A Short Vort - Shoftim/Elul 5786
Parshas Shoftim opens with the command to establish courts in the cities and tribal territories of Eretz Yisrael:
שֹׁפְטִים וְשֹׁטְרִים תִּתֵּן־לְךָ בְּכָל־שְׁעָרֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר ה' אֱלֹקִיךָ נֹתֵן לְךָ לִשְׁבָטֶיךָ - You shall appoint judges and officers for yourself in all your gates that Hashem your G-d gives you, according to your tribes (Devarim 16:18).
The judges and officers are being appointed to oversee the nation. Yet Torah emphasizes לְךָ - for yourself. Why does Moshe Rabbeinu tell each person, "appoint judges and officers for yourself'?
Perhaps the Torah is teaching us that before we concern ourselves with judging the world around us, we must learn to judge ourselves. As the Sages teach in Pirkei Avos, “do not judge your fellow until you have stood in his place.” And the reality of life is that no one will ever stand in another's place, so we should never judge others.
The Kabbalists explain this pasuk on a deeper level. Every person is commanded to establish judges and officers over himself, at the "gates" of his body.
We have gates through which things enter us and gates through which things leave us. Our eyes are gates through which we take in the world. Our ears are gates through which we absorb words and ideas. Our mouth is both an entrance and an exit, through what we consume and through the words we speak. We must place judges and officers at each gate carefully discerning what we allow to enter and what we allow to leave.
Not everything we see deserves to be looked at. Not everything we hear deserves to be absorbed - or shared. Not every thought deserves to be entertained, and certainly not every word that enters our mind needs to leave our mouth.
The shofet asks: Is this appropriate? Is this good for me? Does this bring me closer to Hashem? The shoter then enforces the decision.
This is a particularly powerful message as we enter the month of Elul, when we begin preparing for the Yamim Noraim, when we will stand before the ultimate Judge.
Before Rosh Hashanah arrives, before we stand in judgment before Hashem, we must immerse ourselves in this avodah. We are required to examine our habits, words, reactions, relationships, and priorities. We can ask ourselves: What needs to be strengthened? What needs to be repaired? What needs to be guarded?
In a similar vein, later in the parsha, the Torah describes the Bnei Yisrael preparing to go out to battle:
כִּי־תֵצֵא לַמִּלְחָמָה עַל־אֹיְבֶיךָ וְרָאִיתָ סוּס וָרֶכֶב עַם רַב מִמְּךָ לֹא תִירָא מֵהֶם כִּי ה' אֱלֹקִיךָ עִמָּךְ - When you go out to war against your enemies, and you see horse and chariot, a people greater than you, do not fear them, for Hashem your G-d is with you (Devarim 20:1).
Once again, the Torah speaks in the singular: when you (singular) go to war, when you (singular) see a horse and chariot.
The Ba'alei Mussar teach us that there is another kind of battle that every individual must fight, perhaps the greatest of all: the battle against his own yetzer harah.
The yetzer harah knows our weaknesses and which "gate" to approach.
Yet the Torah tells us: לֹא תִירָא מֵהֶם - do not be afraid. Why shall we not fear? כִּי ה' אֱלֹקִיךָ עִמָּךְ - because Hashem your G-d is with you.
Through deveikus to Hashem, sincere striving, pure repentance and immersion in Torah, the battle against the yetzer harah is not one we must fight alone. I once read a beautiful quote from Rabbi Shlomo Riskin: “To be alone with G-d is to be with the majority of One.”
This is the avodah of Elul: an opportunity to place safeguards in our own lives.
And perhaps there is a beautiful connection between these two sections of the parsha. First, the Torah commands us: שֹׁפְטִים וְשֹׁטְרִים תִּתֵּן־לְךָ בְּכָל־שְׁעָרֶיךָ. Place judges and officers at your gates. Then, when you encounter a battle against an enemy greater and stronger than you, לֹא תִירָא מֵהֶם. Do not be afraid.
If we learn to guard our gates, we become stronger for the battles that await us.
We cannot transform our entire lives overnight. We can begin with one gate. One word we will be more careful to speak. One thing we will be more cautious to look at. One conversation we will choose not to listen to. One reaction we will learn to control. One habit we will begin to change. One area in which we will allow the shofet within us to make a wiser judgment, and the shoter within us to follow through.
The greatest battle may be the battle within. But we are empowered in that battle through Torah and mitzvos.
As we enter Elul, may we merit to internalize this lesson, to recognize the battles we are called upon to fight, and to remember that ה' אֱלֹקִיךָ עִמָּךְ, Hashem our G-d is with each of us.
May our efforts to strengthen ourselves bring us closer to Hashem, and may we enter the Yamim Noraim with greater awareness, greater strength, and greater ahavas Hashem, ahavas Torah and ahavas Am Yisrael.
בברכת בשורות טובות ושבת שלום
Michal
