TorahParsha

Ideal worlds

for Parshat Shoftim 

 

i

Moses says:

When you have a king,

let him not amass many horses—

lest he send you to Egypt

(a land of horses)

to bring more back.

 

And Moses says:

Do not take a king

from another nation.

Choose him from amongst your brothers.

 

ii

Moses says:

The tribe of Levi,

the tribe of the priests,

will have no ancestral land

as the other tribes do.

Levi will be dispersed

across the people.

 

If a Levite wants,

he may journey to God’s Temple

and serve there beside his brothers.

 

iii

Moses says:

Do not practice the pagan arts—

do not pass your child through fire;

do not turn to mediums

consulting the dead.

 

Turn, instead, to the prophet

whom God has chosen

from amongst your brothers.

 

iv

Egypt,

ancestors,

the dead

are of the past.

Children are of the future.

All are of worlds

that exist chiefly in our minds.

 

But your brother is not of the mind.

Your brother is a real person

here with you,

beside you.

He is the subject

of your kingship

your priesthood

your prophecy

your nation

your religion.

 

Not a grand vision:

a human being.

 

 

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Shabbat shalom,

Abe

Deut 17:14-18:15

Please pray for Yechiel ben Michal and Daniel Yehuda ben Ariella. May HaShem heal them.

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When you discover yourself, who do you discover?

for Parshat Shoftim

 

i

A king of Israel

may not come from a foreign nation;

we choose him from amongst his brothers.

*

He must live simply:

he may not have

too many horses;

he may not have

too much silver or gold.

*

He must write these things in a book.

He must read from this book 

all the days of his life:

so that he will not raise his heart

above his brothers.

 

ii

These are Laws of kingship.

But they are also a matter of a man

who writes something down

to remind himself of who he is.

Reading what he has written

in his own hand,

he finds himself.

*

He finds that he is no one too special

but only a part of a wider fabric.

*

That fabric is his people.

 

 

 __

Inspired by a comment of Robert Bly

 

___

Shabbat shalom,

Abe

I have interpreted the text’s reference to “mishneh hatorah” as the teaching (= torah) of the Laws of Kings discussed in this section—and not, as the Rabbis and most classical commentators write, to Torah in its entirety. I hope that this reading, too, is Torah.

 

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How the Promised Land is just like anywhere else

for Parshat Shoftim

 

i

Moses says:

Let a judge not take bribes: for a bribe blinds justice.

Let a king not grow arrogant over his brothers.

Put down the false prophet.

Let the weak-hearted soldier go home

and not dishearten his comrades.

If you find a murdered corpse between cities

and cannot find the murderer,

let the city elders

from the closest city

hold a ceremony, to say:

we did not shed this blood.

And you shall take away bloodshed,

by doing what is right in God’s eyes.

 

ii

These are Laws

for a time of judges,

kings,

prophets,

wars,

elders:

an established life

in the Land of God’s promise,

the Land with the eyes of God upon it. 

*

These are Laws of bribe-taking judges

and arrogant kings

and false prophets

and cowardly soldiers

and city elders stumped by murder

near their own cities.

*

That is the Promised Land.

It is like everywhere else.

 

iii

But here is the Promise:

a life with the eyes of God upon it;

and you doing what is right in God’s eyes,

under God’s eyes. 

The Promise  

is the Promise

of an ordinary life

with God.

 

 

_________

Shabbat Shalom,

Abe

 

 

Ayelet Yakira bat Chaya Hinda Matel Nechama, the one-year-old I have mentioned for the past many weeks, has received her bone marrow transplant. Please pray for the transplant’s success.

 

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For further reading, consider: Hirhurim – Jewish Ideas Daily - Rabbi Jonathan Sack’s writings –Pardes  - The Virtual Beit Midrash – Yeshiva University Online

 

Thought for Parshat Shoftim

How is your youth connected to your older self?

 

i

When the king of Israel sits upon his throne,

he shall write himself a book of Torah

he shall keep that book with him

he shall read of it all the days of his life:

that he may learn to fear HaShem his God

that he may prolong the days of his kingdom.

 

ii

When you first sit upon your throne, you write out a Torah.

You will keep this Torah close at hand.

When you are a successful king, and busy to distraction, and your head is full from power—you will have made it easy for yourself to peer back into that Torah.

 

iii

Peering into this Torah, you will learn to fear HaShem.

You will not remember to fear HaShem.

You will learn to fear HaShem.

You will learn something new.

*
What will be new in this Torah?

Not the words.

What will be new in this Torah is your actual life—viewed through the prism of the words, viewed in a way to bring you to God.

 

iv
Your youth will offer Torah for your lived life.

Your lived life will translate that Torah to the fear of God.

Your Torah will only be realized across the entirety of your life.

Your Torah will join all your years together.

 

 

___________

I cannot remember where I first heard this idea.

 

___________

Shabbat shalom, Abe

___________

If you enjoyed this thought, please share it with a friend.

Please continue to pray for Ahuvah Rachel bat Orah, and for Rachel Tovah bat Yehudit Esther.

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Prophets not Voodooists

i
There shall be no one who uses divination, or a soothsayer, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a medium, or a wizard, or a necromancer in your midst, Moses says.

For God has said: I will give you a prophet...and he shall speak to the people all that I shall command.

You must listen to that prophet.

ii
The soothsayer, the charmer, the medium (the fortune-teller, the voodooist) are people whose role in life is to place the spirit-world at the service of whoever hires them.

Hiring them, you say: Answer my question, fulfill my want, make me the focus of the whole metaphysical universe.

iii
But the prophet delivers the command of God.

He tells you what you must do.

He gives you responsibility in life.

iv
Do not turn to the soothsayer, Moses says.

Listen to the prophet.

Based on the philosophy of Rabbi Jonathan Sachs.
With gratitude, as always, to the editing of my wife Kathi.

Shabbat shalom, Abe
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