The operative verse in this week’s portion stresses the words “to you”. This is to teach that the most important judge we have is ourselves. Then the family unit. All society if based on these.
Now for a quick D’var Torah.
This week’s parsha is Parshat Shoftim, and we are also entering the month of Elul. There is a very important connection between the two.
Shoftim begins with the command:
“Shoftim v’shotrim titen lecha” — “Judges and officers you shall appoint for yourself.”
On the surface, the Torah is talking about building a functioning society. A good society needs judges, and it needs officers to enforce the decisions of those judges. There will always be disputes, and unfortunately, not everybody is going to behave properly. So we need a system of justice.
But look carefully at the Hebrew. The Torah says “titen lecha” — appoint them for yourself.
Perhaps the most important judge we will ever appoint is ourselves.
We have to be capable of judging our own behavior. Before we ask what everybody else is doing wrong, we have to ask: What am I doing? Am I behaving properly? Where have I made mistakes? What do I need to correct?
Because society begins with the individual.
Then comes the family. The family is the smallest building block of society, and it is where we first learn how to behave. Children learn responsibility, respect and love primarily by watching the adults around them.
My own father grew up in an orphanage. He did not know his father. So I have sometimes wondered: Where did he learn how to be a father?
He learned from the men who took care of him. They demonstrated to him, through their own behavior, this is how a man behaves. And later, he was able to pass those lessons on to me and my brother. My mother and father showed us how parents behave toward their children and how men and women should treat one another.
That is how a healthy society is created. It starts with individuals accepting responsibility for themselves, and then those values are passed from one generation to the next.
And perhaps that is one reason Parshat Shoftim is so appropriate as we enter Elul.
Elul is the month when we become our own judges.
We are preparing for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We have to look back at the past year and be willing to say: I made a mistake here. I shouldn’t have done that. I should have behaved differently. How am I going to correct it?
It is very easy to judge everybody else. It is much more difficult to judge ourselves.
But if we want to improve society, that is where we have to begin.
“Shoftim v’shotrim titen lecha” — appoint judges for yourself.
Before we worry about fixing everybody around us, Elul reminds us to first look inward and ask how we can fix ourselves.
Something to think about.
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