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Shabbat Parashat Shoftim 5783

Shoftim | Elul 2 5783 | 19/08/2023

Parashat Hashavua: How Do We Get a “Righteous Judgment”?

Our parasha opens: “Judges and officers shall you place in all of your gateways, which Hashem has given you by your tribes, and they shall judge the nation a righteous judgment (mishpat tzedek)” (Devarim 16:18). According to Rashi, the whole pasuk is a commandment to the people – you must appoint judges who will be careful to render proper rulings. The Ibn Ezra understands the end of the pasuk as addressed to the appointed dayanim. The Ran (Derush 11) says that mishpat tzedek delineates the dayanim’s jurisdiction – normal justice. This is as opposed to punishment beyond the letter of the law, known as migdar milta (to cordon off dangerous matters), which are the prerogative of the executive branch, not the judicial.

Ask the Rabbi: An Ashkenazi Joining Sephardi Selichot

My neighborhood’s small Sephardi beit knesset has difficulty maintaining an (early-morning) Elul Selichot minyan. I (an Ashkenazi) have joined them a few times during Elul and found it uplifting, but someone claimed that I cannot count for a minyan because according to my minhag, I am not obligated in Selichot then. Do I count toward the minyan, and is it a good idea to spend time and energy on it? May I continue with them after Ashkenazim start Selichot?

Igrot Hare’aya – Letters of Rav Kook: Appeal to Buy from Religious Winery – #160 – part III

Everything has a time. It is Hashem’s plan to reveal an opening of hope in our days. There is a double light of salvation – spiritual and material – for Hashem’s nation living in the Holy Land and settling it. Hashem has seen His nation’s torment and has had mercy on its Land. He has returned the lost grandeur and honor to the new resettlement of the Land (i.e., the religious element of the agricultural sector is strengthening).

P'ninat Mishpat: Rights of a Yishuv on Peripheral Land – part II

The plaintiff (=pl) is a yishuv in Yehuda/Shomron. The defendant (=def) planted an orchard on unused land outside the yishuv without permission from anyone, which has been the subject of litigation for years. When pl wanted to build an access road for the yishuv through the orchard, a beit din ruled: def must acknowledge that he does not own the land and allow pl to build as needed; pl will reimburse def for taking land def has been cultivating. The sides signed an agreement based on this ruling. It includes provisions for compensation for def but requires him to receive permission if he wants to expand the orchard. A later agreement dealt with def’s erecting structures on the land and allowed pl to build housing on the land in return for compensation. Years later, pl decided to levy taxes and security charges on def and other businesses in the yishuv and its periphery, claiming it is unfair for businesses to benefit while only residents pay. This would cost def tens of thousands of NIS a year. Pl now demands payment retroactively for the years that def refused to pay. Pl also demands part of the profits from the sale of part of def’s operations. Def claims that pl cannot demand taxes on def’s orchard because the land is outside pl’s jurisdiction. Also, standard practice is for yishuvim to not charge farmers who cultivate the land around them, as it adds staying power to and serves as a security buffer for the yishuv. It is also not right to change the rules years after def is on the land.

Shoftim 5783
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Shoftim 5783

We daven for a complete and speedy refuah for:

Nir Rephael ben Rachel Bracha
Ori Leah bat Chaya Temima

Arye Yitzchak ben Geula Miriam

Neta bat Malka

Meira bat Esther
Yerachmiel ben Zlotta Rivka

Together with all cholei Yisrael

Hemdat Yamim is dedicated

to the memory of:

Those who fell in wars

for our homeland

Prof. Yisrael Aharoni z"l

Kislev 14, 5783

Rav Shlomo Merzel z”l
Iyar 10, 5771

Rav Reuven & Chaya Leah Aberman z"l
Tishrei 9 ,5776 / Tishrei 20, 5782

Mr. Shmuel & Esther Shemesh z"l

Sivan 17 / Av 20

Mr. Moshe Wasserzug z"l

Tishrei 20 ,5781

R' Eliyahu Carmel z"l

Rav Carmel's father

Iyar 8 ,5776

Mrs. Sara Wengrowsky

bat R’ Moshe Zev a”h.

Tamuz 10 ,5774

Rav Asher & Susan Wasserteil z"l
Kislev 9 / Elul 5780

R' Meir ben

Yechezkel Shraga Brachfeld z"l

Mrs. Sara Brachfeld z"l

Tevet 16 ,5780

R 'Yaakov ben Abraham & Aisha

and

Chana bat Yaish & Simcha

Sebbag, z"l

Rav Yisrael Rozen z"l
Cheshvan 13, 5778

Rav Benzion Grossman z"l
Tamuz 23, 5777

R' Abraham & Gita Klein z"l

Iyar 18, /5779Av 4

Rav Moshe Zvi (Milton) Polin z"l
Tammuz 19, 5778

R' Yitzchak Zev Tarshansky z"l

Adar 28, 5781

Nina Moinester z"l

Nechama Osna bat

Yitzhak Aharon & Doba

Av 30, 5781

Rabbi Dr. Jerry Hochbaum z"l

Adar II 17, 5782

Mrs. Julia Koschitzky z"l

Adar II 18, 5782

Mrs. Leah Meyer z"l

Nisan 27, 5782

Mr. Shmuel & Rivka Brandman z"l

Tevet 16 5783/ Iyar 8, 5781

R' Yitzchak Eizik Usdan z"l
ben Yehuda Leib, Av 29

Hemdat Yamim
is endowed by
Les z"l & Ethel Sutker
of Chicago, Illinois
in loving memory of
Max and Mary Sutker
& Louis and Lillian Klein z”l

A weekly divrei Torah leaflet: A Glimpse at the Parasha, Ask the Rabbi, From the writings of Harav Avraham Yitzchak Hakohen Kook, zt”l, Pninat Mishpat (Jewish Monetary Law).