Deuteronomy - Cycle One - 1618-2109 - Shoftim

The day was cold though still summer and we had just started down the mountain. That’s when my fourteen year old son tripped and went flying face first into a rock on the path. The blood from his nose was everywhere, on the wild flowers, his face, his shirt, his sister’s water bottle. Shocked, I told him to put his head back. My friend started cleaning him with a bandana. That’s when we heard someone calling “Dad”. My friend’s daughter, age 23, had run ahead and sprained her ankle.

How did we (four children, three adults) get down the mountain that day? Some of us had new wounds. Some had old. Some had wounds that were healing, that seemed healed even if they weren’t. One thing we knew. We were all doing the hike together.

The name of this week’s Torah portion is Shoftim, or police, in the plural. But let’s step back from the blue uniforms. Let’s see ourselves hiking. Let’ see ourselves hiking together as one collective force, wounds and all. Shoftim brings us closer to understanding how inter‐related we all are. In helping ourselves, we help others. In helping others, we help ourselves. There’s great beauty to this process as it cycles, evolves and expands. It becomes manifested in light. It takes on a life of its own. Finally, we see that Shoftim is about the kings and priests we can all become if we learn how to be agents of this process (agents of light)… if we learn how to focus the flow of God so that He can break through the shields of our hearts and help us to reflect His divine love.

First, what we see in Shoftim is that being an agent of light takes work. It takes a moment to moment watch, an acceptance that to survive in physical form we must know ourselves as separate beings. Yet to know God we must know our separate beings as one (also see Genesis 1‐26). This is not easy.

We see that, as agents, we don’t want to compromise ourselves. Yes, we may get bravos if we focus on war and destruction but the objective is to recognize our present reality while strengthening the divine through right vision. When we welcome despair we may as well be taking bribes, reveling in it for the momentary fit with our human condition. And, we all have to be honest with ourselves and with each other. We can’t make excuses. Even the wisest men can mess up. Even the darkest deserves our generosity of spirit.

Agents refuse to be blocked. We want the entrance to the site of sacrifice to remain open. In short (given our lessons from Re’eh and from the story of Abraham and Isaac) we want the entrance to our hearts to remain free from obstruction.

Agents do not want to embrace or sacrifice a light that is impure. So, we want to watch what we accept as ours and give to others. As we exhale, we may want to focus on expelling all blemishes, all fear. This way, our inhale is that much deeper. Our gift of breath to God will have an even finer vibration, a stronger grip on our intention to offer the most sacred love.

As agents, we want to receive and grant the benefit of the doubt, three chances. That doesn’t mean that with the third strike we should be pelted to death with stones. It could however mean that if our inner light can’t rise through our hearts to our minds eye (in other words, if it feels stuck, if we feel stuck) we may want to see that inner light as shards. Then we may want to envision those shards striking at our barriers like stones until the barriers are broken down. This way, the light will not only move through us to malchut, or to the earth, it will reflect beyond our mind (or to keter), flowing through places that once were shut down. That way, we would be practicing tikkun olam, collecting our hearts as one heart, and embracing our oneness.

As agents, in times of indecision, we want to go to the place that God shall choose, in other words, to our centers, to what feels right.

As agents, we want to become kings, to be betrothed to God. Yes, we can live in the love of His radiance, serve Him, let Him serve us. We can gather the golden coins of divine consciousness as they flow down our faces like stars and tears. We can live His words, write them in our minds, know them eternally in our hearts, hold them like the hands of those we love as we help them down the mountain. We can be blessed to breathe life into the words of Torah and allow Torah to breathe life into us. Then, without straying to the right or the left, by staying at the center of this powerful vibration, we can reflect love to the beautiful tune of God, the place of priests, of sacrifice.

There’s more in Shoftim. As kings and priests, how do we protect light? There are so many marching orders and they include watching for pretense, forgetfulness, the false blaming of others, the acceptance of darkness and accident. If our house is built and we haven’t lived in it, if our vineyards have not yet come to fruition, if we are betrothed but not yet married; if, in other words, we are feeling incomplete in body, soul or heart, we can’t at this moment serve God. We must finish the work on ourselves. Better we accept our weaknesses then hurt the collective force with foolish bravery.

Gifted with the quick vision at the top, then, how do we get down the mountain? This is what I think. We stay on the path, watch ourselves with meticulous observation, and see the beauty of Gods words in each tree, in each drop of blood, in each pebble. We carry that vision from the top. Love. Laugh. We limp and wait, even if it’s cold outside. We accept our weaknesses and our responsibilities, keep our hearts open despite the wound. We know that every wound is a group wound, that we move together or don’t move at all, that one man can’t move alone anyway. We act as one collective force with hands and hearts reaching out to lead, to soothe the pain. We give what is needed; we give the riches of Torah.

It took about an extra hour for my friend’s daughter (with the help from her Dad) to make it down the mountain. She made it and it hurt and she’s doing better now. My son’s nose stopped bleeding and it seems it isn’t broken. Finally, we ended the day with ice packs and ice cream.

So, as we breathe life into Torah, may we live the joy of Torah and allow Torah to breathe life into us. May we continue practicing tikkun olam and breathing light as we march on, wounds and all. May we stay on the path of radiance and beauty. And may we know that we are one and in knowing, may we laugh and play and watch each other and ourselves with strict and joyous sacrifice. May we all be kings and priests of God and light for an eternity.