Parashat Shoftim

Parashat Shoftim
Elul 7, 5772 ~ Aug 125, 2012
by Neska

Hashem

The Soul You Breathed into me is pure.

You Breathed It into me as I was born

You Breathed It into me and I took my first breath

So how can we be separated.

We cannot.

I was so Pure from Your Breath.

So Pure.

And then I grew.  And I made choices -

and more choices

most of them negative

and I was spiralling down....

And then

You saved my life.

You caused me to stop   and look

And one day I heard a Rabbi say

“Judges and Police shall you put at your gates”

Not the city's gates....but your gates.

My gates.  My openings.

And slowly I began to

stop and look and listen and speak

very differently.

I began to notice that when I wanted to say something

the Judges would say 'do you really?' 

And the Police would say 'take action – now.'

Or if I was listening to something unsavory

the Judges would say 'do you really want to listen?' 

And the Police would say 'leave'.

And I understood that there have to be both Judges and Police

at the gateways, at my gateways

because knowing is not enough

Without acting – knowing is not enough

And that's what the Torah teaches me

One has potential and one has actualization.

Adam and Chava.

Justice Justice – you shall pursue.

Just knowing that Justice is what I should pursue

allows me da'at—allows me to know

but without the action

it just sits there.

And of what good is that.             

This is what the Torah teaches.

Knowledge is good.

Action is good.

One without the other is pure potential.

One without the other is insufficient.

We will do  and we will understand.

Judges and Police shall you place at your gates.

Shabbat Shalom.