Parashat Shoftim פָּרָשַׁת שׁוֹפְטִים

I know that we are frequently challenged, when we read the Torah, to understand how to make what we read there relevant to today. There are places where we might either reject or re-explain practices, laws, or policies that we encounter there.

For example, when the Torah describes the institution of slavery, it concerns us that slavery is not wholeheartedly condemned.

Some scholars have even claimed that God knows (and knew) that slavery was wrong, but was aware that the Jewish people were not ready to reject that institution entirely. So, He offered a compromise where the Torah gives us rules for HOW WE CAN TREAT SLAVES, even if the institution itself doesn’t go away. I don’t know if you’re happy with that explanation or that compromise, but it seems to me to be a stretch.

If God could command the Jewish people to practice 613 mitzvot, couldn’t He have also commanded them - US - to abolish slavery?

Another troubling concern is the Torah’s treatment of women - what do you do when you read about SOTAH, the practice of making a suspected wife of straying condemned to a terrible ordeal, for example? Do you just dismiss it?

• Do you wonder, as some do, whether this even bizarre practice took place?
• Do you ask why MEN didn’t have to go through SOTAH if they were suspected of adultery?

Again, so many ways to react to parts of the Torah that confuse or trouble us.

But in this week’s parsha, SHOFTIM, what we see is actually an amazingly radical, very contemporary idea. What do I mean by that?
 
I am thinking about the idea of a SANCTUARY CITY.
Shoftim includes a discussion of sanctuary cities, and though we know the term “sanctuary city,” it means something different today than it did then. For the ancient Israelites, a sanctuary city was a place of refuge where someone who had ACCIDENTALLY killed someone else could live.  The idea was that you could safely stay there until the anger of the victim’s family had abated. Today, we would say, “until the heat dies down.” 

What’s so radical about that?

Well, think about one of the many codes that came before the Torah. One I have in mind is the Code of Hammurabi (about 1754 BCE).  If a doctor bungled a surgery and the patient died, the doctor would have his hands cut off. And the code LITERALLY says that if a person causes someone else to lose an eye, then that person’s eye will be removed.  SO what we have is a very literal, very strict notion of liability.

There’s something different about the message of Shoftim, and the instructions for the sanctuary city provide the evidence for that interpretation. Because the Torah tells us that it’s not just WHAT YOU DO; it’s also whether you meant to do what you did.  

For the Torah, and for Jewish custom and practice, we care about the INTENTION of the agent.  If something is an accident, you need to go away for a while, until cooler heads prevail, but you are not killed or maimed in turn.  And we carry that philosophy over into other areas of Jewish practice.

For example, it’s always good to do a mitzvah.  But if you do that mitzvah with KEVANAH, with intention, with spirit, then that mitzvah is much more beautiful. Of course, there are times when we do what we do because we know that it is our duty, or because we know that it is what is expected. No one can have kevanah all the time. But doing the right thing with the right state of mind makes a mitzvah more meaningful.

The importance of sanctuary cities and the role that intention plays in punishment is also a statement about the developing maturity of the Israelites.  

Think for a minute about a young child. Why do children do the right thing? Until a certain age, they fear punishment. Maybe a little later in life, they hope to please their parents or fit into society. But it’s only later in life when people, fully mature moral people, realize that doing the right thing should be done for its own sake.

 And children also don’t understand the idea of intention. Like Hammurabi, they only see the end results.  If you accidentally fall and break the dinner plate that you are carrying, then you should be punished. The accidental nature doesn’t matter to a child. But, as we age, we see that it’s not only the end result that matters. It’s the question of whether you meant to do what you did.

So, the presence of sanctuary cities is a sign that, here, at the end of Moshe’s life, the Jewish people are maturing. They are becoming less dependent on miracles and the fear of God’s punishment and more aware of morality as part of character - as something INTERNAL, not something imposed by outside forces. Unlike SOTAH or slavery, that’s not anything we have to apologize for.