Parshas Shoftim: Don’t Jump to Conclusions
In this week’s parsha, Moshe warns the people against those who go to worship the deities of the people in the land, who would follow false gods or worship celestial bodies. These people, we learn in Devarim 17:5,are to be stoned to death. Stoning is particularly horrible death.
Of the many sins that are out there, serving avodah zara is in a category of its own. It is a betrayal of Hashem and everything the Jewish community is meant to stand for, and it damages the fabric of the community. However, it is also an act that often lacks concrete proof. Yes, the Torah here talks about offering an animal, but in Devarim yud-bet (12) the Torah records that the people may cook meat away from the Mishkan. How do I keep my Sunday barbeque from being mistaken as an offering? – ha ha. While that may be said with a humorous tone, we know from history, and from current times, how easily facts can be twisted and how readily one might come to do so against an “enemy.” Of this, Jewish law is very aware, and so Devarim 17:4 – “and this is reported to you, and you hear it, and you investigate it thoroughly; and it is found to be true because the evidence agrees, establishing that this abomination has been committed in Israel;”
We don’t just take a report at face value. We don’t take the first word of someone coming and accusing. We hear it; we listen to the details to understand if there is weight to the words. One could, perhaps, add, that the hearing includes weighing the tone in which the accusation is made, understanding the nuances of neighbors. We receive the report and hear it, and we “investigate it thoroughly.”
The Torah is, as we mentioned, talking about avodah zarah, but the fact is that Devarim 17:4 is a pasuk that can stand alone and tells us how to live in this world. When you hear something about a neighbor, when you suspect something about a situation, or when you are told details about …well, in truth, about just about anything… it is your responsibility to investigate it fully. Don’t believe reports of evil, for reports can be distorted – even witnesses can be distorted, as we understand from Moshe’s exhortation here that there must be at least 2 witnesses for guilt to be established. This ensures some level of veracity and objectivity and that the report does not come from some sort of vendetta or ill will.
We have just entered the month of Elul, and there is less than a month until the great day of annual judgement comes. Now we must turn these ideas upon ourselves. As we approach the Yomim Noaraim, we begin to reflect upon our actions in the year that has passed – and often the things we declare and despair of are things we made great in our own mind. Now, at this auspicious time of the year, we report on ourselves to ourselves, and then we must take the opportunity to hear, to really listen, to our tainas (minor grudges) and transgressions. Now, here in the month of Elul, we must examine ourselves thoroughly, for good or for ill.
True cheshbon hanefesh, a self-accounting, requires this level of inquiry. The process of teshuva is not meant to be one of self-flagellation, of punishing oneself and making one feel like a terrible human being. The process of cheshbon hanefesh is meant to make us see the ways in which we need to improve. Teshuva, repentance, is incomplete unless it includes some level of change, even a small one, that will be a barrier to repeating the same aveira. One cannot complete this process if one is busy raking themselves over the coals, so to speak.
May this little Torah give you a zest for the needed work of Elul, and may you remember that just as one witness is not enough, you are not witness enough to condemn yourself. May we all merit to be successful in our teshuva, one step at a time.
Good Shabbas
