Torah · Weekly Parasha VideoParashat ShoftimRabbi Uri Nahum · June 19, 2017 · Shoftim · שופטים · 15 Min Parasha RoundupSave⌄ShareParasha class with Rabbi Uri Nahum, from BSD Productions’ 15 Min Parasha Roundup.Transcript0:05Parashat Shoftim, 97 pesukim in this week's0:09parasha, and when we see Parashat Shoftim, we should know we are around the month of Elul,0:13whether we're in the month of Elul or Elul is around the corner.0:17This is the parasha of the Jewish leaders.0:21Almost all the mitzvot in this week's parasha have to do with the Jewish leaders, as we'll see.0:25We divide the parasha this week into six topics.0:28Number one, the Torah tells us about the mitzvot of the Jewish courts.0:33Number two, Torah tells us the mitzvot and the laws of the Jewish king.0:37Number three are the mitzvot and the laws of shevet Levi.0:41Number four, the mitzvot and the laws of the prophets, of the0:45nevi'im. Number five, the Torah tells us about the mitzvot and the laws of murder.0:48And finally, number six, the Torah tells us in the last part of this week's0:53parasha the laws and mitzvot of going to war.0:57Forty-one mitzvot in this week's parasha, fourteen mitzvat aseh and1:03twenty-seven mitzvat lo ta'aseh. In Sefer HaChinuch, the numbers are from number 491 until number 531.1:08Let's get to the parasha now in depth a little bit more.1:11First part of the parasha, Torah tells us about the mitzvot of the Jewish courts,1:14and the Torah begins,1:19Shoftim v'shotrim titen lecha b'chol she'arecha. You must appoint for yourselves judges and officers.1:23What's the purpose of having judges and1:25officers? Judges are the ones who decide the law based on the generation and the times,1:31and the officers are the ones who make sure that the law is kept.1:34They enforce the law,1:35and that's the need for both judges and officers.1:39Next, the Torah tells us a case where a person who worships1:44avodah zarah and he's supposed to be executed.1:46As we know, the halacha is that anybody who worships avodah zarah must be executed.1:50Chiddush of this part of the parashah, Torah teaches us1:54that when it comes to execution, or really any time that the court has to execute any sort of judgment,1:59it has to be done by two witnesses.2:03The next part of this section, the Torah tells us a very novel idea,2:08and that is, if we have a case when we have a doubt about what the law is,2:13the Torah says you may go and ask the leaders and the judges of those times.2:19What's the Torah teaching us?2:20Of course, if I don't know halachah, I'm going to ask the rabbi.2:22The answer is that even though we don't have any source of it,2:28we don't have a source to this question.2:30It's a new question just arose.2:31We don't know. This case never came up.2:34It's not written in2:35the Torah, it's not written in the Torah shebichtav or Torah2:38shebe'al peh. Torah gave us a chiddush that we have permission to ask the rabbis and the leaders of that specific generation.2:44And this is where we get the heter that we have the2:48poskim that decide the halachot in each and every single generation and each community.2:53Where they come from, it's not written down.2:54The answer is, Torah gave them the right, as it says over here in this week's2:59parashah and as the Rambam explains in3:02Hilchot Mamrim. The Torah also points out that if there is, in the times of the Sanhedrin,3:07even a rabbi who knows what the psak of the Sanhedrin was on a certain case,3:13and he disagrees with them,3:14and he goes out and teaches publicly a ruling against what the Sanhedrin said,3:20he is called a zaken mamre, and his3:24chayav mitah b'chenek. He is killed by choking, to the eyes of all the Jewish people,3:26that everybody should learn that no one, and absolutely no one,3:30could go against the ruling of the Sanhedrin.3:33And then we go on now to the second part of this week's3:36parashah, the laws of the Jewish king.3:38The Torah tells us when you enter Eretz Yisrael, you appoint a Jewish king.3:41Not only is it permitted, but it is a mitzvah to appoint a Jewish king when we're in3:47Eretz Yisrael. And the Torah tells us to make sure that he is authentically Jewish.3:51That means even though converts are real Jews,3:54but still, since they don't descend from Jews, they may not become kings.3:58They're very good Jews, they can be counted in minyan, they're part of everything.4:00However, they may not become— Kings,4:04and the Torah gives four mitzvot to the