Parshah Summary – P’shat
The parshah opens with the instruction to appoint judges and law enforcement officers in every city. “Justice, justice shall you pursue,” Moses tells them. Crimes must be thoroughly investigated and a minimum of two credible witnesses is required for conviction. Furthermore, the Torah must be alive: in every generation, the law must be interpreted and applied in new ways. Moses then reviews laws governing the appointment and behavior of a king, along with the laws of the “cities of refuge” for the inadvertent murderer. Also set forth are the rules of war: the exemption from battle for one who has just built a home, planted a vineyard, married, or is “afraid and soft-hearted;” the requirement to offer terms of peace before attacking a city; and the prohibition against needlessly destroying something of value, such as the law that forbids cutting down fruit trees when laying siege – “For a human being is a tree of the field.” The parshah concludes with the law of the eglah arufah—the special procedure to be followed when a person is killed by an unknown murderer and the body is found in a field—which underscores the responsibility of the community and its leaders not only for what they do, but also for what they might have prevented from being done…
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
שֹׁפְטִ֣ים וְשֹֽׁטְרִ֗ים תִּֽתֶּן־לְךָ֙ בְּכׇל־שְׁעָרֶ֔יךָ אֲשֶׁ֨ר יְהֹוָ֧ה אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ נֹתֵ֥ן לְךָ֖ לִשְׁבָטֶ֑יךָ וְשָׁפְט֥וּ אֶת־הָעָ֖ם מִשְׁפַּט־צֶֽדֶק׃ Judges and officers you shall place in all your gates that Hashem your God is giving you, and they shall govern the people with fairness... - Devarim (Deuteronomy) 11:26, Parshat Re’eh
Once there was a rabbi who wanted to build a yeshivah – an institution for Jewish learning. After many years of planning and raising funds, his vision was finally realized – the new Torah school was built in the beautiful country side, on the bank of a river. Many young people came to live and to learn, and the rabbi was gratified to see his goal and passion manifested. On days with good weather, he would often go outside with students to the river’s edge and daven minkhah – pray the afternoon prayer.
One day, while they were all outside praying, he noticed that the building across the river (which seemed to have been abandoned) was being renovated and readied for something. Day after day he watched as workers came refurbished the old building, and he could see that there seemed to be a woman in charge of the enterprise, because she was there every day, busily involved with whatever was going on. Eventually the building seemed to open for business, because he saw men coming and going at all hours of the day and night. He wondered, what could be going on over there? Then he found out – the new business was a brothel, and the women he had seen was the head of the brothel. He was so upset – his Torah school was right across from a brothel! How terrible! He feared that his boys would be tempted into going over there; he was angry that his holy place was being contaminated with such sinfulness; and he was filled with scorn for that woman who was responsible. Nevertheless, he refused to change his practice of bringing the students out to daven by the river. It was Spring, and the weather had just turned pleasant. One time, while they were all praying, he noticed that the woman was also outside by the river. He glared at her, and he saw her looking back at him. He was filled with rage and cursed her in his heart. This became a pattern – every day during those pleasant months, the rabbi and the students would go outside to daven, and every day he would see the women. He would try to ignore her, but he was driven by his anger to look at her, and every time he did, he saw her looking back at him. Soon after, it happened that the rabbi had a heart attack and died. When he came to Olam HaBa, the “World to Come,” he was told that he would not be able to enter right away, but would have to spend some time in Gehinnom (Jewish Hell) to cleanse himself from the spiritual impurities caused by all his anger and cursing of the brothel owner. So, he descended into Gehinnom. After what felt like an eternity of torment he was finally cleansed, and was then allowed to claim his helek la’olam haba, his “Share in the World to Come.” He was ushered into Paradise – a beautiful, peaceful place of lush gardens, in which the Divine Presence was palpably felt – and led to a small, modest dwelling, which was to be his heavenly home. It wasn’t much, but he accepted it with gratitude. As he approached his dwelling, he looked around and noticed that there was an immense palace next door. “Wow” he thought, “That must be the abode of some great tzaddik (saint).” “Actually,” said his angelic escort, “That’s the house of the brothel owner who used to be the object of your curses; she happened to die the same day you did.” “What!” shouted the rabbi, “There must be some mistake! I mean, I realize I wasn’t perfect, I shouldn’t have gotten so mad at her and been so negative, but I was studying Torah all day long, while she was running a brothel!” “Actually,” said the angel, “She studied much more Torah than you did.” “Really? How could that be?” “All those days that you stared at her from across the river, you seethed with anger and thought, ‘What a horrible person she is – building that brothel and seducing others into sin as well!’But when she stared back at you, she was thinking, ‘What a sweet holy soul that is! Look at what a great mitzvah he has done, building that yeshivah and nourishing so many with the holiness of Torah!’ Her holy thoughts of blessing toward you infiltrated the rest of her life, until she was constantly blessing you in her heart. Whereas in your case, your destructive thoughts of anger and cursing infiltrated the rest of your life, so even when you were studying Torah externally, internally you were filled with scorn.” To live an awakened life doesn’t mean to do external practices only. It means: totally accept what comes to you with love, even and especially when it’s not what you want. Don’t judge others; be thankful that you can give your gifts to the world, and don’t worry about what other people are doing. The great sage Hillel taught: אַל תָּדִין אֶת חֲבֵרְךָ עַד שֶׁתַּגִּיעַ לִמְקוֹמוֹ... Do not judge others until you have reached their place… In other words, don’t ever judge others, because we can never “reach the place” of someone else; everyone has their own experience, and we don’t know if we would act differently if we were in their shoes. But if we’re not conscious of our own minds, we can end up doing just the opposite – begrudging what comes to us, and blaming others or blaming the world for our perceived misfortune. Like the story, we might seem to be doing the right thing externally, but in our minds, we are creating the opposite. What is the remedy? שֹׁפְטִ֣ים וְשֹֽׁטְרִ֗ים תִּֽתֶּן־לְךָ֙ בְּכָל־שְׁעָרֶ֔יךָ... Judges and officers you shall place in all your gates… The Torah is talking about how to govern a society. But on the level of consciousness, this is a teaching about how to use our minds and “guard” the “gates” of thought. The key is, rather than judging others, we need to be “judges” of our own minds. Not in a negative and judgmental way, but in a conscious and intelligent way, discerning which thoughts are useless and will only create a personal hell, and which thoughts are conducive to bringing about heaven on earth. In fact, at the deepest level, “Heaven” is not something we have to create with positive thinking, but is rather the awareness itself that watches the mind, that watches the fullness of whatever arises. We can access this “heaven” right now. May the intelligence of our essence, this consciousness that we are, help us to discern the movement ofour minds, and choose the kinds of thoughts that will be blessings for ourselves and help us be blessings for others, as Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi taught… אֵיזוֹהִי דֶרֶךְ יְשָׁרָה שֶׁיָּבֹר לוֹ הָאָדָם, כֹּל שֶׁהִיא תִפְאֶרֶת לְעוֹשֶׂיהָ וְתִפְאֶרֶת לוֹ מִן הָאָדָם... What is the proper path that a person should choose for oneself? That which is beautiful and harmonious for oneself, and also causes others to experience that beauty and harmony as well.” - Pirkei Avot 2:1
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