Rabbi George Stern
This week’s Torah portion is Shoftim: Deuteronomy 16:18 – 21:9
I have always resonated strongly with this week’s parashah (Torah portion), Shoftim. As I reread it this year, I couldn’t believe how much it spoke to me directly about how I experience 2025.
Like all of Deuteronomy, Shoftim is presented as part of Moses’ discourses prior to his death (and as the people prepare to enter the Promised Land). It starts thus: “You shall appoint magistrates and officials for your tribes, in all the settlements that YHVH your God is giving you, and they shall govern the people with due justice.” (Deuteronomy 16:18)
Verse 19 seemingly addresses judges specifically: “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.” Presumably, the same would hold true for other officials.
Then verse 20 forcefully declares: “Justice, justice you shall pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that YHVH your God is giving you.” The repetition of the word “justice” is striking. Commentators suggest the repetition teaches that the ends don’t justify the means: Justice must be achieved by just means. Some say the repetition suggests that justice must be pursued with eagerness, that we need to double down in our pursuit of it. Justice is the bedrock of society, defining how its leaders and citizens must conduct themselves.
What happens when a society doesn’t pursue justice? Verse 20 clarifies: Thriving and possessing the land depend upon justice. We recently commemorated Tisha B’Av, marking the destruction of the Second Temple — which tradition attributes to “baseless hatred,” unjust infighting and contentiousness across society, from top to bottom.
Shoftim next acknowledges that, should the Israelites decide to have a king once they settle in the land, they can do so — but with some rather strict and unusual caveats: “If … you decide, ‘I will set a king over me’ … you shall be free to set a king over yourself, one chosen by YHVH your God. … ” (Deuteronomy 17:14). In Hebrew, the “you” making this decision is in the singular. This suggests that choosing a king requires the consent of the people, after which each individual is responsible should that king fail to carry out justice. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel once said, “In a free society, some are guilty, but all are responsible.”
The text also imposes restrictions on the king (17:16): “Moreover he shall not keep many horses or send people back to Egypt to add to his horses. … ” — limiting the size of the king’s military forces, which could be used against enemies and, worse, against his own people. Finally (20:18-20): “When he is seated on his royal throne, he shall have a copy of this Teaching” — probably the book of Deuteronomy, which reprises the rules of much of the rest of the Torah — “written for him on a scroll by the Levitical priests. Let it remain with him and let him read in it all his life, so that he may learn to revere YHVH his God and observe faithfully every word of this Teaching and these laws. Thus he will not act haughtily toward his fellows or deviate from the Instruction. … ” Unlike other kings, the Israelite king was unquestionably not above the law.
I end with two questions: How is your synagogue or the broader Jewish community and its leaders helping you navigate these difficult days, with the goal of seeking justice? And, quoting Hillel, “If not now, when?”
Rabbi George Stern served as a congregational rabbi and as director of the Neighborhood Interfaith Movement in Mount Airy.
