Ever since the yearly cycle of Torah readings was standardised towards the end of the Second Temple era, and the fixed calendar as calculated by Hillel II (Hillel ben Yehudah, Nasi or head of the Sanhedrin) was adopted in 4119 (359 C.E.), we have invariably read Parashat Shoftim on the first Shabbat in the month of Ellul.
Ellul - the month in which we prepare for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Days of Judgment; the month in which we blow the shofar every weekday morning, alerting every Jew to begin repenting; the month in which we begin adding Selichot (penitential prayers) to our daily liturgy.
And so it is entirely appropriate that we begin this month with the fifth Parashah in the Book of Deuteronomy, Parashat Shoftim, the Parashah which contains so many of the laws of justice.
The bulk of the Book of Deuteronomy is Moshe’s farewell addresses to the Children of Israel, the nation he had loved and nurtured, the nation to whom he had dedicated his life. And it is saturated with Moshe’s love and yearning for the Land of Israel.
Moshe, the man of justice and judgment, whose leitmotif was יִקּוֹב הַדִּין אֶת הָהָר, “let justice pierce the mountain” (Sanhedrin 6b, Tanhuma Hukkat 2 et al.)
The heart of the Book of Deuteronomy is in this week’s Parashah:
“When any matter of judgment arises that is too hard for you…then you shall arise and ascend to the place which Hashem your G-d will choose; you will come to the Kohanim [Priests], the Levites, and to the judge who will be in those days. You will enquire, and they will tell you the sentence of the judgment - and you shall do according to whatever they will tell you from that place which Hashem will choose…” (Deuteronomy 17:8-10).
The Book of Deuteronomy contains 955 verses, and the centre is the break between 17:9 and 17:10. The heart of the Book of Deuteronomy perfectly synthesises the two motifs of justice and the Land of Israel: the place of justice is “the place which Hashem your G-d will choose”, meaning the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
The Hatfarah (the brief selection from the Prophets which follows the Torah-reading) usually echoes or complements the theme of the Torah-reading; but for the final ten Shabbatot of the year, they follow a different paradigm:
The three Haftarot for the Shabbatot of the Three Weeks of mourning are the תְּלָתָא דְּפֻרְעָנוּתָא, the three Haftarot of castigation, prophecies from Isaiah and Jeremiah warning of the terrible destruction to come as G-d’s judgment for Israel’s sins.
And then for the next seven Shabbatot, the final Shabbatot of the year, we read the שֶׁבַע דְּנֶחֱמָתָא - the seven Haftarot of Consolation, the magnificently inspiring prophecies from Isaiah promising us the glorious future that awaits us when we return to the Land of Israel.
This is the fourth of the שֶׁבַע דְּנֶחֱמָתָא, comprising Isaiah 51:12-52:12. Though it is appropriate primarily to the time of year rather than to the Torah-reading, I nevertheless note a direct connexion between the two.
In commanding Jewish jurisprudence, the Torah instructs us of the justice meted out to false witnesses who conspire to deliver false testimony against an innocent victim (עֵידִים זוֹמְמִים): the false witnesses bear whatever punishment would have been imposed on their victim had their scheming succeeded (Deuteronomy 19:16-21), concluding by specifying “life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot”.
The phrase עַיִן בְּעַיִן, “eye for eye”, occurs again in the Haftarah, albeit with very different connotations:
“How beautiful the feet of the herald are on the mountain, announcing peace, heralding good tidings, announcing salvation, saying to Zion, ‘Your G-d reigns!’ The voice of your watchmen - they raise a voice, they will sing joyfully together, because they will see עַיִן בְּעַיִן, eye-to-eye when Hashem returns to Zion” (Isaiah 52:7-8).
The phrase עַיִן בְּעַיִן is no casual throwaway line. The Ba’al ha-Turim (Rabbi Ya’akov ben Asher, Germany and Spain, c.1275-1343) notes that the phrase עַיִן בְּעַיִן occurs only three times in the Tanach:
The first time was in Parashat Shelach Lecha in the aftermath of the sin of the spies, when G-d had threatened to destroy the Jewish nation and create a new nation from Moshe alone, and Moshe pleaded for G-d to show mercy on the nation.
Part of his argument was that the Egyptians would tell the inhabitants of the land that the Jews had been destroyed, which would desecrate the Name of G-d, because “they have heard that You, Hashem, are in the midst of this nation, by whom You are seen עַיִן בְּעַיִן, eye-to-eye, O Hashem” (Numbers 14:14).
The second time that the phrase עַיִן בְּעַיִן occurs is in our Parashah, in the context of judgment for perjurers; and the third time is in our Haftarah, in the context of the future reconciliation between us and Hashem.
The Ba’al ha-Turim deduces from this:
“In this world it is impossible to see the Shechinah [the Divine Presence], as it is written ‘no man can see Me and live’ (Exodus 33:20), which is why immediately after ‘You are seen עַיִן בְּעַיִן, eye-to-eye, O Hashem’ Moshe continues by saying ‘You will kill this nation like one man’ (Numbers 14:15). But in the future [Messianic] time to come they will see, ‘and on that day they will say, Behold this is our G-d, we have hoped for Him’ (Isaiah 25:9)” (Commentary to Numbers 14:14, loosely based on Ta’anit 31a).
