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Torah Portion -
Shoftim
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Written by yehuda katz
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SHOFTIM
........HE (king) shall write for himself a copy of this law.....(17:18)
Rashi quotes Sanhedrin 21,that a king had 2 Torah Scrolls, one which is placed in his treasury and one which is constantly with the king. A question can be asked, why is it so important for the king to have a Torah scroll placed in the treasury? When the king places the Torah SCroll in the treasury, it reinforces the value the king places on the Torah.Psychologically speaking, a person is being mentally drawn to his or her most precious possessions,especially those found in the treasure trove.By physically having a Torah scroll in the treasury, it makes the Jewish king think and consider well what is really important in life.We can ,Bezrat Hashem, learn a very important lesson from the king.Where do we
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Torah Portion -
Shoftim
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Written by yehuda katz
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SHOFTIM
" They shall speak up and say, " Our hands have not spilled this blood, and our eyes did not see." (21:7)
If a dead body is found outside a city, the Torah obligates the city closest to the body to testify in their defense. The elders of the closest city must than take an unyoked calf to an uncultivated area and kill the calf by breaking its neck. The elders wash their hands,and declare verse 21:7 above. Rashi comments that the elders must affirm that they never saw this person in their city, for had they known about him, they would have provided him with food, shelter, and a proper escort for his protection. (Please refer to Rashi for further details.)
A question can be asked, why are "hands" being used in the declaration made by the elders in defending themselves ? They should have just simply say, "We are innocent in this person's death." There is something about "hands" that is significant in this regard. I would like to propose the following original answer,
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Torah Portion -
Shoftim
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Written by Daniel Sandground
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Parashas Shoftim – Guard Your Senses
This week's sedra is Parashas Shoftim which contains many commandments, both new and re-spoken by Moshe concerning the establishment of a just society in Eretz Yisrael. The sedra also contains a variety of laws pertaining to the protection of the Torah from encroachment by those who might try and weaken its authority, for example a rebellious elder or a haughty king. Sforno explains that majority of the commandments found in parashas Shoftim are actually directed towards the leaders of the nation themselves because their conduct has such a powerful influence on the rest of the people, for hopefully good, but potentially bad. So what better way to start the sedra than with the commandment to establish a just judicial system with the Torah stating that... “Judges and officers shall you appoint in all your gates” [16:18]. Rashi informs us that we also learn out from this opening possuk that the Torah is commanding us to set up courts of law in every city of Eretz Yisrael with the intention for cases to be judged locally and therefore speedily. One of the biggest problems that is apparent in the contemporary world in fighting crime
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Torah Portion -
Shoftim
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Written by d fine
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The start of perek 21 (1-9) is devoted to an ostensibly odd topic, known as the eglah arufah. Briefly, if a corpse is found between two cities and the murderer is unknown, then there is an entire ceremony involving offering a cow in the valley between the cities, with a form of confession verbalised by the elders of the nearest city to the corpse. What exactly is going on here? The Ibn Ezra writes that the ceremony is aimed at atoning for the sins of the town nearest to where the corpse was found, for had they been free of sin, such a thing would never have happened in close proximity to them. The Rambam takes a different and more rational approach. In his Moreh Nevuchim (3:40 - cited by the Ramban here), the Rambam writes that this grand ceremony publicises the murder, which should lead to the killer being discovered (since everyone will be talking about it and everyone will be trying to find out who the murderer was). The Ramban, however, explains that this entire ceremony is a form of korban, and as such comes to achieve certain levels of atonement and closeness to HaShem, with its deeper facets hidden from our understanding and knowledge.
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Torah Portion -
Shoftim
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Written by d fine
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In our parsha we are commanded (18:13) ‘be complete (tamim) with HaShem, your God.’ What does this mean and involve? Rashi writes that we are not to go looking into what the future will hold - just accept everything with full trust and faith in HaShem; He takes care of us. This explains the connection to the next few psukim, which deplores the use of magic (something often used to predict or find out the future). However, the Chofetz Chaim highlights that it only says that one must fully trust HaShem - it does not extend the same level of trust to fellow humans. This means, as the Chofetz Chaim explains, that one is not to be naïve in trusting everyone; before relying on someone, make sure they are trustworthy - one cannot merely fully assume so from the outset.
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