Dan Weiss
Parashat Shoftim is jam packed with laws and commandments and interpretations. It starts off with laws about how to set up the Israelite’s judiciary system. It talks about appointing judges and how to judge fairly, and then turns to the topic of Avoda Zara, or idol worship. After that, it goes through the laws concerning kingship and the concept that the king shouldn't necessarily be someone above the law, but someone with more responsibility among equals. Then it goes on to talk about the Levites and discusses their lack of land inheritance and how they are supposed to function. The Torah then sets up a structure for people who accidentally killed someone to seek refuge without being afraid of people seeking revenge. Then it discussed the laws of testimony. Towards the end it talks about the laws of warfare and how to wage a religiously just war for both the Israelites and their enemies. Finally, at the end, there is established an interesting custom for if someone is found dead and you don’t know who killed them.
I’d like to focus my words on the laws of kingship mostly because I feel like it has implications for the way we act and interact with ourselves and with Israel. The Torah opens up the discussion saying “When you’ll come to the land that YHVH, your G-d, is giving you, and you’ll take possession of it and live in it, and you’ll say, ‘Let me set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ you shall set a king over you…” (Deut. 17:14-15). There is a lot of controversy about what this means. Some read this and come to the conclusion that setting a king over Israel is a mitzvah (Rambam). Others read this as a recognition of an option among other systems of government (the Netziv). Still others read this as a condemnation of kingship and point to the weakness of the Israelites who crave to be like everybody else and accept a king’s authority over themselves (the Sifre, Midrash Rabbah). I think this is an interesting example of how worldview and
priorities shapes the way we see things. Do you read the present through looking at your (or our) past glory days and see that as the way to go? Or do you see the past as an option on the table for how to act in the present, along with the options that others have chosen, needing to decide what is relevant in this moment? Or do you first look at your values and do not accept any option that goes against those values? Or is it a combination or a spectrum of these ways of thinking?
Looking further, the Torah lists the limits and qualities of a king. A king must not be a foreigner, must not have many horses, wives, and possessions, must not raise themselves over their people. A king must follow G-d’s word, and must be an Israelite, and must be a “brother.” I read this as a Biblical view of leadership, and that this view is close to our own. Our leaders should be the one among many, the responsible among equals. They should be model citizens/movement members, who are in the position precisely because of the life they have chosen and their decision to take responsibility for their people.
One last piece that I want to bring in here is a little unrelated, but, I think, very serious. In the beginning of the law of kings it says “When you’ll come to the land that YHVH, your G-d, is giving you, and you’ll take possession of it and live in it,” (Deut. 17:14). Before that, in Deuteronomy 16:20, it says “Justice, justice you shall pursue, so that you’ll live and take possession of the land that YHWH, your G-d, is giving you.” First of all, this is important because it states that the purpose of the king should be peaceful and just, and that the king should not do conquering and military campaigns. What I think is really