Torah of Recovery: Shoftim 2024/5784

RA & USCJ, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 1088

18. in all the settlements Literally, 'at all your gates.' We must set guardians at the gates of our souls - our mouths (that we do not lie or speak malicious gossip), our ears (that we not be eager to hear malicious gossip), and our eyes (that we not form the habit of seeing the worst in others) [Sh'nei Luhot Ha-B'rit].

Justice Annabelle Imber Tuck, The Mussar Torah Commentary, p. 301

The double exhortation of “Justice, justice shall you pursue” (Tzedek, tzedek tirdof—צֶדֶק, צֶדֶק תִּרְדֹּף; Deuteronomy 16:20) could not be more forceful. Moreover, this command is addressed to the communal “you.” It applies not only to the judges, but also to every member of the community, including succeeding generations.

Rabbi Shefa Gold, Torah Journeys, p. 191

We rely on the Judge-within to discern and make audible the subtle voices of wisdom that might otherwise be drowned out by the din of fear, jealousy, or habitual patterns of thought. He points us towards those subtle perceptions so that we can make room for their wisdom to be manifested in our lives. In the panoply of inner conversation, the Judge learns to be suspicious of certain voices, and to give absolute trust to others. A keen discernment of the forces of the inner landscape allows us to see the outside world with a new clarity. When our prejudices have been unmasked and our reactivity tempered by understanding, then we can pursue Justice wholeheartedly.

Rabbi Mark Borowitz, Finding Recovery and Yourself in Torah, p. 324

The parashah starts with the command to appoint judges and guards at all of our gates. However, the command is in the second person singular, not plural. Often in Torah the command is to “the Children of Israel” or “all the community,” and here, in reestablishing the need for a society of justice and law, the command is in the singular. Why? I think because Torah is telling us a truth that many of us forget. We cannot have a just society unless each of us is responsible and obligated to justice.

George Robinson, The Essential Torah, p. 518

Yet human justice must inevitably be flawed, as humanity is flawed. As the S’fat Emet says, the best we can do is pursue justice. As we say in a blessing that is spoken by mourners as they tear their garments, “Blessed are you Adonai, our God, Ruler of the universe, the True Judge.”

Julia Watts Belser, Torah Queeries, p. 251, 252

But the Torah obligates us to raise up judges from our own ranks. Reading again the opening verses of Parashat Shoftim from a queer perspective, we hear a call for our tribe to appoint judges and officers for ourselves. Whereas Rashi read these judges as the linchpins of a formalized legal system, a contemporary queer reading sees the judge as a metaphor for leadership and ethical authority, manifest in a variety of forms. Our judges are the ones whose discerning righteousness inspires us toward the pursuit of justice. They are the ones who will see us truly, who will speak hard truths and carry high expectations, who will call forth our own decency and goodness. We are asked to find judges who recognize the landscape of our lives, who have lived in similar terrain and can help us navigate its cliffs and fissures. We are expected to come before judges who expect holiness within us and consequently find it—who know our goodness and consequently call it forth. Judges and officers shall you give yourselves, in all your tribes...

This call to seek our own moral wisdom does not mean setting ourselves apart from the larger fabric of the Jewish people. But it does require attention to the particulars of queer insights. By requiring a judge from each tribe, the opening verse of Shoftim reminds us that these “tribal” differences matter. The Jewish community requires judges from all its tribes, in order to meet its obligation to judge with justice. In other words, the community needs judges that will honor and preserve the particulars of queer insights—and the particulars of the other tribes in our midst. To actualize our work for justice, we must strive for a radical connectivity to all our tribes.

Nachmanides on Deuteronomy 18:12, cited in Carasik, Deuteronomy: The Commentators' Torah, p. 125

With regard to sorcery, you must understand that the Creator put the upper realms in charge of those below them. Power over the earth and everyone on it was given to the stars and constellations, as we know from the science of astrology. Above the stars and constellations are the various levels of angels that are their souls. All of these, from the moment of their coming into being and on to eternity, act according to the degree of thhe Most High. Nonetheless, one of the great marvels of creation is that, no matter whether the aspect of the stars is good or bad for a particular land, people, or individual, these powers higher than the stars can change that. As the Sages say, oneg ("pleasure") can turn into nega ("plague"). For it is the Holy One who 'changes times and seasons' (Dan. 2:21), who "made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns deep darkness into dawn and darkens day into night' (Amos 5:8), without in any way diverting the world from its natural course. Under normal circumstances, the stars should determine things as their Creator naturally desired them to do.

