From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Friday, September 09, 2005 12:41 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas Shoftim, 5765





                                                Too Long to Wait

                 By Rabbi Joshua (impatiently known as The Hoffer) Hoffman


We have mentioned, in the past, a certain peculiar feature of the book of Devorim that does not apply to the other books of the Torah. The Talmud tells us that even Rabbi Yehuda, who does not usually try to find significance in the juxtaposition of various topics in the Torah ('ein dorshin semuchim'), does so when it comes to the book of Devorim. This feature is brought out at the beginning of this week's parsha by the many commentators who try to find a connection between the end of parshas Re'eh, which deals with the obligation of all Jews to come to the Temple three times a year, on the holidays of Sukkos, Pesach and Shavuos, and bring certain sacrifices, and the beginning of parshas Shoftim, in which the nation is told to appoint judges in every city in the Holy Land. Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra, in his commentary to the beginning of parshas Shoftim, explains the connection to be a notice to the nation that even though they go to Jerusalem three times a year, and can consult with the kohanim there in order to know what their Torah obligations are, that is not sufficient. Rather, they need to appoint judges in all of their cities. I believe we can expand on his remarks and explain that even though there is a high court in Jerusalem where they can bring their cases for consideration, they should not delay the process of adjudication in order to bring their cases up during their pilgrimage. Rather, they should appoint judges and set up courts of judges in the various cities in the Holy Land, so that their cases can be tried forthwith, without delay. Although there are many other approaches offered by the commentators to explain the juxtaposition of the two sections of the Torah (see Pardes Yosef by Rabbi Yosef Potzenanski for an extensive presentation of them) I would like to focus on this explanation of Ibn Ezra, and further expand upon it.

 The Torah commands all males to go up to Jerusalem three times a year and appear before God at the Temple. In addition, no one is to appear there without bringing a sacrifice to God. We explained, in Netvort to parshas Re'eh, 5759 (available at Torahheights.com), that this was a way of projecting outward the collective character of the nation. The Jewish people was charged at Mt. Sinai to serve as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, and this character of the nation is displayed in its most intense form when it gathers three times a year at the Temple. To facilitate this process of projecting the collective character of the nation as a unified whole, the rabbis trusted the Amei Ha Aretz, or those people who were not, in general, careful about the laws of purity and impurity, to say that they had not touched holy objects while in a state of impurity. The Talmud in Chagigah (26a), explains this on the basis of a verse in the book of Shoftim (20:11) :" Then all the people of Yisroel gathered together at the city, as one man, as friends (chaverim). " Since the entire nation gathered together during these three times of pilgrimage, they are all considered as 'chaverim,' literally meaning friends, but, on another level, understood to mean, having the status of 'chaver,' or a person who is careful about observing all aspects of Jewish law. With this aspect of the thrice-yearly pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Temple in mind, we can understand the connection between the end of parshas Re'eh and the beginning of parshas Shoftim.


 Rashi, in the beginning of parshas Shoftim, cites the Talmudic dictum that the appointment of proper judges is worthy of keeping the Jewish nation alive and settling them upon the Holy Land. It is, in fact, interesting to note that this dictum is derived from the verse, " Righteousness, righteousness you shall pursue" (Devorim 16:20). The word for 'pursue' is 'tirdof,' which means, literally,  to run after, so that the verse is telling us that we must, literally, expedite the adjudication of disputes. This would conform with the explanation of the Ibn Ezra, that people should not wait from one holiday pilgrimage to the next to present their cases to the courts. Why, however, is it that the appointment of proper judges is connected to the establishment of the Jewish nation on its land ? In Netvort to parshas Devorim, we explained that the purpose of a judicial system is to maintain peace among the nation, and in order for the Jewish people to endure in the land, they must care for each other and work together as a unit. The rabbis tell us that it is a mitzvoh for the judges to adjudicate on the basis of peshara, or compromise, taking into consideration the special circumstances of each party to the litigation. However, in order to do so, the judges, need the consent of the litigants, as well. The spirit of unity and mutual cooperation that pervaded the nation during their time in Jerusalem for the holidays could therefore be exploited by the judges to convince the parties to the cases they were judging to agree to accept a peshara, and thereby maintain an atmosphere of unity and mutual respect during the rest of the year, as well. In this way, the larger task of serving as God's nation, united in its quest for holiness within everyday life, could be successfully pursued. For this reason, the section of the Torah mandating the appointment of judges follows directly after the section on the thrice-yearly pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Temple.


 Please address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.

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