“And these are the laws which you shall set before them.” “And these.” Rashi explains that the first letter of this week’s Sidra, the letter vav, being a conjunction, connects what follows with what went before (the word “vav” means literally “a hook”) and it joins up the laws of this week’s Sidra with those other laws, the Ten Commandments, which are in the previous Sidra. Quoting the Mechilta (the Mishnaic commentary to the Chumash) Rashi says, “Just as the previous laws were quite clearly from HaShem at Mount Sinai, as was witnessed by the entire Jewish People, so also are the laws of this week’s Sidra also from HaShem at Sinai.” Continuing in this vein, he then quotes the Talmud Yerushalmi and says, “And why are these laws and regulations placed next to the laws of constructing an altar? (The Mitzvah of the building of an altar is at the end of the previous Sidra and immediately precedes this Sidra.) To tell you that the Sanhedrin (through which the laws of the Torah are implemented) shall be physically located near the altar of the Sanctuary, that is, the Sanhedrin is to be a part of the Beis HaMikdash.” Hence, the Great Sanhedrin in Yerushalaim sat in the Chamber of Hewn Stone which was situated in the Beis HaMikdash complex.
What does all this symbolise? Why does HaShem order that the Sanhedrin should be in the Beis HaMikdash? The answer to this question teaches a principle that is so fundamental to the People of the Torah that HaShem commanded it even before the Sanctuary was built and it is this: Every civilized society — indeed, even those societies that are not civilized! — has a system of law and order whose purpose is to maintain that society. Mostly these law systems evolved from pretty crude laws, starting out from the laws imposed by the biggest bully-boys (who called themselves kings) upon their hapless subjects, gradually progressing (but usually only after social revolution and much struggle by the common people) to a fairer system which recognized the rights of the ordinary people. (Even that was grudgingly conceded, only so that trade and commerce would prosper — which through the resulting increased taxes would stuff the coffers of the rulers.) But civil rights and even human rights in the world generally is a recent development; a notion which scarcely existed in olden days. (It is hardly an exaggeration to say that a dog today has more “rights” than the common man had three hundred years ago.)
Contrast all this with our Torah! The laws of the Torah are not merely a mechanism for regulating society. They are that as well, of course. But the whole body of law, ranging through laws of national issues, like war and peace, through trade and commerce, to the rights and duties — and the responsibilities — of each individual Jew and Jewess, are all ordained by HaShem Himself. The carrying out of the Law of HaShem is a sacred duty, it is as much a part of serving HaShem as is the Divine Service of the Beis HaMikdash — indeed it is part of that Service. The nations of the world facetiously say, “The law can stop us committing our crimes but it can’t stop us committing our sins!” With the Jewish people, there is no such thing. Stealing and Shabbos, fair trade and Kashrus, laws of compensation and laws of tithes, are all commanded by the same Lawgiver. A sin is a crime and a crime is a sin: both are offences against HaShem’s law.
Man-made law is fickle and constantly changing. What was punished not so long ago becomes legal and permitted, giving rise to the bizarre situation that someone might be sitting in prison for doing something that the government of the day has now decreed is permitted and indeed encouraged by new “law”! With the laws of the Torah, commanded by HaShem, this cannot happen. Times change, yes, but values don’t.
This is what is shown clearly by the headquarters of the institutions of law and order, the Sanhedrin, being part of the Mikdash of HaShem: that the laws of the Torah of HaShem are all together Holy Law.
