Parashat Shoftim 5786 – 08/15/2026
Beginning with Bereishit 5781 (17 October 2020) we embarked on a new format. We will be considering Rambam’s (Maimonides’) great philosophical work Moreh Nevukim (Guide for the Perplexed) in the light of the knowledge of Vedic Science as expounded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The individual essays will therefore not necessarily have anything to do with the weekly Torah portion, although certainly there will be plenty of references to the Torah, the rest of the Bible, and to the Rabbinic literature. For Bereishit we described the project. The next four parshiyyot, Noach through Chayei Sarah, laid out a foundational understanding of Vedic Science, to the degree I am capable of doing so. Beginning with Toledot we started examining Moreh Nevukim. The text we are working from is the two-volume translation by Prof. Shlomo Pines, University of Chicago Press, 1963.
Devarim 16:18-21:9
Dear readers,
There are a number of short weeks coming up for me. On 8/31 I will be traveling to Fairfield to bring someone to the last part of the digital TTC, and the week of 9/20 I will be picking him up (Monday of that week is also Yom Kippur). The week after that is Sukkot. What this means is that for the next weeks my entries will probably be a bit shorter than normal, which many may see as a positive development! If need be, we’ll dip into the archives for some oldies but goodies.
Bob
We have been discussing creation in time. Jewish thought insists that Gd created the universe at some point in time, whereas Aristotle claims that the universe is eternal. As we have discussed, our notion of time comes from motion, and Rambam therefore discusses motion:
I say then that Aristotle asserts that motion is not subject to generation and passing-away – he means motion in the absolute sense. For he says that if a motion is produced in time, it should be considered that everything that is produced in time is preceded by a certain motion, namely, that consisting in its passage to actuality and its being produced after it had been nonexistent. Consequently, a motion exists, namely, the motion by means of which the latter motion was brought into being. Consequently, the first motion must of necessity be eternal or else the series will go on to infinity, Likewise, in conformity with this principle, he asserts furthermore that time is not subject to generation and passing-away. For time is consequent upon, and attached to, motion, and there is no motion except in time; and again time cannot be intellectually conceived except through motion, as has been demonstrated. This is a method of his by means of which the eternity of the world is necessarily inferred.
There is quite a bit of interesting physics here, and some notions that have seemed intuitive for centuries have been overturned by modern physics.
First, Aristotle talks about “absolute motion.” Until Einstein’s Special Relativity it was assumed that there was an absolute coordinate system of space and time, and therefore there could be absolute motion. In Newton’s words:
Absolute, true and mathematical time, of itself, and from its own nature flows equably without regard to anything external, and by another name is called duration: relative, apparent and common time, is some sensible and external (whether accurate or unequable) measure of duration by the means of motion, which is commonly used instead of true time.
This kind of thinking is based on our common intuition, based on our terrestrial existence. We all move in a coordinate system that is more-or-less fixed to the earth. Furthermore, we can all “synchronize our watches” and we will all read the same values for space and time. But this whole structure was altered by the advent of Special Relativity . The fundamental premise on which Special Relativity rests is that the speed of light is the same in all reference frames. If a train is moving at a certain speed, and we are moving alongside it at the same speed, the train seems to be sitting still. If we are moving on a parallel track in the opposite direction, the train appears to us to be barreling towards us at a much higher speed. Light does not act this way. If our train has a headlight on, and we measure its speed, we get about 300,000 km/sec. If we’re moving alongside it, we get 300,000 km/sec. If we’re approaching it, we get 300,000 km/sec.
Now if the motion of light is constant, it is clear that something else must be non-constant, and those non-constant items are space and time. Special Relativity predicts that a moving clock runs slow (Time Dilation effect) and moving meter sticks look short (Lorentz Contraction). These changes exactly balance out to keep the speed of light the same no matter the observer’s state of motion, but at the expense of “absolute” space and time.
When General Relativity came along, space and time was no longer just stretchy, but they could bend as well. Gravity is not a force that pulls objects together. It is curvature of space-time, as we have discussed recently. And the solution to Einstein’s equations that appears to describe our universe starts with a singularity, where all of space, time and matter are compacted into a single point. At some point in the past, this singularity expanded, and space and time were created out of nothing. Or so it appears. In any event, the idea that space and time are absolute does not seem to be accurate.
Rambam gives four methods which he claims that Aristotle uses to demonstrate that the universe is eternal and uncreated, and they all depend on the notion that motion cannot be produced in time – it cannot come into existence from non-existence. Of course, neither Aristotle nor Rambam had access to the kinds of measurements not the theoretical constructs that led to Relativity theory, so the fact that their theories do not comport with modern physics is not surprising.
