The Kli Yakar - Parshat Shoftim

Things Haven't Changed Much in the Last 400 Years....

In this week's parsha:

• How to choose the best dayan/rabbinical judge (Hint: Nepotism is REALLY bad.)
• How to be the best dayan
• How to remain strong in war​

For a brief, inspiring, and photographic post on Parshat Shoftim's Hafatarah, please see:
The Merit-Filled Daughter of Tzaddikim vs Withering Grass

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Requirements for the Best Dayan

"Judges and law enforcement officials you shall give to yourself in all your cities that the Lord, your God, is giving you, for your tribes, and they shall judge (v’shaftu) the people [with] righteous judgment." (16:18) 

The Kli Yakar questions why the Torah doesn’t just say “and they shall judge you” instead of saying “you shall give to yourself.”

 
​​And instead of saying v’shaftu (which is generally command form, i.e. “And judge!”), why doesn’t it say the usual v’yishfatu ("and they shall judge")?

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….this verse is a command to whoever has the opportunity to appoint dayanim (judges), that he needs to make sure that they will not curry favor with anyone – not even with the person who appointed them.
 
“....you shall give to yourself” implies over yourself, resulting in them judging the entire nation with righteous judgment because if they [the dayanim] won’t favor you, then all the more so, [anyone in] the rest of the nation....

Not as is the custom in our generation where every person who has the opportunity to appoint dayanim selects for himself his relative or friend, the implied condition being that they’ll favor him — and that’s exactly what they do, resulting in the entire nation, even those with no connection [to him], being judged unjustly because the dayan needs to equalize all the verdicts so that no one will tell him:

​“But yesterday, you ruled this-and-such for your relative or friend or countryman, and now you change the verdict for this one.”
 
[Emphasis mine-MR]

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We see here the greatness of the Kli Yakar.
 
It is human nature to defend and rationalize the behavior of those engaged in the same profession.

​(For example, try criticizing a doctor — even without mentioning any names — to another doctor. Or complaining about a teacher — again, with no identifying details — to another teacher. You’ll see that they’ll often instinctively search for justification of their anonymous colleague's behavior, even if there seems to be grounds for concern.)

The Kli Yakar himself served as dayan, yet he insists on holding dayanim up to a very high standard throughout his commentary on the Chumash.

No compromises, no exceptions.

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How to Gain the True Advantage over the Enemy

“And he shall say to them, "Hear, O Israel, today you are approaching the battle against your enemies. Let your hearts not be faint; you shall not be afraid, and you shall not be alarmed, and you shall not be terrified because of them.” (20:3) 

The Kli Yakar warns that davka in a time of war, a person needs to more careful than any other time because the yetzer hara, whether for illicit relations or for any other prohibition, is strongest at the time of war in order to topple a person into the hand of his enemy.

So keep that in mind, fellow warriors!

Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim of Luntschitz (1550-1619) lived in Bohemia (which is today Poland and Czechoslovakia). He served as rabbi and dayan and wrote several books, the most well-known being his commentary on the Chumash known as the Kli Yakar.
This is my own translation and any errors are also mine. ​