king4:07to make sure that he doesn't forget about Hashem.4:10What are these4:11four mitzvot? Number one is that he's not allowed to have too many horses,4:14just enough that he needs for his chariots and for what he needs to ride with.4:19Number two is that he may not have too many wives.4:21He's limited to eighteen wives.4:23Although a regular Jew is allowed to have from the Torah as many wives as he wants,4:27a king is limited to4:28eighteen. Number three, a king may not have too much money.4:33Vechesef vezahav lo yarbeh lo. He should not have too much money, too much gold and silver.4:35He can only have enough what he needs to pay his workers4:39and enough to pay the budget for governing and running the country.4:44And finally, the Torah, fourth mitzvah gives to the king,4:47and that is that he must write a Sefer Torah or have a Sefer Torah written for him,4:52which must be carried by him at all times wherever he goes,4:56and he must learn from that Sefer Torah in order to not forget about Hashem.5:00It's very easy for a person who is in such a position5:04like a king, who's so powerful,5:06to forget that his power comes from HaKadosh Baruch Hu,5:11and that's why Torah gave him these specific5:13mitzvot. Number three, the third part of this week's parashah,5:17Torah tells us about the mitzvot and the laws of shevet Levi.5:19Now, these are not all the mitzvot of shevet Levi,5:22because we had already in parashat Korach and other places where Torah tells us mitzvot of shevet Levi.5:26But over here, Torah gives us some specific ones.5:28Number one is that the tribe of Levi does not have any part in5:32Eretz Yisrael. They don't inherit a portion in Eretz Yisrael like the other shevatim did.5:37And also to a tazaz of the gifts that the Jewish people have to give to the Kohanim specifically.5:43And what are they?5:44When we bring a korban, we have to give the zeroa, lechayayim, and the5:48kebah, which are the right arm of the animal,5:52the jaws of the animal, and the stomach of the animal.5:55Number two, the gifts that we give to the Kohanim,5:59which are part of the6:00matanot kehunah, is the terumah gedolah.6:02What is terumah gedolah?6:04And that is separating from our grains, from wine, and from olive oil.6:11Okay? Torah doesn't give an amount how much to give,6:13but the Chachamim said an average one out of6:16fifty. If a person wants to give more, he should give one out of6:20forty. A nai ra'ah, a person is a little stingy, he should not give less than one out of sixty to the6:25Kohen. And then the third gift that Torah tells us that we must give to the6:28Kohen is called reishit hagez.6:31And what is reishit hagez?6:32When we are shearing the sheep and we gain the wool from the sheep,6:38we must give a little bit of a portion, a certain amount, to the6:42Kohen. Again, the Torah doesn't specify an amount,6:44but the Chachamim give us an amount of how much a person should give to the6:48Kohen. The last mitzvah in this section the Torah tells us that the Kohanim6:53who worked in the Beit HaMikdash6:57worked every day. Every Kohen belonged to a certain family,6:59and every family had a specific day that they worked.7:02When the three holidays came,7:04any Kohen who wants to come to work,7:05even though it's not his time,7:07he may come to work.7:09And not only may he come to work,7:10he also gets a portion in the bread7:14or whatever they're distributing in the Beit HaMikdash amongst the Kohanim.7:17And now we move on to the fourth part of this week's7:19parashah, and that is the mitzvot regarding the Nevi'im and the prophets in this week's7:26parashah. The Torah tells us that number one,7:28we as Jews are forbidden to do any sort of magic or sorcery7:32to find out what's going to be in the future.7:34So all this Ouija board and all these things where people do,7:37if it's right or not, it's a debatable thing.7:39But even if a person believes in it7:42and he knows that these people have powers7:44that can see the future,7:45Torah forbids us to go to these people7:47to do these magic7:47to find out what's going to be in the7:48future. So if we would like to know what's going to be in the future,7:52what does the Torah tell us?7:53Hashem tells us,7:54I've given you something. You have prophets,7:58Nevi'im, and these prophets...8:00Communicate with HaKadosh Baruch Hu, whether through a malach or directly, and they will tell you what's going to be in the future.8:07And Torah gives us now four mitzvot regarding