Justice Runs Amok: Parshat  Shofetim

Last week, I wrote that “We are all in an uneasy state of suspense, of fraught-ness, characterized by emotional distress and tension. We may have dodged the bullet of World War Three for now, but nothing has been resolved. We are in a state of waiting. Just when we thought things could not get any worse, they do get worse.”  This was written before what I will call Black Sunday, when the world’s hearts were broken once again. Since then, I’ve been thinking about how to write my weekly blog and connect it with this week’s parshat shofetim.  The truth of the matter is that I grappled with this in both my 12^th blog and my 58^th blog which were about this week’s parsha. So, I direct you to either read them for the first time or reread them if you have been following me for the past two years. In my 12^th blog which was before the elections in Israel, I wrote:

Note that the monarch’s authority is restricted and he has no control over the justice system.  Kings should serve the people and not vice versa. Moreover, there is and should be complete separation between the ruler and the judge. …Kings are not, or at least should not be, above the law.”  Further down I wrote: “It is almost as if this week’s parasha was meant to be a running commentary on the appalling state of affairs …’Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may thrive’ is the message; but justice seems to be running amok … In Israel there is the real threat of having the rabble rousers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, the latter, a supporter of racist Jewish power, enter the government. … Democracy is under siege and government without justice is dangerous to its citizens. Thus, in Israel people like Ben Gvir act with impunity and our former prime minister can shamelessly attempt to regain power, even while on trial for perverting justice and accepting bribes.

I ended my 58^th blog by writing: “There is a trickle-down effect when our leaders sin. It effects our behavior as well. If our leaders get away with misbehavior, why should we behave morally? The question is how much more ‘iniquity’ can our corrupt leaders inflict on us? Clearly if they are allowed to continue to transgress and sin, we are dooming our children and future generations.” It’s a no-brainer to write about a parsha that begins with the appointment of Judges and Police at a time that the same group of extremists is trying to overthrow the judicial system and also appointing police who attack citizens at random when they are protesting the government’s non-action about bringing home our hostages.

You shall appoint magistrates/judges and officials/policemen שֹׁפְטִ֣ים וְשֹֽׁטְרִ֗ים for your tribes, in all the settlements that the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall govern the people with due justice. You shall not judge unfairly: you shall show no partiality; you shall not take bribes, for bribes blind the eyes of the discerning and upset the plea of the just. Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you (Deut 16:18-20).

VENGEANCE VS. COMPASSION

Towards the end of this parsha there is much written about revenge, starting with the famous decree of “life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot” (Deuteronomy 19:21), which Rashi famously writes is monetary compensation and not the actual body limb. But the next verses are very compassionate towards the innocent civilian who is called up to defend his country but has not yet lived his life to the fullest. I find these words to be overly poignant in light of the fact that six beautiful souls had their lives snuffed out last week. The officials שוטרים  address the troops before going out to war:

 Is there anyone who has built a new house but has not dedicated it? Let him go back to his home, lest he die in battle and another dedicate it. Is there anyone who has planted a vineyard but has never harvested it? Let him go back to his home, lest he die in battle and another harvest it. Is there anyone who has paid the bride-price for a wife, but who has not yet taken her [into his household]? Let him go back to his home, lest he die in battle and another take her [into his household as his wife] (Deuteronomy 20:5-7).

Only after the officials finish addressing the troops (and winnow out those who should not be fighting) do the army commanders assume command. This week the entire nation is torn between compassion and a desire for revenge. And the parsha reflects this as well:

When you approach a town to attack it, you shall offer it terms of peace.  If it responds peaceably and lets you in, all the people present there shall serve you at forced labor.  If it does not surrender to you, but would join battle with you, you shall lay siege to it; and when your God delivers it into your hand, you shall put all its males to the sword (Deuteronomy 20: 10-15).

This is to be done to the nations which are far from you—those who are NOT your neighboring towns. However, the injunction is different for those nations close to you:

In the towns of the latter peoples, however, which your God is giving you as a heritage, you shall not let a soul remain alive. No, you must proscribe them—the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites—as your God has commanded you, lest they lead you into doing all the abhorrent things that they have done for their gods and you stand guilty before your God (Deuteronomy 20:16-18).

In these very dangerous times, one wonders if our leaders are following this latter path, in their refusal to stop the war and rescue the remaining hostages. We are at a war on three fronts—there seems to be no way of stopping this war. We are being besieged on all fronts, yet there is no one seriously trying to stop it. Close to half a million citizens protested Sunday night all over the country and many went out on strike the next day as well. Yet it seems as if no one is listening. Our leader is relentless in pursuing his agenda. As I wrote too presciently last week, things are getting out of control: Just when we thought things could not get any worse, they do get worse and will continue to get worse.  And our broken hearts bleed with anguish.

THE MONTH OF ELUL AND PSALM 27

We are now entering the month of Elul—the transition between the old year and the new one. There is a verse in Psalm 27:13 which is associated with this time period. It has to do with the play on words of לולא—loolay which if spelled backward is אלול–elul.  לוּלֵא הֶאֱמַנְתִּי לִרְאוֹת בְּטוּב יְהוָה בְּאֶרֶץ חַיִּים. The verse is problematic because it is unfinished.  Does the author have the assurance of goodness or not? And if not, what would he do about it? We can only imagine the worst scenario! Rashi writes about this verse:  “Had I not the assurance that I would enjoy the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living…”

If I had not believed in the Holy One, blessed be He, those false witnesses would have already risen against me and destroyed me. [The word] לולא is punctuated for the homily which our Sages expounded (Ber. 4a): I know that You give reward to the righteous in the world to come, but I do not know whether I have a share with them or not. 

The Psalm navigates between good and evil, self-assurance and doubt, dread and hope.  We read interesting things such as:

When evil men assail me to devour my flesh— it is they, my foes and my enemies, who stumble and fall…. One thing I ask of the Lord, only that do I seek: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life…He will shelter me in His pavilion on an evil day, grant me the protection of His tent, raise me high upon a rock.  Now is my head high over my enemies round about…. O Lord, I seek Your face. Do not hide Your face from me; do not thrust aside Your servant in anger; You have ever been my help. Do not forsake me, do not abandon me, O God, my deliverer…. Show me Your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my watchful foes.  Do not subject me to the will of my foes, for false witnesses and unjust accusers have appeared against me. Had I not the assurance that I would enjoy the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living…Look to the Lord; be strong and of good courage! O look to the Lord! (Psalm 27).

The Psalm leaves us with more questions than answers, despite its call to be strong and courageous. I found my thoughts coinciding with those of David Horowitz who concluded his editor’s note to the TOI Community as follows: “You watch, and you listen. And your fears for Israel, already heightened by the catastrophe of October 7 — the failure to prevent it, the monstrous day itself, and everything that has been happening since — grow still more acute.”   Will looking to the Lord help us; can we be strong and of good courage in the face of this terrible reality?  I do not have an answer to this. However, it is worth noting that it took the Shoah to have the Reform movement question its faith in modernity. And in its San Francisco Platform (1976) wrote “The Holocaust shattered our easy optimism about humanity and its inevitable progress.”  We can no longer be optimistic that goodness will prevail. I fear that we are at a similar impasse and as yet, do not see a way out.