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שפטים ושוטרים תתן לך... לא תטה משפט לא תכיר פנים ולא תקח שחד

Judges and officers shall you appoint in your cities… you shall not pervert judgment, you shall not respect someone’s presence; and you shall not accept a bribe. (16:18,19)

The Torah exhorts us to appoint honest judges who will adjudicate accordingly. It then follows up with three rules (so to speak) for keeping the judges “honest”. They should not pervert judgment; they should treat everyone equally, regardless of the litigant’s financial portfolio or eminence and power; last, they should not accept a bribe – even if the bribe comes without strings attached. Once one has accepted anything from another person, he becomes predisposed to him and the judgment that he renders might in some way be biased. The appointment of judges is obviously critical for the healthy growth of…

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צדק צדק תרדוף

Righteousness, righteousness shall you pursue. (16:20)

The Mishnah in Meseches Peah 8 derives from the above pasuk that one who is healthy, but claims he is crippled or blind, for whatever reason (usually for profit), will not leave this world until he himself  becomes afflicted with what he has claimed to have. Horav Bunim, zl, m’Peshischa questions this statement. Will this, likewise, apply to one who presents himself as a tzaddik, righteous person? Will he also not die before he becomes a tzaddik? If the pasuk teaches us that one must be straight, trustworthy and honorable, can we consider this man honorable? Should he be rewarded…

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על פי התורה אשר יורוך ועל המשפט אשר יאמרו לך תעשה – לא תסור מן הדבר אשר יגידו לך ימין ושמאל

According to the teaching that they will teach you and according to the judgment that they will say to you, shall you do; you shall not deviate from the word that they will tell you, right or left. (17:11)

The decision rendered by the courts must be obeyed, even if one is convinced that it is wrong. Even if the judge/Torah scholar seems to be conveying that right is left and left is right, you must listen, accept and execute the law as told. We must maintain unswerving obedience to the directive issued by our gedolim, Torah leaders of the generation. Not everyone warrants the title gadol, Torah giant. Some may qualify as scholars, but, unless one reflects the total demeanor of mussar, ethics, yiraas Shomayim, fear of Heaven, in addition to being erudite, one does not qualify as…

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מי האיש אשר בנה בית חדש ולא חנכו ילך וישב לביתו פן ימות במלחמה ואיש אחר יחנכנו

Who is the man who has built a new house and has not inaugurated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the war and another man will inaugurate it. (20:5)

An individual whose mind is not on the battle, will – due to his fear or lack of enthusiasm – erode the morale of his comrades. The Torah mentions those individuals who return home and are free from joining the army. These are men who had just initiated an endeavor: taken a wife; built a house; planted a vineyard. For practical reasons, their minds are focused elsewhere – not on the battlefield. Rashi remarks concerning one who has built a house and has yet to move in: He is anxious concerning the possibility that he might die and someone else…

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שופטים ושוטרים תתן לך בכל שעריך... ושפטו את העם משפט צדק

Judges and officers shall you appoint in all your cities… and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. (16:18)

It is almost that time of year when Hashem makes a reckoning of our deeds of the past year and renders His decisions for the coming year. We all could use “help” in obtaining favorable judgments. The easiest and most propitious way is by doing all that is asked of us. In other words, good people will receive a good judgment. What about those who were not perfect, who made their share of mistakes, who committed sins without malice (of course), but sins nonetheless? What is the best advice for them, other than teshuvah and going through the process of…

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והיתה עמו וקרא בו כל ימי חייו... לבלתי רם לבבו מאחיו

It shall be with him and he shall read from it all the days of his life… so that his heart does not become haughty over his brethren. (17:19,20)

Arrogance is an indication of a defective character. Arrogant people are (often) those who failed to be recognized and respected by others who are important to them. Their solution is to lord it over others to whom they feel superior, thus receiving acknowledgment by force. Most often, the arrogant person has nothing about which to be haughty. It is like air puffed into an empty container. When it dissipates, the container returns to its original vacuous state. Having recently read a “confession” of a “once” arrogant person (the “pin” that releases the air had allowed him to finally see his…

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הוא ינוס אל אחת הערים האלה וחי

He shall flee to one of these cities and live. (19:5)

The purpose of the city of refuge was to protect the inadvertent murderer from the wrath of the goel ha’dam, redeemer/close relative, who seeks to avenge the death of his relative. The word v’chai, “and live,” has a powerful connotation. Chazal teach (Makkos 10b), “If a student goes into exile, his rebbe goes with him; if a rebbe goes into exile, his yeshivah goes with him. Avid lei midi d’tihevei lei chiyussa, “Provide him with arrangements that will enable him to live.” Apparently, another rebbe would not suffice. The inadvertent murderer requires his personal rebbe from whom he had been…

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וענו ואמרו ידינו לא שפכה את הדם הזה ועינינו לא ראו

They shall speak up and say, “Our hands have not spilled this blood, and our eyes did not see.” (21:7)

Obviously, no one suspects the elders of participating in the murder of the individual whose corpse was found in the field. Rashi explains that they mean to say that they were unaware of this traveler and had no part in allowing him to go on his way, lonely, without food or escort. We derive from this statement that had they been aware of his presence and need, they would have been guilty of neglecting another Jew, so that there would be blood on their hands. This is the extent of responsibility demanded of a leader. Maharal m’Prague observes that the…

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לא תקים לך מצבה

And you shall not erect for yourself a pillar. (16:22)

It is forbidden to set up a single stone for worship – even if it is in order to worship the true G-d, Hashem. He has despised these stones ever since the pagans decided to employ them as a means for their own worship. Only an altar comprised of numerous stones or of earth creates the proper modality of worship. Horav Levi Yitzchak, zl, m’Berditchev, renders this prohibition homiletically as referring to the most common form of worship: self-worship. Chazal state (Pirkei Avos 4), “This world is compared to a vestibule before Olam Habba, the World to Come.” Our world…

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לא תסור מן הדבר אשר יגידו לך ימין ושמאל

You shall not deviate from the word that they will tell you, right or left. (17:11)

Some individuals find it hard to follow the direction set forth by the Torah sages of each generation. They feel that the guidance of the gedolim, giants of Torah, must be consistent with their personal line of thinking. Accepting the sage advice of a Torah leader is a bit too much for them to handle. The ben Torah who conforms to the direction of the chachmei haTorah, wise men of Torah, lives a life of peace and calm, serene in the knowledge that he is following the path that Hashem has established for him. He realizes that, after all is…

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