the8:12nevi'im, some by the Jewish people and some for the navi himself.8:15Number one is that the navi may not withhold a prophecy that he gets from Hashem.8:20If Hashem tells him to go say something, he may not withhold it,8:23even though he's scared for his life. If he's told to say it, he must go and say it.8:26Number two is when a prophet says something in the name of Hashem, we must listen to him.8:32We as Jews must listen to him.8:35And number three, Torah tells us that a prophet may not say something in the name of Hashem if Hashem never told him.8:42And number four, even if something was told to the prophet by Hashem,8:46it's forbidden for the prophet to relate it in the name of another god, in the name of8:52avodah zarah, even though he's saying the truth, but it's not the truth because God did not say it.8:57And the Torah tells us if one disobeys these four mitzvot, the person is9:03chayav mitah, whether it's the prophet or the Jewish people who don't listen to the prophet.9:06Then the Torah tells us, the fifth part in this week's parashah,9:11Torah tells us about the mitzvot that have to do with murder.9:14Torah begins by telling us that we have an obligation to set up cities known as9:18arei miklat. Now, arei miklat we discussed already in Parashat Mas'ei, and we spoke a little about it in Parashat9:24Va'etchanan. Torah repeats it over here. There's a few more chidushim that are learned over here,9:27as the person will see when learning Masechet Makot.9:31Torah tells us some halachot regarding9:35arei miklat. There are three cities within the boundaries of Eretz Yisrael proper9:40where should be designated as9:43arei miklat. Torah tells us that the roads leading to those cities must be very clear and obvious,9:47that in case a person has to run away, he shouldn't have to come to ask anyone.9:51He should be able to run there. Easily and without getting mixed up.9:57Number two, the mitzvah in Arim Miklat is that the three cities that are placed in Eretz Yisrael10:04have to be equally distant from each other and from the borders.10:07One should not be too far from each other or from the borders,10:11that they should be equally distributed amongst Eretz Yisrael.10:13And number three, that the people who are allowed to go to Arim Miklat are only people who killed by accident.10:21If a person kills on purpose and he runs away to10:24Arim Miklat, Torah tells us we have an obligation to bring him to trial from there,10:29to bring him out of Arim Miklat, to bring him to trial and execute him if it must be.10:35And then Torah concludes this portion telling us the laws of10:39edim zomemim. What is10:40edim zomemim? Edim zomemim basically are witnesses who have testified falsely,10:45but the way we realize that these people are false witnesses10:50is by having another set of witnesses testifying that the false witnesses were with them10:56during the time that they claimed that they witnessed what they saw.11:00These people are known as edim zomemim, and their punishment is special.11:03Their punishment is that they get the same punishment,11:07the same thing that they tried to make somebody else get in trouble.11:12Lemashal, for example, if they testified on Reuven11:17that he is obligated to pay five hundred dollars to Shimon, and they're found to be11:22edim zomemim, then these edim zomemim must pay five hundred dollars to Shimon,11:28because that's what they tried to get Reuven in trouble for.11:31So that's the special mitzvah of11:35edim zomemim, and of course all the details are found in the Gemara, Masechet Makkot, in Perek11:40Sheni. Now we move on to the last part of this week's parashah, the sixth and final part,11:44the laws of going to war.11:47Torah tells us in the beginning that when we go out to war,11:49we must not be scared from the enemy.11:52Why not?11:53It can be that the enemy is much bigger, much stronger, much scarier.11:57How can we not be scared?11:59The Torah tells us because we are not fighting our wars;12:02it is Hashem who is fighting our wars, and therefore we have nothing to fear.12:05And the Torah tells us exactly how the Jewish people used to go out to war.12:10Before going out to war, the soldiers would gather together,12:13and they would have a pep talk from the Kohen12:17Mashuach Milchama. This Kohen was an appointed, special appointed Kohen over the army,12:21and he would speak and he would instill12:26bitachon, trust, in these soldiers, and he would tell them, encourage