Deuteronomy Cycle Three Shoftim 16:18 to 21:9

Shoftim


In Shoftim we are given rules for magistrates, for Kings, for Levites, for prophets, for witnesses and for war. What we’re looking at here (therefore) are boundaries.

What rules do we give ourselves and what gates are given to us by God? How do we discern the many intricate vibrations of the divine from that which is mundane? How do we take responsibility for our bodies and our hearts in a way that stays within God’s gates... and if circumstances prevent us, within the land that He is giving us? How do we define and create our subset of needs, rules, morals and behavior codes within the Holy Temple? How do we transmit while maintaining the purity of the intention?

These are important questions.

The answer is we just do it... with great care to be flexible (yes) and to limit any compromise of the sacred boundaries. That’s because (I believe) the more solid the boundaries the more capable they are of being vessels that funnel to us the light of God. As Rabbi Kook says at all times must a person cultivate the virtue of natural reason...(so that) the holy spirit be enlightened and developed in him, within the framework of reason…enriched with all the perceptions that may come within the purview of man, in all the depths of their acuteness.

The truth is though boundaries are threatened all the time. Let’s look at today’s rabbi. Simply non-profit status (of a religious institution) places him/her in a highly precarious situation. He must please as well as teach, entertain as well as lead. He must be careful not to cross personal and holy boundaries. Often, he isn’t careful enough. Often, a teaching might get watered down to oblivion in order to satisfy a satisfaction-hungry community.

Let’s look at Talmud (Sanhedrin 7b). Here, we read that appointing an incompetent judge is like planting an idolatrous tree. What this means (in my opinion) is if we allow our imagination or our fear to wander beyond the gates given to us by God it is not only idolatry, it digs its roots deep into us. On other levels, if we allow our faculty of discernment to twist its way beyond the blue print created by God, if we confuse our gates with God’s, the reflection of our hearts will no longer be pure. Whatever the situation demands…if we decide to soften God’s word for convenience or make it firmer…if we want to completely cut it or refuse any adaptation….if we are pretending to be greater than God…then this is idolatry.

Here’s more from Talmud. In Deuteronomy 18:15 Moses declares that God will bring to the people a prophet like me. In order to do this, Talmud says he must be strong since (in Exodus 14:19) he spread the tent over the tabernacle. He must be wealthy since (in midrash) it is said that the chips of the broken tablets belong to him. He must be wise since of the 50 gates to God Moses enters all but one. And he must be meek since (Numbers 12:3) the man Moses was very meek. Finding a man who is not a prophet (therefore) and creating these qualities for him within our imagination could destroy the very boundaries we are trying to strengthen. And…finding a man who is pious and creating qualities for him that are against his/her inner boundaries would destroy the man. Therefore, as congregants, we need to discern between what we want and what God wants as proven by the millennium. And we need to see the meeting place and be in it, both physically and spiritually.

Judah Halevi, an 11th century poet, also has a few things to say on the subject. The pious man ...calls upon his community as a respected prince calls his disciplined army, to assist him in reaching the higher or divine degree which is to be found above the degree of the intellect... He directs the organs of thought and imagination, relieving them of all worldly ideas mentioned above, charges his imagination to produce…such pictures are the scenes of Sinai, Abraham and Isaac on Moriah, the Tabernacle of Moses, the Temple service, the presence of God in the Temple, and the like.

Finally, Rabbi Nachman (in the words of Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum) speaks of our need to refine and clarify our Koach Hamedameh. Our imagination (in figuring our boundaries) can be highly deceptive... We have to work to overcome our own subjectivity by submitting our own ideas to scrutiny in the light of the teachings of the sages and prophets.

So, may we understand our boundaries and how they relate to God. May we, as congregants, support a rabbi who will lead us into (sometimes) uncomfortable places. May we (as rabbis) rise from self- judgment of our own accessibility and, with flexibility and love, let go of any fear of transmission. May we continually remind ourselves of the great love, the compassion, the kindness and the hierarchy of heart within our one God and ourselves. May we recognize who we are and where we fit. May we use the boundaries as vessels of reception and transmission. May we see this as the essence of love.