"JUDGES AND OFFICERS"

It’s never easy, but the rewards far outweigh the loss. I am referring to the beautiful (although tiring) custom of Sephardic Jews to begin the recitation of Selihot at the beginning of the month of Elul. It’s not easy because I like my sleep and having to wake up at 4:30 AM gives me little of it. But it is rewarding because the service is very beautiful, and making the effort is what the period leading up to the High Holidays is all about.

Th e High Holidays are about personal growth, and to do that we cannot treat them with a “business as usual” approach. During this time we must be especially on guard to identify our weaknesses and implement a strategy to improve on them. Like the businessman who is constantly evaluating and re-evaluating his business to see where improvements can be made, so must we be doing on a personal level as well. If we constantly pour money into upgrading our computers then it behooves us to put in at least the same effort to upgrade ourselves.

It is with this in mind that I wish to take a close look at the opening words of this weeks’ Torah portion entitled “Shofetim”. The text begins with the following statement, “Judges and police officers shall you establish for yourself in all of your gates that the Lord your G-d establishes for you among your tribes, and they shall judge the nation with righteous judgment” (Devarim 16:18).

When reading the verse in Hebrew it presents us with a grammatical inconsistency. The words “judges and police officers” are in the plural, as is the command to “judge the nation”. Yet the command to establish them is in the singular “for yourself” (tit en lecha) and not “for yourselves” (titnu lachem) in the plural. In addition the word “Gates” is in the personal “sheh-arekha” and not in the plural “sheh-arekhem”.

The usage of the singular makes little sense not only grammatically, but thematically. After all the obligation to appoint judges and officers is incumbent on the entire nation. Why then would the Torah refer to this process in the singular as if you say that every person is obligated to establish a judge and an officer for themselves?

The Kabbalists have an interesting explanation for this discrepancy, one that is important as we prepare for the High Holidays. Rabbi Hayim Vital (the main student of the ARI) explains, in a very esoteric manner, that every person has five gates. These gates relate to our five senses which are the way we relate and experience the world around us. Our senses can be used for good or they can be abused. For example we can use our mouths to pray and speak nicely about others or we can use the same mouth to slander and gossip. We can use our hands to comfort and give charity or we can use them for violence. Rabbi Hayim Vital explains that in order to make sure that we are using all of our senses (which he=2 0calls gates) for good; we must establish a judge and police officer for each sense. Within us there must be a mechanism that judges the way we use our senses, and then another mechanism to make sure that we use them properly. For example when we speak we must afterwards judge if we used our speech properly. If we didn’t, then we must determine how to correct the problem and use our speech for the good. Once we have identified the correct course of action we must appoint a police officer to make sure that speak properly.

This, he explains, is why the verse goes from the plural to the singular. Besides establishing judges and officers for the entire nation the Torah is also encouraging us to establish personal judges and officers, to ensure our personal upgrade.

This idea is also explained beautifully by Rabbi Samson Rafael Hirsch in his commentary in the Book of Shemot regarding the building of the Temple. Immediately preceding the obligation to build a Mishkan/Temple the text states the following, “G-d spoke to Moses thus saying: Speak to the children of Israel that they may take for me an elevated offering (Terumah)…and this they shall take, gold, silver, and copper” (Shemot 25:1-3).

Why does the Torah specifically obligate the bringing of gold, silver, and copper? Rabbi Samson Rafael Hirsch in his commentary explains, “In all of these scriptural passages metals symbolize varying degrees of moral truth and purity. Copper symbolizes baseness or nature still in its unrefined state. Silver denotes a more advanced stage at which the object is still in need of more purification but has become clearly amenable to refinement. Gold which can withstand the most rigorous tests is taken as the symbol of the purest most genuine form of moral nobleness” (Hirsch on Humash Shemot 25:8).

Rabbi Hirsch also identifies a personal process of refinement. He too recognizes that human beings must always be in a state of self improvement. We all begin as unrefined copper and hopefully somewhere during our lives we become beautifully refined gold. How do we do that? Our Parasha offers the answer. By appointing personal judges and officers to evaluate our character traits, and help insure that we will improve them.

As we enter into the month of Elul, let us all hope that this period will be a productive one. May we all merit to stand before G- d on Yom Kippur as finely refined gold.

Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Yosef Benarroch

SEC Jerusalem 

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