Richard Elliott Friedman, Commentary on the Torah, p. 2918-2929

17:8. If a matter for judgment will be too daunting for you. In every law code there must be a mechanism for change and for application to new and difficult situations. Even if the law is divine law, there must be such a mechanism, and the Torah recognizes this and provides for it. It directs that in such difficult questions, the authorities (judges and priests; i.e., authorities in law and religion) in each age shall determine what to do. This has always been done in Judaism. The most obvious distinction among the movements in Judaism has been their different views of how the law changes. The primary consideration when authorities, including scholars and rabbis, determine that a law is changed is that they do so with wisdom and reverence, and not with arrogance.

Richard Elliott Friedman, Commentary on the Torah, p. 2920

17:9. the Levite priests. Historically, originally all Levites were priests. Later the Levite group that identified itself as descendants of Aaron took exclusive hold of the priesthood and limited all the other Levites to a secondary role. Thereafter a distinction was made between priests and Levites. Deuteronomy reflects the original status of all Levites and does not make this distinction between priests and Levites.

Nehama Leibowitz, Studies in Devarim, p. 172

Our rabbis understood that we must accept the decisions of contemporary spiritual leaders...do not say that the judges of bygones days were better, but respect your own judges as you do those of former times.

Richard Elliott Friedman, Commentary on the Torah, p. 2924

17:16. YHWH has said to you, ‘You shall not go back.’ No such words from God are reported prior to this. This may appear to be a problem, but it may simply be that this is Moses’ report of God’s words on this matter.

Richard Elliott Friedman, Commentary on the Torah, p. 2925

17:18. a copy of this instruction. It is unclear whether this means a copy of this Law of the King or a copy of the full law code of Deuteronomy in which it is now contained. In either case, this means that Israel has a constitutional monarchy.

RA & USCJ, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 1092

The only positive responsibility that Deuteronomy assigns the king is copying and studying God's Teaching. The aim of this law is to limit the king's power and to emphasize that he is as much subject to God's law as are the people as a whole...Note that an Israelite king, unlike many other ancient kings, was not considered to be a god or of divine birth. He would be approved by God, and he would be a servant of the people and of God...the king is not above the law. He is subject to the law.

Rabbi Shai Held, The Heart of Torah, vol 2, location 4706

The God of covenant is not an abstract, philosophical deity; God does not abandon human history, but nor does God domineeringly dictate its every turn. The God of Tanakh profoundly respects the freedom—and hence the dignity—of God’s subjects. Divine sovereignty decidedly does not entail determinism. In Tanakh not only does God not determine the future; God does not even fully know it yet. That is what genuine human freedom entails. This is one of Judaism’s most radical messages: Even in the face of all the horror and sadness, hopelessness is not a luxury permitted to us. The choices we make and the paths we take really can affect the future of the world we live in. To live with God, Tanakh reminds us, is to live in a world in which the future always remains open.

Rambam on Deuteronomy 18:13

(1) THOU SHALT BE WHOLE-HEARTED WITH THE ETERNAL THY G-D. The meaning thereof is that we are to direct our hearts to Him only, and believe that He alone does everything. It is He Who knows the truth about all future events, and from His prophets, or from His pious ones, in other words the Urim and Thummim — are we to inquire about future events. We are not to inquire of the astrologers or from anyone else, or by any means to trust that their words will be fulfilled. Instead, if we hear any prediction [of the diviners] we should say, “Everything is in the hands of Heaven, for He is the G-d of gods Who is supreme above all, the Omnipotent One over everything, Who changes the set order of the stars and constellations at His Will, Who frustrateth the tokens of the imposters, and maketh diviners mad,” and we are to believe that future events will occur according to man’s drawing closer to His service. Therefore after the warning against inquiring about future events from diviners, and of seeking on behalf of the living to the dead, he stated that you are to be whole-hearted with G-d in all these matters and not be afraid of those who tell of things to come. Rather, you should inquire of His prophet and to him shall you hearken. And this is the opinion of Onkelos who translated, “You shall be whole-hearted in the fear of the Eternal your G-d,” meaning that you should not be deficient in the fear of Him, for tamim (whole) indicates perfection in a thing, just as ‘seh tamim’ (a lamb that is perfect) means one that is without blemish and any deficiency. This verse [before us] constitutes a positive commandment. I have already mentioned this in connection with the verse, and be thou whole-hearted.