The issue of creation in time always comes down to the question of creatio ex nihilo , as we discussed last week. This, I believe, is one of those questions for which no answer exists within creation, because Gd is transcendental to creation, and only Gd can create out of nothing. It appears that Gd chooses to create time and space, as well as matter and form, out of nothing – Gd’s creation is something that is truly new, rather than just a rearrangement of existing elements. But this explanation must be viewed from Gd’s perspective, in which creation exists virtually within Gd’s nature, not as an object separate from Gd. And, Gd willing, we will continue this discussion next week.
Today, as I write, is the first day of Elul, the month of preparation for the Days of Awe, the days of repentance/return. May we all be blessed with knowledge and experience of the transcendent in the coming year.
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Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parashat Shoftim
Parashat Shoftim has the theme of “Justice” and illustrates through this the discussion of appointment and behavior of judges and kings, the need for witnesses to prevent violations of Torah law and witnesses to attest that a crime has been committed.
In discussing Gd’s Judgment given on Rosh HaShana, Rebbetzin Tziporah Gottlieb said something very lovely, in a recent jewishworkshop.com webinar: “Gd Judges us to see what we need” – judgment is not a matter of punishment or reward: it is a matter of determining (so to speak – Gd always knows, no need to make a special point of determining on a particular occasion) on Rosh HaShanah, the Head of the Year, what we need. Gd gives us Justice, what we need.
“Justice” means that which will bring us to Full Attunement with Gd: only in perfect attunement can we act completely justly – but good intentions and good actions from innocent hearts can move us in the right direction.
“Shoftim” means “judges” and this parshah speaks about judges, kings and prophets, people who might be sufficiently attuned to Gd that they can serve as intermediaries between us and Gd to know what we need and to guide us to act more and more justly until our hearts are completely pure, our souls are just and we are “Holy, as Gd is Holy.”
In this parshah, Moses tells us that in Hebron, Mt Sinai (Exodus says “Sinai,” Deuteronomy says “Horeb”) our ancestors heard Gd’s voice and bid Moses to go on the mountain and speak with Gd, lest they die. Gd tells Moses they have said well: an intermediary is needed.
And Moses speaks of judges, kings and prophets who will be appointed and will arise: intermediaries who will guide us when we are still not pure enough to be completely at ease in Gd’s Presence, to “love Gd with all our heart, all our soul and might” which includes perceiving Gd everywhere and so “loving our neighbor as ourselves” – which requires us to know our self as Self, One, and to Love our neighbors as expressions of our Self, within our Self.
Fortunately, there can be a situation and come a time when we do not need intermediaries, when we know Gd directly:
In Jeremiah 31:33-34, Gd says we will all know Him: no intermediary is necessary.
““And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother saying `Know G d,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them” (Jeremiah 31:33)! (translation from “Modern Times,” by Jacob Immanuel Shochet, posted on chabad.org).
Joy is rising in our world, though the headlines may not seem to show it. Soon we will be pure enough, our world will be pure enough, open enough to Gd, to Love, so that the fear of Gd’s voice which existed at Sinai/Hebron will no longer rise.
“Justice” seems a bit of an austere word: Think of it as “Love,” as in “Love Gd above all else” and “Love Thy neighbor as thy self {[Self]” and it feels better. Where there is Love, there is no blemish, no violation – there is Perfect Attunement, Justice.
“Shoftim” means “judges” and the commandment to establish judges indicates that people are not able to act completely in harmony with Gd’s Will, so there will be disagreements. The appointment of judges also suggests that there are some people, the judges, who are able to act at least to a good degree in accord with Gd’s Will – promising help to those a bit out of tune to get into tune and participate in a harmonious society.
Judges will be appointed in every generation and they will administer justice without bias and they will teach Torah law and people must follow, not deviating. Teaching Torah law means not just teaching the 10 utterances, the 613 commandments, for people to memorize and follow: it means teaching harmony with Torah, which is harmony with Gd, teshuvah, return to Oneness. It means teaching people to realize they are impulses of Gd, characters in a story Gd, One, tells within Himself/Herself/The Self.
At this time, we don’t seem to have judges at the level Gd intends. But, fortunately, we are growing in the ability to spontaneously Love and to create the world so pure that judges will be prophets, as will we all; rabbinical courts will be temples for Torah recitation, singing, dancing in the Joy of Oneness – no disagreements to resolve, no need to diagnose and prescribe paths to satisfaction.
