Judges and Officers in Your Own Gates - Parshas Shoftim

00:00 There was the well-known chossid Reb Hillel of Paritch, who was among the greatest chassidim in the time of the Tzemach Tzedek. He had also lived during the Alter Rebbe’s lifetime, though it is known that he never saw the Alter Rebbe. There are several stories about this. One appears in the sichos of the Frierdiker Rebbe, who related something that happened when Reb Hillel spoke about the first time he heard a Torah teaching from the Alter Rebbe. It is a very interesting story. The Frierdiker Rebbe says this took place on Lag BaOmer, already in the time of the Tzemach Tzedek. In other words, it was years later, when Reb Hillel was already one of the elder chassidim. There was a Lag BaOmer farbrengen attended by leading chassidim. Among them was the well-known chossid Reb Isaac of Homil, who was older than Reb Hillel. Reb Isaac had spent many years with the Alter Rebbe, going back to the early years. Reb Hillel, who was younger, had not had the privilege of being with the Alter Rebbe, but he had been with the Mitteler Rebbe. Both were among the greatest chassidim, and they sat farbrenging with other leading chassidim. He relates that a whole debate developed at that farbrengen between Reb Isaac and Reb Hillel. The Frierdiker Rebbe explains what the difference was between

01:25 Reb Isaac and Reb Hillel. Both were very great chassidim, great scholars with extensive knowledge of Torah, avodah, and fear of Heaven. Nevertheless, the chassidim distinguished between them: they said Reb Isaac belonged to the maskilim, those whose emphasis was on intellectual understanding, while Reb Hillel belonged to the ovdei Hashem, those whose emphasis was on serving Hashem. Of course, a maskil also serves Hashem, and an oved also studies and understands. The question is what was primary for each of them. They said that was the difference: for Reb Isaac, the main thing was intellectual understanding; he was a maskil. Reb Hillel belonged primarily to the ovdei Hashem. Their debate concerned hiddurim, going beyond the basic requirements of a mitzvah. As is known, Reb Hillel was exceptionally careful about hiddurim and stringencies, in a very pronounced way. There are even many stories about how he went beyond even the usual hiddurim, to the point of actual self-denial, which was a significant part of his avodah. Reb Isaac spoke to him about it at the farbrengen: Why did he practice such hiddurim and stringencies? Reb Isaac argued that a person should walk a straight path. One need not veer to one side or the other, being neither too stringent nor too lenient. A person should be straight. Reb Hillel listened to him with great humility and respect. Reb

02:48 Hillel had great respect for Reb Isaac. Reb Isaac was older than he was and had spent many years with the Alter Rebbe. Reb Hillel therefore felt a deep inner humility toward him. He listened to Reb Isaac’s words and began to cry. Reb Hillel then began to speak about his life. He explained that his great care with hiddurim did not come from a desire to seek out stringencies and hiddurim for himself, but from what he had understood from the teachings of Chassidus: that his avodah was to refine his body and make it a vessel for G-dliness. At that farbrengen, Reb Hillel then told of the first time he began to draw close to Chassidus, when he heard a Torah teaching from the Alter Rebbe. It is a remarkable story, because, as is known from the history of the chassidim, Reb Hillel never had the privilege of seeing and hearing the Alter Rebbe. Yet from the story the Frierdiker Rebbe tells in Likkutei Dibburim, it appears that at a certain point in his life Reb Hillel did hear the Alter Rebbe, though he did not see him. It seems, as chassidim relate, that although Reb Hillel heard the Alter Rebbe, he never had the privilege of seeing him face-to-face and meeting him. And

04:14 this is what happened. In 5571—this was [unclear] of the Alter Rebbe, while he was still alive in this world, after the passing of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev—the Alter Rebbe set out on a journey. He traveled from town to town, going to Ukraine and other such places, and met there with leading figures in Chassidus, colleagues of his from earlier years, from the time of the Maggid of Mezritch. There were various details to that journey. At one point, the Alter Rebbe passed through a town where Reb Hillel was then staying. Reb Hillel was a very young man at the time. The Alter Rebbe arrived, and hundreds upon hundreds of Jews wanted to see and hear him. Reb Hillel was there too. He did not manage to see the Alter Rebbe, but he did hear his voice and heard this Torah teaching. The teaching was about the statement of our Sages in the Gemara in Berachos: “A person should always rouse his good inclination against his evil inclination.” The Alter Rebbe explained the Gemara’s words, which say that a person should rouse anger—yes, a person should stir up a sense of indignation, so to speak, and use

05:40 the force of firmness, of “rousing,” even shouting. The good inclination needs to shout at the evil inclination: “A person should rouse his good inclination against his evil inclination.” The Gemara continues that if he feels the evil inclination has not been subdued, that this has not helped, he should study Torah. If that does not help either, he should recite Shema. And if that too does not help, then “he should remind it of the day of death.” This “rousing” is connected with the verse, “Speak in your hearts upon your beds, and be still, selah”—the verse the Gemara there associates with the Shema recited before bed, and with a Jew’s need to know that “a person should rouse his good inclination against his evil inclination.” The Alter Rebbe spoke about this statement of our Sages and explained that it describes several levels in the service of Hashem. There are four things the Gemara says: “A person should always rouse his good inclination against his evil inclination”; then it says to study Torah; then it says to recite Shema; and then it says, “He should remind it of the day of death.” These are four levels in the service of Hashem. There is the level of tzaddikim; then the level of beinonim, as explained in Tanya; then those who serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu through the work of refining their character traits, which is the third level; and then

