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Top 10 Conversation Starters: Parashat Shoftim
By Dr. Steven Lorch
#10 - The first section of Parashat Shoftim is about judges and justice. The first instruction is to B'nei Yisrael to appoint judges who will judge the people justly. The second instruction is to the judges to judge fairly - not to take bribes, not to show favoritism. The third pasuk is ambiguous: "צדק צדק תרדף - Justice, justice shall you pursue (D'varim 16, 20)." Is this addressed to B'nei Yisrael or to the judges? What does it add to the previous two instructions? Explain.
#9 - Judges are not allowed to take bribes. If a judge takes a bribe but then ignores the bribe and judges fairly without favoring the one who paid him, does he violate the prohibition? Why, or why not?
#8 - Judges are not allowed to show favoritism. Is it wrong to show favoritism to a poor or weak person (for example, a widow or an orphan), or just to a rich and powerful person? Explain.
#7 - While describing court procedures, the Torah says: "על פי שנים עדים או שלשה עדים יומת המת - A person shall be put to death based on the testimony of two or three witnesses" (17, 6). Why is it necessary to mention that a conviction can be based on the testimony of three witnesses? If two witnesses' testimony is enough, isn't it obvious that three witnesses' testimony is also enough?
#6 - The Torah instructs: "ובאת אל...השופט אשר יהיה בימים ההם - You shall appear before the judge who is serving in those times" (17, 9). The rabbis ask: why did the Torah have to specify this? Is it possible to appear before a judge who served at a different time and not in your time?
#5 - The Torah continues: "לא תסור מן הדבר אשר יגידו לך ימין ושמאל - Don't deviate to the right or to the left from the verdict they announce to you" (17, 11). The rabbis add: even if they say that what's left is right or what's right is left. If the judges make such an obvious error, why do we have to follow their incorrect ruling?
#4 - The instruction to appoint a king states: "ואמרת אשימה עלי מלך ככל הגויים אשר סביבותי - If you say, 'I will set a king over me as do all the nations around me'" (17, 14). In most cases, the Torah forbids us to follow the practices of neighboring nations. Why is other nations' practices a sufficient reason here to appoint a king?
#3 - The king is not allowed to do three things: to keep many horses, to have many wives, or to amass lots of gold and silver. Reasons are given for the first two: horses, so that he won't send the people back to Egypt to add to his horses; and wives, so that his heart won't go astray. No reason is given for having too much money. Why is no reason given? What's the reason that's unstated? And why does it go unstated?
#2 - There are four exemptions from military service: having built a new house but not having dedicated it, having planted a vineyard but not having harvested it, having gotten engaged to be married but not getting married, and being afraid. It's not obvious why each of these should be an exemption. Why should they be? Why shouldn't they be?
#1 - In the case of an unsolved murder, the elders of the nearest town need to declare: "ידינו לא שפכו את הדם הזה ועינינו לא ראו - Our hands did not spill this blood and our eyes didn't see" (21, 7). Does anyone seriously suspect the town's elders of having committed the murder with their own hands? If not, why do they make this declaration? What does it mean?
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