Shoftim: Of Judges and Refugees
“Rabbi, what’s your favorite verse in the Bible?”
The question caught me by surprise. “Favorite verse? Hmm . . . I never really thought of the Torah in that way . . .”
“Come, on, Rabbi . . . what verse do you fall back on when the going gets tough?”
Put that way, I had my answer. In fact, it came from this week’s Torah portion. After warning us against practicing witchcraft, fortune-telling, and all sorts of sorcery, the Torah tells the following five words: Tamim tihyeh im Hashem Elokecha. “Be wholehearted with the L‑rd, your G‑d.”
The Torah is telling is that we don’t have to complicate matters. There’s no need to seek fortune-tellers, perform the paranormal, or be overly concerned with the unknown. We have a direct connection to G‑d, which is accessed through sincere performance of mitzvahs and wholeheartedness.
The message is powerful:
I don’t need to be concerned with that which is out of my hands. All that occurs is orchestrated from above.
I don’t need to worry about my prayer requiring mediation from another. I have a direct connection to G‑d—all that is required is sincerity.
I am not troubled by the unknown. If there’s information I need to know, G‑d will bless my efforts to find it out.
I am never in the dark. I have a manual, a Torah, which helps me navigate an otherwise confusing world.
Don’t worry. Be sincere. Follow the Torah. Talk directly to G‑d.
Be wholehearted with the L‑rd, your G‑d.
Rabbi Yisroel Cotlar
Responder for Ask the Rabbi @ Chabad.org
Before we can understand what is spiritual, we first have to know what is physical.
The most puzzling thing about G‑dliness is that it can be hidden from us. The true reality of everything that exists can be hidden from those very creatures that emerge from it.
Chutzpah is a Hebrew word that has been adopted into Yiddish and then English. Chutzpah has been defined as audacity, insolence, impudence, gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, incredible guts, presumption and arrogance. Yet something essential about chutzpah is missing from all these words.
Did you ever wonder why our calendar has both weeks and months? Why follow two different cycles that never match up?
Elul is “inventory season,” a time to review the past and look at how far you’ve come in life.
The Baal Shem Tov placed his right hand on the shoulder of the disciple to his right, and his left on the disciple sitting there. The circle was closed . . .
“Justice”—the very concept is said to be a Jewish contribution to the world. A glance at this week’s Parshah shows why.
He was standing at the entrance of the strip mall, his front and back covered by identical, cumbersome cardboard signs . . .
The spiritual processes involved in judging and atoning, and the locale of the “cities of refuge” in the terrain of time and in the geography of the soul.
Know that I am proud of your accomplishments and achievements, but more importantly, of who you have become . . .
Well, maybe I am too old for camp, but whenever I think of a certain special summer of my childhood, I’m suddenly a kid again . . .
Full of conviction and confidence, he replied, “Once you are here in the land of Israel, you want nothing more than to defend it . . .”
Somehow, very early on along the way, eating became mechanical, emotional, social, comforting, and generally filled with mindlessness . . .
Is there any evidence that Jewish thought and philosophy had an influence on the Greeks?
Everyone agrees with all the wonderful advice and ethics written in the books of the sages. Everyone agrees that this is the way to run your life.
Yet each of us has our escape route, to avoid bettering our lives by changing ourselves. We ask, “Were those words truly meant for me, or perhaps for someone else in another t...