Shemot Rabbah 5: 9

...Rabbi Yochanan said, "The voice would go out and divide into seventy voices for the seventy languages, so that all the nations would hear. And each and every nation would hear in the language of the nation and their souls would depart. But Israel would hear and they were not injured."...Come and see how the voice would go out among all of Israel - each and every one according to his strength: the elders according to their strength; the young men according to their strength; the infants according to their strength; the sucklings according to their strength; the women according to their strength; and even Moshe according to his strength, as it is stated (Exodus 19:19), "Moshe would speak and God would answer him with a voice" - with a voice that He could withstand.

R. Abraham Joshua Heschel, quoted in Etz Chayim: Torah and Commentary, Rabbinical Assembly and USCJ, p. 1097

A prophet is someone who tells the truth. The prophet does not tell us what we want to know but rather tells us what God wants us to know, reminding us of our covenantal obligations. The prophet is a person who sees the world with the eyes of God, who holds God and man in one thought at a time, at all times.

Richard Elliott Friedman, Commentary on the Torah, p. 2935-2936

18:21. How shall we know. It is one of the Bible’s central and most difficult questions: How does one tell a true prophet from a false one? Moses tells the people that the way to tell a false prophet is by seeing whether his prophecy comes true or not. But that is a little late, is it not? The question was how to know at the time of the prophecy whether it is from God. Moses’ instruction appears to mean that one should go by the prophet’s past record. Even then, people’s inclination seems to be to disbelieve the true prophets. Even after Jeremiah’s prophecies of Jerusalem’s fall come to pass (and the prophecies of those who oppose him fail), as soon as he gives a prophecy that the people do not like they say, “You’re speaking a lie. YHWH hasn’t sent you” (Jer 43:2)! So Moses’ criterion for identifying false prophets may seem simple and obvious, but the psychological point is that people miss the obvious and turn instead to the comfortable.

Meg Adler, from "Between Intent and Impact," Turn it Turn It, (https://turnitturnit.substack.com/), August 30, 2022

Let us use impact to hold ourselves accountable to our wrongdoings. But also, let us use intention to forgive ourselves. Let us not say, “I did not mean to do such and such, so I am not at fault.” Let us say, “I see what hurt I have caused and I take responsibility.” And when we forgive ourselves, let us say, “I can both appreciate I was pure of heart and recognize my intention did not bear the fruit I thought it would. I will learn from this.”

RA & USCJ, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 1104

We are not to be so carried away in time of war that we forget the war will be over one day and people will have to life and feed their families in the place where battles are now raging.

Nehama Leibowitz, Studies in Devarim, p. 206

The Torah desired that the loss of a single human being who is a unique and irreplaceable specimen of his kind be taken to heart by his fellows, should shock their complacency and summon them to severe self-scrutiny. If every case of murder by persons unknown, of a corpse found in the field would give rise to such profound repercussions would this not thereby tend to reduce the number of such cases?

Nehama Leibowitz, Studies in Devarim, p. 207-208

Responsibility for wrongdoing does not only lie with the perpetrator himself and even with the accessory. Lack of proper care and attention are also criminal. Whoever keeps to his own quiet corner and refuses to have anything to do with the 'evil world,' who observes oppression and violence but does not stir a finger in protest cannot proclaim with a clear conscience that 'our hands have not shed this blood.'

Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, The Everyday Torah, p. 315

The late, great rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel observed that "in a free society, only some are guilty, but all are responsible." The biblical elders may not have physically killed the deceased. But the Torah's ritual suggests that they could have done more to prevent such crimes in the larger social context, one in which anger can be resolved in peaceful ways and in which people don't feel compelled to take revenge into their own hands. Today, we may not each be guilty, but we are all responsible.