them not to be scared12:30because they are fighting the war of God.12:33And then the Kohen declares that there are four people who are exempt from going to war,12:38and these four people are: number one, if a person built a new house12:41but he has not yet had a chance to live in it.12:44Number two is a person who planted a vineyard12:46but he is not able to have eaten from the fruits,12:49and the fruits means after the fourth year of planting it,12:52because the first three years are considered12:54orlah. And number three is a person was me'ares an isha,12:56which means what we call a halachic engagement,12:59and he has not been married yet to that woman,13:02then he also is exempt from war.13:05And number four is anyone who is scared to go to war is also exempt from war.13:08Now these four people, although they don't go out to war,13:10the Gemara explains Masechet Sotah13:12that they go and they prepare the foods for their brethren who are going out to war.13:18Then the Torah tells us, as when they go out to13:21war, there was a special line of men that were set up in the front of the army13:27and the back of the army who had chains and sticks of metal in their hands,13:32and any soldier, even from the Jewish people,13:35who was scared and started to run away,13:38these men who were standing in the front and the back13:40had permission to Break his feet, break his legs,13:46because fear is the number one way of destroying an13:51army. Once a person gets scared and runs away, it's contagious,13:54and it makes the other person get scared and also run away.13:57So therefore, Torah tells us that we set up these special men14:01to make sure nobody runs away out of fear.14:04And then Torah gives us a few mitzvot when we're coming to fight.14:08Number one is that when we approach a city for war,14:10we must first ask if they want to make peace or not.14:13If they want to make peace, then we have special mitzvot14:17on how to tax these people in the city.14:19We don't have to go to fight them.14:20If they don't want to make peace, then we go out and we fight them.14:24However, this is only true by other cities,14:27but the cities of—but the nations,14:31specifically the seven nations of14:34Eretz Yisrael, that the Torah tells us that we have to wipe them out completely.14:36We must leave no leftovers from them.14:39Also, when we're besieging, when we're taking a siege upon a city,14:42Torah tells us that if there's a fruit-bearing tree,14:44we must not chop it down.14:46In fact, the mitzvah still applies till today.14:47If we have a tree that bears fruits,14:50we have a mitzvah that we're not allowed to chop it down.14:54And finally, Torah tells us the mitzvah of14:57eglah arufah. Eglah arufah basically is if we found a dead body15:01and we don't know, and it looks like somebody killed him,15:04and we don't know who killed him, obviously,15:06so we measure to the closest city,15:08and whatever closest city it is,15:11the hachamim, the rabbis, or the judges of that city will come out,15:15and they will go to a special place which cannot be planted,15:19and they take a baby cow which has not been worked,15:24and they would chop its head from the back,15:26and that is—there's a whole process of doing15:28eglah arufah, and they declare that they're not the ones15:31who are responsible for the death of this person,15:33and they didn't know anything about it.15:34And this way, God makes sure not to punish15:38any of the leaders of that city or people of the city15:42for the murder of this man.15:43And that's how the Torah concludes,15:46and we come to the lesson of this week's parashah.15:49Torah begins with shofetim v'shotrim, judges and officers.15:53So that's not just teaching us a mitzvah of appointing judges,15:56but teaching us how each one of us15:58could also become a leader. Like we said, this is—16:00The parashah of leaders talks about kings, prophets, the judges, and the kohanim and the leviim.16:05How does one become a leader? Shofetim16:07v'shotrim. First, a shofet decides what the right thing to do,16:11and then, more than the right decision,16:13a person has to enforce and to make sure to keep that right decision.16:17We're now in the days of Elul, approaching Rosh Hashanah and the new year.16:21We must sit down, calculate, and see what the right things to do are,16:27and then we must become shotrim over ourselves16:29to ensure that we keep what we've decided should be done.16:58Shabbat shalom.