📜 Daily Chumash & Rashi – Parshas Shoftim Rishon: Appointing honest judges and police

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 Rishon

1. Appointing honest judges and police:

• You shall appoint judges and police in all your cities. The judges are to judge righteously and may not take bribes, as bribes blinds the eyes of the wise. You shall pursue justice so that you live and inherit the land.

2. Miscellaneous commandments:

• Tree in Temple: You shall not plant a tree for idol worship, or any tree, near G-d’s altar.
• Monument: You shall not build a Matzeiva, monument, which Hashem despises.
• Karban with Mum: You shall not sacrifice a Karban that has a Mum, as this is an abomination for G-d.
• Death penalty for idol worshipers: If you find a man or woman who is an idol worshiper, then you shall investigate the matter appropriately and if it is found to be true the person is to be killed. He is to be removed from your city and stoned to death.
• Two witnesses: One may only be put to death if there are two witnesses to the crime. One may not accept testimony from one witness to kill a man. The witnesses are to be the first to kill the guilty one, and the remainder of the nation is to be last.
• To listen to the words of the Beis Din Hagadol: If a certain matter of judgment in Torah law is beyond your understanding then you shall go to the area chosen by G-d, and address the issue to the priests and Levites and judges of those times and they will instruct you as to the ruling. You must obey their teachings and directives and not swerve to the right or left. One who does not obey them will be put to death.

 

📘 Rashi Q&A — Devarim 16:18–17:13

Devarim 16:18–20 — Judges and Justice

16:18

Q1. Who are the judges (שופטים)?

1. Those who render legal decisions.

Q2. Who are the officers (שוטרים)?

1. Officials who enforce the rulings of the judges through legal authority.

Q3. What does “in all your gates” mean?

1. In every city.

Q4. What does “for your tribes” teach?

1. Courts must be established for every tribe and every city.

Q5. What kind of judges should be appointed?

1. Learned and righteous judges who judge fairly.

 

16:19

Q6. What is the first warning to judges?

1. Do not distort justice.

Q7. What does “do not show partiality” mean?

1. Treat both litigants equally.

Q8. What example does Rashi give?

1. One litigant should not be seated while the other stands.

Q9. Why is favoritism dangerous?

1. It weakens the confidence of the disadvantaged litigant.

Q10. May a judge accept a bribe in order to rule fairly?

1. No.

Q11. Why not?

1. A bribe inevitably creates emotional bias.

Q12. What are “the words of the righteous”?

1. The Torah’s true and correct laws.

 

16:20

Q13. What does “Justice, justice shall you pursue” teach?

1. Litigants should seek an excellent court.

Q14. What reward follows establishing justice?

1. Israel will live and inherit the land.

Q15. What merit protects the nation?

1. The merit of appointing upright judges.

 

 

Devarim 16:21–22 — Forbidden Forms of Worship

16:21

Q16. What is an Asherah?

1. A tree planted for idolatrous purposes.

Q17. When does the prohibition begin?

1. From the moment it is planted.

Q18. Is actual worship required to violate the prohibition?

1. No.

Q19. What broader prohibition is taught?

1. One may not plant any tree near the altar.

Q20. What additional application does Rashi mention?

1. One may not plant trees or build structures on the Temple Mount.

 

16:22

Q21. What is a matzeivah?

1. A single-stone altar or monument used for sacrifice.

Q22. May it be used for Hashem?

1. No.

Q23. Why does Hashem hate it?

1. Because it became associated with Canaanite idol worship.

Q24. Was it always disliked?

1. No. It was beloved in the era of the Patriarchs.

 

📘 Devarim 17:1–7 — Idolatry and Witnesses

17:1

Q25. What sacrifice may not be offered?

1. An animal with a blemish.

Q26. What additional interpretation does Rashi give?

1. One may not invalidate a sacrifice through improper intent while slaughtering it.

Q27. What example does Rashi mention?

1. Intending to eat the sacrifice outside its permitted time.

 

17:2–3

Q28. What covenant violation is described?

1. Idolatry.

Q29. What forms of worship are mentioned?

1. Worshiping gods, the sun, the moon, or heavenly bodies.

Q30. What does “which I have not commanded” mean?

1. Hashem never commanded worship of them.

 

17:4

Q31. What must be done when such a report is heard?

1. Conduct a thorough investigation.

Q32. What does “correct” (נכון) mean?

1. The witnesses’ testimony agrees exactly.

 

17:5

Q33. Where is the idolater taken for execution?

1. To the city where the idolatry occurred.

Q34. How is the sentence carried out?

1. By stoning.

 

17:6

Q35. How many witnesses are required?

1. At least two.

Q36. Why mention three witnesses if two are sufficient?

1. To teach that three witnesses function as one testimony unit just as two do.

Q37. What legal principle follows?

1. All witnesses in the group are treated together regarding false testimony.

 

17:7

Q38. Who acts first in the execution?

1. The witnesses.

Q39. Who follows?

1. The rest of the people.

Q40. Why?

1. To remove evil from Israel and reinforce communal responsibility.

 

📘 Devarim 17:8–13 — The Supreme Court

17:8

Q41. What kinds of difficult cases are mentioned?

1. Questions involving blood, legal judgments, and ritual lesions.

Q42. What does “יפלא” mean?

1. The matter is hidden or beyond understanding.

Q43. What does “between blood and blood” refer to?

1. Different categories of menstrual or ritual blood.

Q44. What does “between judgment and judgment” refer to?

1. Cases of guilt versus innocence.

Q45. What does “between lesion and lesion” refer to?

1. Determining ritual impurity or purity.

Q46. What are “matters of dispute”?

1. Cases in which scholars disagree.

Q47. What does “arise and go up” teach?

1. The Temple and its court are considered spiritually and geographically higher than all other places.

 

17:9

Q48. Who must be consulted?

1. The Levitical priests and the judge serving at that time.

Q49. Who are the “Levitical priests”?

1. Priests from the tribe of Levi.

Q50. Why does the Torah emphasize “the judge who will be in those days”?

1. One must follow the legitimate judge of one’s own generation.

Q51. Even if earlier judges were greater?

1. Yes.

 

17:10–11

Q52. What must be done after receiving the ruling?

1. Follow it carefully.

Q53. May one deviate from their instruction?

1. No.

Q54. What does “right and left” teach?

1. One must follow the court even when its conclusion seems mistaken to him.

Q55. How much more so when its ruling is clearly correct?

1. Certainly then it must be obeyed.

 

17:12–13

Q56. What is the punishment for deliberately rejecting the authority of the supreme court?

1. Death.

Q57. Why is this punishment imposed?

1. To preserve the authority of Torah law and national unity.

Q58. Why must “all the people hear and fear”?

1. To prevent future acts of rebellion.

Q59. What practical law do the Sages derive from this phrase?

1. The execution is delayed until a pilgrimage festival when the people are assembled.