The last of the תְּלָתָא דְּפֻרְעָנוּתָא, the three Haftarot of Castigation, concludes with Isaiah’s prophecy that צִיּוֹן בְּמִשְׁפָּט תִּפָּדֶה וְשָׁבֶיהָ בִּצְדָקָה, “Zion will be redeemed in judgment, and those who return to her in righteousness” (Isaiah 1:27).
I suggest that these deceptively simple words constitute one of the most optimistic prophecies ever:
Our Sages tell us that there are two ways in which the final Redemption can come: either with slowly and with terrible suffering, or swiftly, majestically, and gloriously. How the Redemption comes, which paradigm it will follow, depends upon us: “I am Hashem - in its time I will hasten it [the redemption] (Isaiah 60:22).
There is an obvious puzzlement in the words “in its time I will hasten it”. If the Redemption comes “in its time”, then how can G-d “hasten it”? And if He “hastens it”, then how can it come “in its time”?
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi explained: “If they merit it, ‘I will hasten it’; if they don’t merit it, it will come ‘in its time’” (Sanhedrin 98a).
A first-generation (late 2nd century to early 3rd century) Israeli Amora, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi was among the greatest of the Sages. Such was his greatness that Eliyahu (Elijah) the Prophet, harbinger of the Mashiach, appeared to him regularly, and he merited to speak with the Mashiach himself (Sanhedrin 98a).
We could take this literally as historical fact, or we could interpret it metaphorically, that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi had exceptionally intimate understanding of Mashiach and how the time would come. Either way, we take his interpretation that “if they merit it, ‘I will hasten it’; if they don’t merit it, it will come ‘in its time’” very seriously.
The Prophet told us that “Zion will be redeemed in judgment, and those who return to her in righteousness”: not out of G-d’s compassion, not in mercy, but in judgment. The Redemption will happen because G-d will judge us and find us worthy and deserving of it.
And then, as Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi taught, G-d will hasten the redemption, it will come swiftly and gloriously.
Our parents’ and grandparents’ generations suffered - suffered more horrifically than we can even begin to imagine. Whether in Europe or in the Islamic lands, they underwent the tortures which made even our greatest Sages fearful. Both Ulla and Rabbah said: “Let him come - but let me not see him!” (Sanhedrin 98a).
Ulla was a second-generation Israeli Amora, who later went to Babylon; he was among the first to be given the title נָחוֹתָא, Aramaic for “one who descends”, referring to those who left Israel (Yerushalmi Kilayim 9:3). In Babylon, his task as נָחוֹתָא was to teach the Torah of the Land of Israel to the Sages of Babylon (Berachot 38b).
Rabbah, a third-generation Babylonian Amora, was among Ulla’s disciples (Pesachim 37b).
These two were among the greatest of our Sages, they yearned for Mashiach - yet they were so terrified of the disasters that would precede his coming that they prayed, “Let him come - but let me not see him!”.
The suffering, the Shoah, the extermination of entire Jewish communities in Europe and the Muslim world, are behind us. To be sure, our suffering is not yet over: that is obvious. We still face genocidal enemies dedicated to our extermination.
Yet we are stronger now, as a nation, than at any time since the reign of Queen Sh’lom-Tziyyon (Salome Alexander), who ruled Israel from 76 to 67 B.C.E.
Indeed stronger even than we were then: When Queen Sh’lom-Tziyyon died, her two sons Aristobolus and Hyrcanus both claimed the Throne of Israel, the result was a bloody civil war which raged for five years, and it was resolved by the Romans marching in with 50,000 soldiers and taking control, reducing Israel to a vassal-state, subservient to Rome.
Now it is true that today, too, there are those among us who - even in time of war - make common cause with those genocidal enemies, who are attempting to subvert Israeli sovereignty, who are turning to foreign hostile elements and pleading with them to force Israel to capitulate to the Hamas.
Yet they are a tiny, minuscule minority. Vocal, shrill, and aggressive - but nevertheless a tiny and shrinking minority. Israel today is easily resilient and powerful enough to absorb that treason from within - a national strength and determination we didn’t have in the days of Queen Sh’lom-Tziyyon.
Israel is in the process of being redeemed in justice. The promise of the Prophets is as firm and as concrete as this morning’s headlines. We live in a generation which is saturated with love for the Land of Israel, a generation which dedicates its very life to the Land of Israel, a generation of Jews and allies who are ready to sacrifice their very lives for the Land of Israel.
As much as we show ourselves worthy of G-d’s power and love, He shows us the truth of His Prophet’s words, with which our Haftarah opens: “It is I, it is I, Who is your Comforter. Who are you to fear mortal man who will die, or humans who are given as grass?” (Isaiah 51:12).