicide, civil law, or assault—matters of dispute in your courts—you shall promptly repair to the place that your God ה' will have chosen, (9) and appear before the levitical priests, or the magistrate in charge at the time, and present your problem. When they have announced to you the verdict in the case, (10) you shall carry out the verdict that is announced to you from that place that ה' chose, observing scrupulously all their instructions to you. (11) You shall act in accordance with the instructions given you and the ruling handed down to you; you must not deviate from the verdict that they announce to you either to the right or to the left. (12) Should either party [to the dispute] act presumptuously and disregard the priest charged with serving there your God ה', or the magistrate, that party shall die. Thus you will sweep out evil from Israel: (13) all the people will hear and be afraid and will not act presumptuously again.

What does it mean to to be "too baffling for you to decide"?

ספורנו על דברים י״ז:ח׳

(א) כי יפלא ממך. אע"פ שמניתם השופטים בכל עיר ועיר כדי שכל ב"ד ישפוט את עירו הנה בהולד ספק איך היה מפי השמועה לא ישפטוהו ב"ד של אותה העיר כפי מחשבתם אבל יהיה פסק דין כפי מחשבת רוב ב"ד הגדול וכן כשלא ירבו אלו על אלו:

Sforno on Deuteronomy 17:8

(1) כי יפלא ממך, even though you have appointed competent judges in each town and city, in order that each court would dispense justice in its home base, if a doubt arises as to what the correct ruling is according to reliable tradition, the local court is not to hand down a ruling according to their opinion when it is not supported by authentic tradition, but the problem should be submitted to the Supreme Court, Sanhedrin. The same holds true when the judges in the local court were deadlocked.

Send the case up to a higher court

חזקוני, דברים י״ז:ח׳:ב׳

(ב) ממך דבר עם הדיין מדבר אפילו אם נעלם ממך הדין שבא לפניך להמית המת ע״‎י העדות של השנים או השלושה לכך סמכו כאן.

Chizkuni, Deuteronomy 17:8:2

(2) ממך דבר, “the Torah addresses a specific judge who is unable to determine whether the accused in a capital case deserves the death penalty. The Torah lists three different categories of subjects in which the judge in question does not feel competent to hand down a ruling. [All three categories are subjects for which the priests are the proper address to give rulings. Ed.]

Limit this teaching to a capital case

אור החיים על דברים י״ז:ח׳:ב׳

(ב) או ירצה על זה הדרך כי יפלא וגו' למשפט הגם שהיה הלכה למעשה והורה לעשות הפך כוונת החולקים ונמצא הדין לא כן הוא אף על פי שהורה בדבר שחייב על זדונו כרת וכו' לא יומת פירוש הגם שהורה לעשות הפך הרבים החולקים עליו לא יומת עד שיורה לעשות הפך אשר יגידו עליו בית דין הגדול שבלשכת הגזית, וכן מוכיחים הדברים בסנהדרין:

Or HaChaim on Deuteronomy 17:8:2

(2) We may also approach the verse from the following angle. כי יפלא …למשפט, "Even if the dissenting opinion was issued as an instruction to act contrary to the majority ruling of the local court, and it is proven that the majority opinion was in error, if the subject matter was one where deliberately sinning carries the karet penalty, etc., the dissenting judge will not be executed unless he repeated the same ruling in the face of the majority opinion of the Supreme Court, openly defying them." This is also the concensus of the sages in the Talmud on the application of this halachah.

The teaching applies only in a specific case
It is directed toward a judge - to prevent the judge from ruling against the Supreme Court's opinion

רבנו בחיי, דברים י״ז:ח׳

(א) כי יפלא ממך דבר. לשון העלמה, כמו (בראשית י״ח:י״ד) היפלא מה' דבר.
בין דם לדם. בין דם נקי לדם חייב, או בין דם טמא לדם טהור.
בין דין לדין. הוא הממון.
בין נגע לנגע. הכאות וחבלות, כגון פצע וחבורה.
דברי ריבות. הוא הכלל.

