This week's parsha speaks to us about judgments and the advisers who hand them down.These concepts are reflected in the name of this week's Torah reading, Shoftim, "judges," and its opening verse "Appoint judges and officers at all your gates."
Eli Trouger states in his essay "Judgment and Application, that placing judges at the gates of a city reflects a desire to have every element of the city's functioning conform to the standard of Torah law. The judges will convey the Torah's dictates, and the officers will take steps to ensure that these directives are applied.In this vein, the Rambam uses this verse as a proof text for the commandment to appoint judges and police in every city in Eretz Yisrael. In an extended sense, the verse also serves as a lesson that each person must act as a judge and an officer in his own home, structuring it according to the Torah's standards.
This concept is further amplified by an interpretation3 of "your gates" as referring to the body's sensory organs the eyes, ears, skin, nose and mouth. These serve as the "gates" through which we take in information from the environment. We are enjoined to "appoint judges" at these gates, so that even our physical perception will be permeated by the guidance of the Torah.
Moreover, the Torah uses the singular form of the word "your gates," implying that these efforts are incumbent upon every individual. Every person is "a city in microcosm," and should "appoint judges and officers" to control his interactions with the world at large. Zvi Freeman expands on the idea of "your gates" you can read it on the right side of this blog.
Let us-with song and prayer and hearts of fire-storm the Gates of Righteousness together..........Meet you at the Gates
Shlomo Carlebach z'tl
"During the month of Elul the King is in the field and everyone who desires is permitted to meet Him, and He receives them all with a cheerful countenance and shows a smiling face to all." (Rabbi Schneur Zalman).
During the month of Elul HaShem comes to meet us, He says return to who you truly are, to the pure soul that I created you to be. For most of us that is the hardest part, stripping away all the layers that we have surrounded ourselves with. These layers can take many forms but the end result is the same, they all take us farther and farther away from G*D. Repentance can only come from the realization that the spiritual separation one feels when removed from G*D's presence is a reality to painful to bear.
The Midrash Shocher Tov explains the verse in Tehilim, "Lamnatzeach al shoshanim livnei Korach,"The sons of Korach said,"We are the roses" with a parable. A king once came to visit his people. They desired to give him a crown of gold adorned with stones. The king's entourage said to the townspeople, "The king does not want a golden crown. Are there roses?" The townspeople happily gave him roses. Similarly, HaShem says He does not want gifts of gold or silver. All He desires are roses.
The Sifsei Tzadik writes that roses represent softness. Gold and silver are rough and hard. HaShem does not want a hard heart. He desires a crown of roses signifying a heart filled with love, gentleness, and beauty. HaShem says, when you have this quality of the rose, then I can be "The shepherd among the roses," I can lead you to repentance. Beloved all we need to do is strip everything away and simply come, come before the King with a broken and open heart, it is HaShem who does the work all we need to do is Shema and follow.
Two of the many ways that HaShem leads us is through His creation and His Torah. Through the wonders of His creation He shows us everyday how much we are loved, in the song of a bird, the sweet smell of a rose, in the new moon as it hangs close enough to touch, large and low on the horizon as if to say yes you too can start again. In our service to HaShem we must never lose that freshness, that newness, that sense of awe and wonder. If one can just open one's heart and perceive it, the whole universe and all that is in it declare His majesty.
HaShem through His Torah, reveals His very character. It is a love letter, it is our guidebook to life from Him to us. Rabbi Schneur of Zalman says, "Elul's unique power is that the Thirteen Attributes of Divine Compassion radiate through it, even when we are immersed in the mundane activities of the week". May we all take advantage of the fact that the King is in the field. Shed the chains that bind and run to Him, He is waiting beloved.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ahmh8Kt7qM
THE ONLY ONE Everything is split in two
every place leads back to you
the only one
the only one
love and live and searching for
what's behind every door
the only one
the only one
and I see the wide silver moon and the slow setting sun
I can see the flower in bloom and the finger on the trigger of the gun
everything is split in two
every place leads back to you
the only one
the only one
love and live and searching for
what's behind every door
the only one
the only one
and I see the roads I can choose and a million different views
I can see the forest with all t he trees and the changing of all the seasons
Echad, Echad, U'Shmo Echad, The Only One, The Only One
Echad, Echad, U'Shmo Echad, The Only One, The Only One
Echad, Echad, U'Shmo Echad, The Only One, The Only One
Echad, Echad, U'Shmo Echad, The Only One, The Only One
And I feel two hands upon the face of the whole human race
where I dream that all thoughts they blend where I stop and where You begin.
Through prayer and meditation as we draw ever closer to HaShem that dream, that blending, that new beginnning can become a reality. Enjoy the journey.
Elisheva
www.moshavband.com
Click on the link above to listen to The Only One by Moshav Band
Click on select tracks
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