Shoftim

And we just said, we said yesterday, depends if the person was a Jew or not a Jew at the time of the shechitah, but that is the, that is the, uh, the mitzvah.

And that's what the, uh, Torah tells us in Parashat Shoftim, Perek Yud Ches, "Ve'zeh yehi mishmar hakohen me'is ha'am." Right, this is what the Cohen's gonna get from the am.

"Zovchei hazeivach," those that, that, uh, shecht, "Im shor ve'im tseh.

Vedas l'ha'kohen hazroah v'lachaiyim v'hakevah." Right, the first pasuk, pasuk gimel, is the Zeroa LaChaim and the Kevah.

And then the next pasuk, "Reishis degancha, tiroshcha viyitzarecha," which is Terumah, "Reishis degancha," right, "Tiroshcha viyitzarecha." That's the ba-bashitah of, uh, Baale-- Rashi and Baalei Tosafot, that the only mitzvah derabis of Terumah is by dagan, tirosh, viyitzar, right? The rest is all derabanan against the Rambam.

But continuing the pasuk, "Ve'reishis geis soncha titen lo." So here in the pasuk, we have Zeroa LaChaim and the Kevah, then we have Terumah, and we have Reishis Hageiz.

Those are the three mentioned here in Shoftim, "Reishis geis soncha titen lo ki bo bachar Hashem elokecha mikol shvatecha." Because in him, Hashem chose, uh, from all of your shvatim, "La'amod l'shareis b'shem Hashem hu uvanav kal hayamim." So as we'll see, there's going to be a hekesh, uh, in the psukim between Terumah and Reishis Hageiz, 'cause those are the two that are mentioned here in the same pasuk.

But in the both psukim, if you look at, we have Zeroa LaChaim and the Kevah, and then Terumah, and then Reishis Hageiz.

Today we are learning Perek Nunbez, the 52nd chapter of Sefer Yeshayahu.

This chapter is a continuation of Yeshayahu's second unit of prophecies of consolation and redemption for the Jewish people, and it concludes the Haftorah for Parshas Shoftim.

In this chapter, the first two psukim, Yeshayahu uses several double language phrases that may be familiar to us because they are incorporated or have been adapted into the liturgy of l'chadodi that we say every Friday night.

Awaken, awaken, put on your strength, O Zion, put on garments of your beauty, Yerushalayim, the holy city, and it's called the holy city, for no longer shall the uncircumcised or the unclean continue to enter you.

Others, like the Radach, understand it in a more metaphorical sense.

Nosei kelim is a phrase for a weapons bearer, not utensils.

We saw that in Shmuel and in Shoftim and in many other places.

So what does that mean in this context? It's metaphorical.

Welcome to the Daily Shofar Inspiration.

You know, our sages tell us that every single year, the first week of Elul, of this month, this holy month of mercy, of compassion, of closeness with the Almighty, always falls out on the portion of Shoftim, Shoftim V'Shotrim, which is judges and officers.

And our sages teach us what does that mean, that we should have judges and officers to make the laws and to enforce the laws.

But our sages tell us that you know what that really means and why it's coinciding with the beginning of the month of Elul is because that's what each and every one of us as individuals should do in our personal life.

That's a later development.

And even what happens in the period of the Shoftim may be a later development when we talk about root and how that plays out.

But right now, looking just at the period of the Torah and in the immediate aftermath in Sefer Yeshua, I believe that that's an accurate way to read the ger here.

I want to wish everybody a wonderful Yom Tov, and may it really be a year filled with bracha for everybody.

It's a word in which the accent is on the tet, shofetim, right? The word is shofetim, right?

Because three times you have to like extend.

Shofetim.

But because there is a ma'amid on the shin, you still have to stretch that shin without turning it into the main accent.

So it becomes sho-fe-tim.

So all of those who are Chachmei HaMasorah, from the days of Yeshua Ben Nun till the days of Ravina and Rav Ashi, the Ramam lists off who the Chachmei HaMasorah were.

Moshe Rabbeinu gave over the Torah Shebeal Peh to Yeshua, and Yeshua tells you who the Shofetim, and he gives you till Ravina and Rav Ashi, and he stops.

Forty generations, one, two, three, till forty.

So the Meiri, in the beginning of Pirkei Avos, the Meiri goes further.