Parashat Shoftim - Judges in YOUR gates! (5782-2022)

שֹׁפְטִ֣ים וְשֹֽׁטְרִ֗ים תִּֽתֶּן־לְךָ֙ - You shall appoint magistrates and officials for you (Deut. 16:18). With this verse our Torah portion opens. The first Mitzvah in our Parsha is to appoint judges and police officers in each one of our cities. Justice is at the heart of our Torah portion… but the Hebrew syntax of this phrase opens the possibility of another, more personal reading. According to many commentators the most important part of the verse is not Shoftim veShotrim (judges and officials) but “titen lecha” (you shall appoint to yourselves). This to mean that before judging other we need to judge ourselves.
The Torah gives us the Mitzvah of allocating judges in our cities to judge the people and look for equality and justice in our cities and communities but before doing that we need to judge ourselves first. Before judging others we ought to judge ourselves in order to examine our own ways and actions to be sure that we are free of guilt before pointing out finger to other people and their misbehavior. Like Reish Lakish said: “Adorn (keshot) yourself and afterward adorn others.” (b. Baba Metzia 107b). In other words, before you tell other people how to behave, you should first check out your own actions.
According to Rabbi Mordechai HaCohen this is why in this Torah portion we are commanded too about the famous “Tzedek, Tzedek Tirdof” (Justice, Justice you shall pursue). The “first” Tzedek is for us. We should thrive for being righteous in our own deeds and only then pursue the second Tzedek, looking for justice in the world around us.
Let us conclude with a powerful insight from Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak of Polnoie:"What does 'you'll give yourself' mean? says: “To teach you not to have two different notions of justice. You must not turn a blind eye to your own sins while judging others with rigor and inflexibility; and on the other hand you must not be permissive with yourself and demanding with your neighbor… you must judge them and yourself using the same rod.” (Al hatorah, p. 521)”.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Uri