Parshat Shoftim coincides with the beginning of the Hebrew month of Elul, the last month in the Jewish year. According to our tradition, Elul is a time for serious soul-searching, honest self-reflection, and intense self-examination. In fact, the Sefer Toldot Adam teaches us that the word Elul is an acronym formed from the Aramaic translation of the Biblical verse, "Explore the land” (Bamidbar 13:2), meaning, Elul is a time intended for us to explore who we are. 

That being said, what is the connection between Elul, the month preceding Rosh HaShanah, the month which calls out to us, "Explore who you are," and Parshat Shoftim, a parsha which chiefly deals with administering a Jewish legal system, kingship and judicial authority? The answer lies in the first verse of our parsha. "Judges and officers shall you appoint for yourself in all your gates..." (Devarim 16:18). According to Rashi, the pshat (plain sense meaning) of the aforementioned verse is that once the Jewish people enter Eretz Yisrael, they must appoint judges whose function will be "to pass judgment," and officers, whose function will be "to impose authority over the people following the order [of the judges], with stick and strap until one accepts upon oneself the verdict of the judge." (Rashi on 16:18). Thus, we see that any functional judicial system requires two components: The commanding voice of the judge who speaks with authority and passes sentences, and the long arm of the officer who acts with authority, enforcing the judges' decrees. As Rebbe Eliezer notes in the Midrash Tanchuma, "Without an Officer there is no Judge."  

However, the great Chassidic master, the Maggid of Koshnitz, completely reinterprets this verse to be a message not about society, but about the individual; not about the outer, material world, but about the inner, spiritual world. In his Sefer Avodat Yisrael, he writes,

"You shall Appoint Judges and officers": [Parshat Shoftim] is always read during Chodesh Elul, a time designated and ripe with potential for each person to return to their Creator, that one's sins...be forgiven through a process of regret, remorse, thoughts of repair, [and] weeping...over one's sins...Hence the Torah cautions us, "Judges and officers shall you appoint"... [That is to say] each person must set for themselves Judges to judge oneself. This means that one must set one's sight to examine one's path in life, and to pave the path ahead. The ears, nose and mouth, indeed all the seven orifices of the head are called the "gates to the soul"...and these are the "gates" that our parsha speaks of, that one must judge oneself for all of one’s actions.

Not only must one appoint Judges at the "gates to the soul," but one should appoint Officers at the "gates to the soul" as well. The classic Chassidic thinker the Mei HaShiloach explains this point by noting that the Officers of one's being is the Will and Power or Energy, to abstain from that which is spiritually and physically damaging. In a spiritual sense, appointing Officers means that we enforce that which "our own Judge" decrees. In other words, it is not enough to know something is bad for you intellectually, or that something is wrong morally or halakhically. Rather, one should act upon that awareness, transforming implicit knowledge into lived reality. Thus, a functional judicial system not only requires both Judges and Officers out in society, but we require these two components in our inner worlds as well. 

May this Elul be a time of powerful personal growth -- growth in our spiritual and in our material endeavors, and may we take the first verse of our parsha to heart –  appointing Judges and Officers in our lives, to help us realize our healthiest, happiest, most authentic selves as we all take one step closer towards the Days of Awe. 

Shabbat Shalom!

- Rabbi Dan

Shabbat Morning Drasha: "A Jewish King: What is the Leadership We Seek?

Shabbat Afternoon Shiur: "Learning Tefillah with Rav Schwab: Adon Olam"