Rabbeinu Bahya, Devarim 17:8

(1) כי יפלא ממך דבר, “if some matter is hidden from you;” the word יפלא describes something concealed as we know already from Genesis 18,14 where the Torah makes the point that no future event (or past) is concealed from Hashem.
בין דם לדם, “between blood and blood,” i.e. someone who shed blood and is guilty of bloodshed and someone who shed blood and is innocent (self-defense, for instance).
בין דין לדין, “between justice and justice,” in disputes concerning financial matters; (Ibn Ezra).
בין נגע לנגע, “between plague and plague;” injuries and liability for compensation for them (Ibn Ezra).
דברי ריבות, “conflicting arguments;” this applies to all the above.

The teaching is a general rule re: cases in which there are unknowns, lack of clarity

V. 8. כי יפלא וגו׳. Verses 8-13 establish the supreme court functioning at the central site of the sanctuary of the law as the supreme and sole authority in whose jurisdiction the authentic tradition and interpretation of the law, as well as every arrangement for the correct execution of the same, rest with final decision-making power, which thus governs the people in whole as well as its law-teaching officials have to follow without objection for the legal practice. — כי יפלא. We have recognized Wajikra 22, 21 in פלא, Miracle, such an event, which appears out of all connection with the existing order of things and completely independent of it from the pure act of will of the divine omnipotence. Incoherent separateness is the basic meaning of פלא. For the function that teaches the law and is decisive according to the law, it therefore designates a case in which the functionary lacks connection and analogy with other established norms and facts of the law from which he could derive the decision with certainty: the case is his פלא. At the same time, it is assumed (according to Sanhedrin 87a) that: here we are dealing with a person who is otherwise fully competent to make decisions about the law, and not with someone who is not at all called to make decisions about the law. Such would not be subject to the v. 12 pronounced consequences of a זקן ממרה, an authority acting contrary to the highest tribunal, כי יפלא ממך דבר ,במופלא שבב׳׳ד הכתוב למעוטי תלמיד (Tossfot Sanhedrin 87a). To a תלמיד שלא הגיע להוראה everything is פלא (see רמ׳׳בם in the commentary on משנה).
-R. Samson Raphael Hirsch

as it is written (Deuteronomy 17:8-11): "If there be concealed from you a matter of judgment… then you shall arise and go up to the place that the L-rd your G-d will choose… According to the Torah that they teach you and according to the judgment that they tell you shall you do. Do not depart from the thing that they tell you right or left…" On this the tradition of our sages of blessed memory has come down to us (Sifrei, Shoftim 154): "Even if they tell you that right is left and that left is right." That is, even if it is obvious to you that the ruling of the Sanhedrin is not in accordance with the truth, in spite of this, heed them. For this is what the Blessed One decreed, that we conduct ourselves in the laws of the Torah and its mitzvoth according to their decisions, whether these decisions do or do not accord with the truth. This is exemplified in the episode of R. Yehoshua and R. Gamliel (Rosh Hashanah 25b), R. Gamliel [the Nassi] commanding R. Yehoshua to come to him with his staff and his money on the day of Yom Kippur according to his [R. Yehoshua's] reckoning, and R. Yehoshua complying. For once the Torah has relegated the power of decision to them, then what they decide represents the L-rd's commandment. And this is the basis of our conviction concerning the mitzvoth of the Torah and its laws that we are fulfilling the will of the Blessed One so long as we rely upon the ruling of the great sages of the generation respecting them.
Drashot HaRan 11:20, 14th c. Spain

The rulings of the Sages 'fulfill the will of God'
How did this happen?
Let's look at what may be a familiar story...

בבא מציעא נ״ט ב:א׳-ה׳

וזה הוא תנור של עכנאי מאי עכנאי אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל שהקיפו דברים כעכנא זו וטמאוהו תנא באותו היום השיב רבי אליעזר כל תשובות שבעולם ולא קיבלו הימנו אמר להם אם הלכה כמותי חרוב זה יוכיח נעקר חרוב ממקומו מאה אמה ואמרי לה ארבע מאות אמה אמרו לו אין מביאין ראיה מן החרוב חזר ואמר להם אם הלכה כמותי אמת המים יוכיחו חזרו אמת המים לאחוריהם אמרו לו אין מביאין ראיה מאמת המים חזר ואמר להם אם הלכה כמותי כותלי בית המדרש יוכיחו הטו כותלי בית המדרש ליפול גער בהם רבי יהושע אמר להם אם תלמידי חכמים מנצחים זה את זה בהלכה אתם מה טיבכם לא נפלו מפני כבודו של רבי יהושע ולא זקפו מפני כבודו של ר"א ועדיין מטין ועומדין חזר ואמר להם אם הלכה כמותי מן השמים יוכיחו יצאתה בת קול ואמרה מה לכם אצל ר"א שהלכה כמותו בכ"מ עמד רבי יהושע על רגליו ואמר (דברים ל, יב) לא בשמים היא מאי לא בשמים היא אמר רבי ירמיה שכבר נתנה תורה מהר סיני אין אנו משגיחין בבת קול שכבר כתבת בהר סיני בתורה (שמות כג, ב) אחרי רבים להטות אשכחיה רבי נתן לאליהו א"ל מאי עביד קוב"ה בההיא שעתא א"ל קא חייך ואמר נצחוני בני נצחוני בני

