Parashat Shoftim

When we read Parashat Shoftim this Shabbat in shul, we will be presented with a series of laws detailing how a king is to conduct himself, once Bnai Yisrael are settled in the land and feel the need to appoint themselves a king. These laws no longer have a day-to-day application, but at least one of them encodes a truth that I bet we can all relate to.

According to Sefer Devarim, Perek 17, the king must be a member of the tribe and not a foreigner. He can’t keep a large number of horses, and he certainly shouldn’t send the people back to Egypt in order to further his horse collection. He also shouldn’t have too many wives, nor amass too large a collection of gold and silver. And finally, he has to have a copy of the Torah written for him, and he must keep it with him, to learn from it, all the days of his life. 

Or at least, that is how most translations understand Devarim 17:18-19:

וְהָיָ֣ה כְשִׁבְתּ֔וֹ עַ֖ל כִּסֵּ֣א מַמְלַכְתּ֑וֹ וְכָ֨תַב ל֜וֹ אֶת־מִשְׁנֵ֨ה הַתּוֹרָ֤ה הַזֹּאת֙ עַל־סֵ֔פֶר מִלִּפְנֵ֖י הַכֹּהֲנִ֥ים הַלְוִיִּֽם׃
וְהָיְתָ֣ה עִמּ֔וֹ וְקָ֥רָא ב֖וֹ כׇּל־יְמֵ֣י חַיָּ֑יו לְמַ֣עַן יִלְמַ֗ד לְיִרְאָה֙ אֶת־הֹ׳ אֱלֹקיו לִ֠שְׁמֹ֠ר אֶֽת־כׇּל־דִּבְרֵ֞י הַתּוֹרָ֥ה הַזֹּ֛את וְאֶת־הַחֻקִּ֥ים הָאֵ֖לֶּה לַעֲשֹׂתָֽם׃

When he is seated on his royal throne, he shall have a copy of this Teaching written for him on a scroll by the levitical priests. Let it remain with him and let him read in it all his life, so that he may learn to revere his God to observe faithfully every word of this Teaching as well as these laws.

 

But what if, as some commentators interpret, this commandment isn’t for the king to have a Torah written for him by the priests, but rather, that he must write a Torah for himself, in the presence of the priests?

That would make the next pasuk more readily understandable. Our rabbis for generations have struggled to explain how the king could keep a copy of the Torah with him at all times, in order to read from it daily. According to the Talmud this might have been a miniature Torah, worn like an amulet, strapped to the king’s arm. That sounds a lot like the Tefilin we wear, but it wouldn’t have been practical for daily reading, which the pasuk also seems to mandate from the king.

But what if this isn’t meant to be literal at all, and is in fact figurative? Having actually taken the time and care to write his own Sefer Torah, word by word, perhaps the king can have it remain with him always not by creating a miniature physical version to carry, but rather, because the intense experience of personally writing the Torah by hand left its contents so embedded in the king’s head and heart that he effectively has it with him at all times, even without a physical copy.

Yet, the pasuk continues by charging the king to “read in it all his life,” which would be difficult to do without a physical copy.

But what if we understand the Hebrew phrase, “וְקָ֥רָא ב֖וֹ” (v’kara bo) not as telling the king that he should read from it daily, but rather, that he should call on it daily? He should call on the lessons he has learned to guide him in the weighty decisions he will have to make on a regular basis, which he is in a position to do, because the act of writing the Torah left such a lasting imapct on him.

I am drawn to this combination of interpretations because they support a belief that I have come to through my own lived experience: The more intense the learning experience, the more likely that the content and skills taught will stay with the learner for longer – potentially forever. 

May the coming year of learning be a year of meaningful, intensive learning experiences for our students, and may these learning experiences stay with them for many, many years to come.

Shabbat Shalom.