| |
Personal Judges
Thursday and Friday are Rosh Chodesh Elul, the "head" of the month
of Elul. Because Elul is the month preceding and preparing for the High
Holidays, it is a month of accounting, when a person reviews his or her behavior
over the last year and resolves to correct what was inappropriate. Elul has a
salutary effect on the corresponding days of each month in both the preceding
and the upcoming years. This concept connects to the portion of the week,
Shoftim, which opens "Shoftim [Hebrew for 'judges'] and police you should
place at each of your gates" (Deut.16:18). "Judges" refers to the Torah
learning which teaches us how to act. "Police", whose task is to enforce the
law, refers to the actual performance of the commandments. The
Torah is reminding us that it is imperative, especially during the month of
Elul, that each person appoints for him or herself "judges" and "police" to
affect proper behavior.
Also, "at all of your gates" is in the singular, to emphasize that every single person must supervise the "gates of the
body": the mouth, eyes, ears, nose, etc.. These especially need supervision so
that they will allow only what is acceptable to Torah to pass through. My
friends, take a minute and think how different our lives would be if we and
those around us invest, even slightly, in guarding what we see, hear, say, and
eat. Try replacing a kind word for a sharp one next time and see how much time
you save.  | | " We have to serve G-d in every aspect of our lives...." | | |
On the other hand, the challenge is sometimes being "too holy".
Rebbe Michal of Zlotshuv says that just as the evil inclination presses us to
sin, similarly it seduces us to try to be more righteous than appropriate. Rebbe
Michal explains the meaning of the verse "Righteousness, righteousness you
should chase, in order to live" (Deut.16:20). You can translate the Hebrew word
"chase", in Hebrew "tirdof" as "escape". We should run away from someone
who has an inappropriate level of righteousness. We should have just enough
righteousness "in order to live"; we must train ourselves to find the "middle
path". The Shlah writes that the double "Righteousness, righteousness",
literally "correct righteousness", refers to the virtue of compromise.
This is important advice, especially for married couples.
In the end, what is required - more sanctity or less? What is
required is to be honest. There is a short story about the tzadik Rebbe
Zeev Wolfe of Zbariz whose wagon once became inextricably stuck in mud. "Master
of the universe", he began to cry, "I know my sins are impossible to bear,
therefore you have decreed that I should sink into this mud and muck to push me
to return to you. But I ask you, Master of the universe, standing in mud up to
my neck, is this how you want me to return? I beseech you, take me out of here
and I promise that I will return completely before you." (Don't ask me what
happened to his wagon. It did not say.)
On the verse, "You should be perfect with the L-rd your G-d"
(Deut. 18:13), the Be'er Mayim Chaim brings in the Baal Shem Tov's
teaching on the verse, "You should know Him in all of your ways"
(Proverbs 3:6): it is not enough to serve G-d only with learning Torah and doing
the commandments; we have to serve G-d in every aspect of our
lives. Clearly, a person whose divine service includes only certain limited
times or activities, even good ones such as prayer, or Torah study, is not
wholly serving G-d because the rest of his or her day and energy is spent
self-serving. Therefore, "Perfect you should be with the L-rd your
G-d": all of your service should be complete and perfect.
|