Shoftim repeats the law against idolatry and adds a law against sorcery: both involve putting trust in a partial value not in the Wholeness that is Gd. Our synagogue community is growing in Wholeness, as we can see in the Joy shining in us so that we are guiding our life more and more within Wholeness, in Fulfillment, so there is less chance we will get drawn into fragments of Life.
Shoftim talks about kings: they are like judges in their power and Gd commands them to be humble, not to think themselves better than others, and each king is commanded to write a copy of the Torah Scroll for himself, to keep it with him [or her!] always. Greatness comes from humility, because humility is the awareness that the individual is only great through connection to Wholeness, Gd, the Self. What is commanded for a king can certainly be useful for anyone. Learning to create our own Torah scroll in the way that the trained soferim, Torah scribes, do would be a wonderful experience in attuning ourselves to Torah on the level of meaning, language, words, but also on the level of letters, the level of the way body, mind, feeling, ink, pen and parchment interact to produce letters, words, spaces, words, sentences, paragraphs, chapters, all of Torah in written form. This delightful action can help reveal to us the Torah that is not words on paper but the Liveliness of Gd, One with Gd.
To become a Torah scribe requires considerable training and Torah scrolls created by them are quite expensive so for most of us, we will probably have to substitute reading the Torah, reciting Torah, and keeping a printed copy of Torah by our bedside or some other place that is convenient. But, now and again, we can copy the words by hand, the best we can and rise through this Joy.
Torah is on the Internet in many places and so anytime we are near a computer, we can take a few minutes now and again to dip into Torah and return to our other activity with some fine refreshment. In a deeper sense, “writing our own Torah” means experiencing Torah as fundamental vibrations of Consciousness, of Gd – experiencing this within our own consciousness. Writing and reading Torah in our everyday world can help this experience to grow. To make a real Torah scroll would take long training but we can write with regular pens and regular paper, a paragraph, a page a day, whatever we have time for. Even one word or one letter has Gd’s Wholeness within it,
Shoftim describes the creating of cities of refuge: Here we see justice in another form – places where someone who accidentally killed will be safe from retribution. Better to rise in purity so that our world rises with us and there are no accidents, much less accidental killings, and no need for cities of refuge.
Symbolically, “cities of refuge” are places within our own awareness where stressful thoughts, memories, anticipations do not arise – A Transcendental realm within our awareness.
Unblemished offerings:
These symbolize the purity that justice is – unblemished. Since the real offering is not the physical offering, or even the prayers that we offer today as a substitute for the physical offerings: the real offering is our self. So, we offer ourselves to Gd as the Mi Shebeirach prayer says: “Give us the courage to make our lives a blessing.”
Witnesses:
As an example of standards of evidence, two adults witnessing someone about to break Torah law were required to warn him. In a world, where all live in Canaan, the Promised Land, fully realized Synchronicity/Integration, this might not even be necessary for small children. But even when it is, in a world where everyone experiences “The World is My Family” anyone seeing any child in danger of breaking a law would certainly unhesitatingly, lovingly warn the child. Symbolically, two adults mean both our waking state self and our Transcendental Self. A child is a thought rising that wants to blossom into action.
Rules of war:
Peace terms are to be offered before attacking a city. In a world where everyone is in harmony with Gd, with One, wars will not arise. Similarly, wars will not arise within our mind regarding different choices, interpretations.
No Wanton Destruction:
For example, no cutting down a fruit tree that is bearing fruit in order to use its wood to build a house. A harmonious world shows us exactly the appropriate materials and tools at exactly the right time. A harmonious mind bears fruit for action and the action leads to not merely a wooden house, but to The Home of Fulfillment.
Action:
When a dead body is found without witnesses to the murder: the whole community is held responsible; it is the community’s lack of attunement to Torah, to Gd, that led to the crime. With each of us becoming more and more attuned, the community becomes attuned, murder does not occur. Similarly, no useless thoughts, dead thoughts, arise in our mind: we think from the Source of Thought and every thought that arises is Live.
These specific examples of justice depend on our attunement to Wholeness, to Oneness, and this depends greatly on the justice, the purity, of our daily routine. When our daily routine is healthy, we see things as they are, act appropriately in a spontaneous way.
Shoftim is an aspect of Torah that gives specific examples of the qualities of judges and specific examples of ways to ensure that justice is done. Through our reading, reciting, hearing, writing this passage we can move to the Universal Justice that is Love, Joy, Harmony, Oneness, Wholeness, Gd, Self.
How nice!
Baruch HaShem