Taste of Torah
A Bima-Ready D'var Torah

1 Elul 5784 / September 4, 2024

Parashat Shof'tim
Judging Ourselves
Torah Portion: Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9
Haftarah Portion: Isaiah 51:12-52:12

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Shalom!

This week’s Torah portion, Shof’tim, begins with directions: “You shall appoint magistrates and officials for your tribes, in all the settlements that Adonai your God is giving you, and they shall govern the people with due justice” (Deuteronomy 16:18).
As its name suggests (shof’tim means “magistrates” or “judges”), the central topic here is guidelines for good leadership. In context, Moses is telling the people what to do once they’ve reached the promised land. But there are other ways of understanding the verses. 
Hasidism – a spiritual revival movement of Judaism that arose in the 18th c. in what is now Eastern Europe – has a tradition of interpreting Torah individually. That is, the Hasidic masters believed that Moses was speaking to each of us. A Hasidic teacher known as the Maggid of Koznitz (modern-day Poland), in his work Sefer Avodat Yisrael, drew on this mode of interpretation when he connected this biblical passage to the fact that we are now in the month of Elul, right before the High Holidays, a time traditionally devoted to self-reflection.
He writes: “This parashah is always read during the month of Elul, which time was established for each person to return to their Creator, that their sins, performed in the course of the year, be forgiven through a process of regret, remorse, repentance, and weeping … Hence the Torah warns, ‘You shall appoint magistrates and officials…’ So, each person must place judges over themselves to evaluate their path and to pave the path ahead.” [i]
In this exegesis, the Maggid of Koznitz urges us to consider our inner lives during this critical time of year, inviting accountability for our own actions in the same way we expect accountability from those in power. The “judges” in this case might be our own senses, as he suggests a few sentences later, concluding that “one must judge oneself for all of one’s actions.”
Indeed, Jewish tradition instructs us to engage in what is called cheshbon hanefesh, or “spiritual accounting,” during the month of Elul. This process demands that we look inward, examining our actions, our thoughts, and our souls. Where have we missed the mark? Where do we need to make amends? Where is there room to change our ways?
This is not easy work; this kind of introspection can be painful. The hope is that it is also a process of growing that, while challenging, is ultimately rewarding, leading us to deeper relationships with ourselves, others, and God.
There are many resources available to facilitate this process. The Jewish Studio Project, for example, offers emailed daily writing prompts for the month, from Rabbi Jordan Braunig, as well as a weekly art-making course. Ritualwell hosts a list of questions, by Rabbi Katie Mizrahi, for a self-paced soul accounting. Derekh, from writer Merle Feld, has a month-long curriculum with lots of tips and instructions for solo or partner work.
This introspection is all in service of preparation for the New Year. The Maggid of Koznitz concludes: “For one’s personal repentance and the personal assessment …are in fact a precursor, a preparation that has influence high above, to clarify our judgment on Rosh Hashanah.” [ii]
As Michael Strassfeld explains: “The process of inner change is a difficult one, hence the rabbis began it well in advance of Yom Kippur so as to leave plenty of time to accomplish it. During the month of Elul, we begin to examine our lives and our relationships. Then comes Rosh Hashanah with its blasts of the shofar to awaken our slumbering souls to time’s passage and to what we have done, and, more important, what we could do with our lives. The new year gives us a chance to reshape our lives in our better image by reminding us of our humanity and our relationship to the Divine.”[iii]
This Shabbat, as we enter the month of Elul, may we have the courage and perseverance to take on the spiritual accounting that our parashah and our calendar challenge us to do. May we judge ourselves with “due justice,” a combination of both unflinching honesty and tender grace.

Shabbat shalom!
​Rabbi Salem Pearce

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[i] Israel Hopstein of Koznitz, Avodat Yisrael, Sefer D’varim, Shof’tim, accessed at https://www.sefaria.org/Avodat_Yisrael%2C_Sefer_Devarim%2C_Shoftim.1?lang=bi.
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] Michael Strassfeld, The Jewish Holidays (New York: First HarperResource Quill, 1985), p. 96.

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