Parashat Shoftim
2nd Elul, 5786 / August 15th, 2026
By Jack Silverman
This Week’s Readings:
Torah: Deuteronomy 16:18 – 21:9
Haftarah: Isaiah 51:12 – 52:12
Brit Chadashah: 2nd Peter 2:1-12
For a civilization to survive and thrive we must have law and order that is not only fair but must be free of corruption. Of course, this has never been fully attainable because human beings are not-Wait for it-perfect. We just read in chapter 16 verse 19 “You are not to twist justice-you must not show partiality or take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and distorts the words of the righteous. I guess many judges in Cook County never read that chapter. Moses told Israel that the judges and officers they are to appoint must judge those that come before them fairly. When we have elections and there are judges on the ballot how many of us really know who they are. Yes, we can research them but how many of us really do that. That is why we have higher courts to appeal judgments the plaintiff or defendant may not agree with. Israel had the Levitical Kohanim to go to when decisions required more than one or two judges to decide a case.
The cities of refuge are quite interesting. Israel is commanded to set apart three cities within their boundaries so that anyone who kills may flee there. Two types of killing are mentioned. The first being unintentional, a crime akin in our system of justice to manslaughter. The second is the intentional killing, which in our justice system would be called first degree homicide. What is interesting is the fact that if the murderer escapes to the city of refuge written in Chapter 19 verse 12-13 “Then the elders of his hometown should send and take him from there and hand him over to the avenger of blood, to die “Your eye should not pity him, but you must purge the innocent blood from Israel so it may go well with you”.
Israel is given many commands in the Parsha. One among these is not to dabble in the occult, make their children pass through fire, those things that the nations Israel was about to possess did. Israel is also warned against false prophets Moses tell the people in chapter 18 verse 20 “But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My Name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods-that prophet will die” Unfortunately many times throughout our history false prophets did arise and convince many to follow them with terrible results. Simon Bar Kokhba is probably the most well-known. This alone could be a topic of conversation.
The Haftarah portion of Isaiah is very powerful. This is one of the Haftarahs of consolation. I want to focus primarily on the last three verses 13-15. When he writes “Behold, My servant will prosper and He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted” this, in my opinion he is speaking of Yeshua. I don’t know who else this could be about.
I spent a lot of time trying to find in the Brit Chadasha verses that would tie into the Torah portion and Haftarah. In 2nd Peter chapter 2 verses 1 through 13 I believe I found it. The author may or may not be Simon Peter as there are many theories that the epistle could have been written by Peter’s apostles later. But we won’t get into that here. Here Peter is warning against false prophets as well as false teachers that will bring in destructive heresies. Harking back to the theme of justice. In verses two he writes “Many will follow their immoral ways, and as a result the way of truth will be maligned.
The purpose of a drash is to open our hearts and minds to seek the answers to our questions in scripture. To perhaps use the words within scripture to help us better understand what the Lord wants from us. That is why it is important to read some every day. I need to because I have difficulty concentrating and my mind tends to wander. I don’t know if I have undiagnosed form of ADD, or that there are just so many distractions in our lives today. I like many of you who grew up in a time when we only got the news three times a day on TV, on the radio or newspaper. When I was growing up, we had two newspapers, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Also, a weekly local paper. Today we are constantly bombarded 24/7 but we can choose to step away from time to time. So, in conclusion, find a quiet time away from distractions and take in G-ds word every day.
Shabbat Shalom.