Bava Metzia 59b:1-5

And this is known as the oven of akhnai. The Gemara asks: What is the relevance of akhnai, a snake, in this context? Rav Yehuda said that Shmuel said: It is characterized in that manner due to the fact that the Rabbis surrounded it with their statements like this snake, which often forms a coil when at rest, and deemed it impure. The Sages taught: On that day, when they discussed this matter, Rabbi Eliezer answered all possible answers in the world to support his opinion, but the Rabbis did not accept his explanations from him. After failing to convince the Rabbis logically, Rabbi Eliezer said to them: If the halakha is in accordance with my opinion, this carob tree will prove it. The carob tree was uprooted from its place one hundred cubits, and some say four hundred cubits. The Rabbis said to him: One does not cite halakhic proof from the carob tree. Rabbi Eliezer then said to them: If the halakha is in accordance with my opinion, the stream will prove it. The water in the stream turned backward and began flowing in the opposite direction. They said to him: One does not cite halakhic proof from a stream. Rabbi Eliezer then said to them: If the halakha is in accordance with my opinion, the walls of the study hall will prove it. The walls of the study hall leaned inward and began to fall. Rabbi Yehoshua scolded the walls and said to them: If Torah scholars are contending with each other in matters of halakha, what is the nature of your involvement in this dispute? The Gemara relates: The walls did not fall because of the deference due Rabbi Yehoshua, but they did not straighten because of the deference due Rabbi Eliezer, and they still remain leaning. Rabbi Eliezer then said to them: If the halakha is in accordance with my opinion, Heaven will prove it. A Divine Voice emerged from Heaven and said: Why are you differing with Rabbi Eliezer, as the halakha is in accordance with his opinion in every place that he expresses an opinion? Rabbi Yehoshua stood on his feet and said: It is written: “It is not in heaven” (Deuteronomy 30:12). The Gemara asks: What is the relevance of the phrase “It is not in heaven” in this context? Rabbi Yirmeya says: Since the Torah was already given at Mount Sinai, we do not regard a Divine Voice, as You already wrote at Mount Sinai, in the Torah: “After a majority to incline” (Exodus 23:2). Since the majority of Rabbis disagreed with Rabbi Eliezer’s opinion, the halakha is not ruled in accordance with his opinion. The Gemara relates: Years after, Rabbi Natan encountered Elijah the prophet and said to him: What did the Holy One, Blessed be He, do at that time, when Rabbi Yehoshua issued his declaration? Elijah said to him: The Holy One, Blessed be He, smiled and said: My children have triumphed over Me; My children have triumphed over Me.

"We thus see that in the rabbinic period, halakhic authorities were torn about whether credence should be given to claims of divine revelation after Sinai, with R. Joshua representing the negative camp and R. Eliezer representing the positive camp. The latter view appears in the Dead Sea Scrolls from Qumran (2^nd cent. B.C.E.–1^st cent.C.E.).^[14] Like R. Joshua in the Talmud, the Qumran sect derives their position from a verse in the very same speech of Moses towards the end of Deuteronomy, both of which appear in Parashat Nitzavim."
https://www.thetorah.com/article/does-god-have-halakhic-authority
by Professor Andrew D. Gross

"As one author explains, thanks to the midrashic reading of the verse, "...God himself acquiesced in His exclusion from the halakhic process. Having revealed His will in Sinai in the grundnorm, He Himself, according to the Rabbinic explanation, entrusted the interpretation of His will to the Sages."^[4]
Roth, p.124. Cp. Elon on the absolute authority of the sages, ch.7:4. from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_in_Heaven#cite_note-4