Shoftim (D’varim 16:18-21:9)
This week’s parasha,
Shoftim, is full of pithy quotes and
memorable statements. “Justice, Justice, thou shalt pursue” (16:20); a
restatement (lex talionis from Shmot
21:23-25) of the famous law of civil compensation (that some interpret as
revenge) “an eye for an eye . . .” (19:21); laws regarding legal and military
justice; accidental death. But that’s
not what I want to talk about. It’s
almost Labor Day, election season is heating up, and I want to look at what the
Torah says about making a king.
While I enjoyed an excellent day school education growing
up, I don’t remember studying this text until my sophomore year at the University of Maryland. In my Tanach
class with Dr. Samuel Iwry (zichrono
l’vracha) we were studying the selection of Saul as first king of Israel in
I Samuel, and the question we were trying to answer was, “What’s bothering
Samuel?” The prophet was upset that the people felt the need for a king, and
were in essence rejecting (or at least considering inadequate) his
leadership. In a beautiful exchange with
God (I Samuel 8:6-9) God tries to comfort Samuel that it is not that the people
are rejecting Samuel’s leadership, but God’s.
The question remains.
If you subscribe to the traditional understanding that the Torah was
delivered to Moses intact at Sinai, and D’varim 17:14:20 already existed
telling the people that it was both permitted to select a King within certain
parameters and maybe even expected, what bothered Samuel? One of the answers, posited by the
historical/documentary scholars is that the Book of D’varim is a late addition
to the Tanach, perhaps as late as the reign of King Josiah in the 7th
Century BCE. The problem vexed Samuel
precisely because D’varim 17 didn’t yet exist, and he had no guidepost for
helping the people select a secular leader.
Let’s look at the text.
If,
after you have entered the land that God has assigned to you . . ., you decide
“I will set a king over me, as do all the nations about me,” you shall be free
to set a king over yourself, one chosen by God.
Be sure to set as king over yourself one of your own people; you must
not set a foreigner over you, one who is not your kinsman. Moreover, he shall not keep many horses . .
., and shall not have many wives; lest his heart go astray; nor shall he amass
silver and gold to excess. And when he is seated on his royal throne, he shall
have a copy of this Teaching written for him on a scroll…Let it remain with him
and let him read it all of his life… (D’varim 17:14-19)
It seems the framers of the US Constitution agreed with the
first requirement that a leader of a national group must be of that group and
not a foreigner. It seems the injunction
against too many horses was intended as a limit on the king’s military, as
horses in service of a king were primarily for cavalry. Shall not have many
wives? Avoidance of distraction and
immorality both seem like good ideas. Nor shall he amass silver and gold to excess
– is this before or after being a king?
Could this be a warning against buying an election? And then to make sure the King keeps to the
right path, we turn him into a mezuzah, moderating the pull of the crown
with the push of the scroll-on-board. Could all this warn about the real purpose of
the king, to be a leader and public servant, and not about enriching oneself
while in political power?
I plan to re-read this section as an antidote to the barrage
of political ads this fall. Knowing what the Torah says about selecting a
leader, there are, apparently,
things we need to keep in mind as we face the election of our next national
leader.
On another note, in the section of the parasha about the way
to conduct a war, we have an interesting ecological imperative that seems like
it could have inspired Theodore Geisel in writing the Lorax:
When
in your war against a city you have to besiege it a long time in order to
capture it, you must not destroy its trees, wielding the ax against them. You may eat of them, but you must not cut
them down . . . Only trees that you know do not yield food may be destroyed;
you may cut them down for constructing siegeworks against the city that is
waging war on you, until it has been reduced. (D’varim 20:19:20)
The importance of trees to sustaining life, even if
imperfectly understood at the time the Torah was written, is such a great
message. Even Jewish warfare has to
involve concepts of conservation and kavod
(respect) and we are not permitted to slash and burn our enemies out. Trees, as life-sustaining objects take
priority over offensive operations. What
a great lesson for us to teach our children. This reflects well in the modern
Israeli military value of tohar haneshek,
the purity of weapons doctrine, that they are to be used for defensive purposes
and for the ultimate value of preserving lives, not destroying them.
As I said to my editor (and teacher, Avi West) this week
when he asked me if I loved parashat
Shoftim, I was quick to answer “I love Torah”. I love Torah when it speaks and we hear the
relevance after 3000 years.
For further discussion:
1.
What qualities should we require of our
leaders? What skills and experiences
should they have before they start the job?
2.
Does our voice count? Why does it matter if one votes in a national
election, one voice in 300 million?
3.
Can you make a job description for a leader
based on the Torah’s requirements?
4.
If there is a proper way to treat trees in times
of war, what do you think that implies on how to treat prisoners or those
civilians captured by a conquering army?
Steve
Kerbel, Director of Education, Congregation B’nai Tzedek, Potomac,
Maryland, Chair, Education Directors’ Council
of Greater Washington.