07:05 there are the simple souls, G-d-fearing people whose service is marked by simple fear of Heaven, sincere awe, reverence for Torah, and straightforward fear of Heaven. For them, there needs to be “he should remind it of the day of death.” What does “he should remind it of the day of death” mean? The Alter Rebbe explained then that a person must know that the day of death will come, and then the marketplace will be closed. Then it will be the World to Come, a world where everything is clear. The main part of a person’s avodah is in the world of action: “Today, to do them.” Before then, one must make use of the time while the marketplace is open, while the fair is still open—of this “today, to do them.” Now is the time to serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu. This will move him to make good use of his time in fear of Heaven. That, at least in brief, was the point the Alter Rebbe spoke about on that occasion. Reb Hillel was not yet familiar with this. At the time he was still attached to the Rebbes of Chernobyl; that is, he was a Chernobyl chossid and did not yet know the teachings of Chabad Chassidus. This was something new to him. There was a chossid there named Reb Zalman Zezmer, one of the Alter Rebbe’s greatest chassidim, who was Reb Hillel’s mashpia. He explained the details of the teaching to Reb Hillel, clarifying what the Alter Rebbe had said.

08:29 The point was that he explained the different concerns: the concern of a tzaddik, the concern of a beinoni, and a concern about actual idolatry, as with those who fear G-d. When a person makes an honest reckoning with himself, he says: “I am certainly not a tzaddik. If only I could be a beinoni—and I am not even that. But at the very least, I should be among the G-d-fearing, for whom ‘he should remind it of the day of death’ applies, so that they know they must make use of the time they have in this life.” This teaching touched Hillel deeply. He could not stop [unclear]. He thought about it constantly; it kept pounding in his head and heart. Time passed, until the Alter Rebbe had already passed away. Only after the Alter Rebbe’s passing did Reb Hillel decide to travel to the Mitteler Rebbe. He then became attached to the Mitteler Rebbe and became the great Reb Hillel, one of the greatest chassidim of Chabad. Reb Hillel told this story to explain that this was his path in avodah: to work on the body, [unclear], and, as he put it, to rouse the good inclination against the evil inclination. From this grew his avodah of beautifying mitzvos through hiddurim. In our parsha, we find the command, “You shall appoint judges and officers for yourself in all your gates.” The parsha deals with—the main part—

09:54 of the parsha—not all of it, but a large part of it—deals with the laws of the Sanhedrin. “You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates” is a positive mitzvah from the Torah to appoint judges—the Sanhedrin, the dayanim—who are responsible for conveying the Torah’s laws. There are also the officers, whose job is to carry out what the judges say, so that it can be put into practice and observed. “You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates.” There is a Chassidic interpretation of this idea of judges and officers that goes back to Sefer Yetzirah. In Sefer Yetzirah, we find a discussion of the letters. It explains the different kinds of letters: some are called “mothers,” and there are also “doubles”; it explains the whole subject of the letters according to Kabbalah. There it speaks of seven letters. There are seven letters called “doubles,” letters that have [unclear]. As is known, Sefer Yetzirah says there are seven double letters, BeGeD KeFaReT: Beis, Gimel, Dalet, Chaf, Pei, Reish, and Tav. These are the seven double letters, which have a pronunciation with a dagesh and without one. Today, for some of them, we know what the dagesh does and how to pronounce them with and without it. For some—

11:23 For some of them, we don’t know, because that distinction has been somewhat lost in our speech, and we no longer know what it is. But essentially, the seven letters BeGeD KeFaReT can appear with or without a dagesh. And there, in Sefer Yetzirah, it says that these seven letters are connected specifically to the seven middos, and specifically to the seven gates in a person. The seven gates in a person are the two eyes, the two ears, the two nostrils, and, at the front, the mouth. These are the seven gates in a person’s head: eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. There are seven openings, physical openings or gates. A gate is an opening through which a person takes things in from outside and sends things out from within. With the mouth, a person can speak and eat. With the eyes, he sees what is happening; with the ears, he hears what is happening; and with the nose, he has the sense of smell. These are the senses of sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Yes, and there is speech as well. These are all the higher faculties in the head, called gates. Just as a gate is meant for entering and leaving, so too these seven gates are meant for things to enter and leave. Yes, and this is explained at much greater length in a book called Sifsei Kohen, by Reb Mordechai HaKohen, who—

12:58 was among the great Kabbalists of that time, shortly after the Arizal. He was a student of the Arizal’s students. He wrote Sifsei Kohen, known as the Shach al HaTorah, a book quoted very frequently in Chassidus, in maamarim. In particular, there is a well-known teaching on this verse that is quoted in many maamarim in the name of the Shach al HaTorah. He says that these are the seven gates of a person’s soul, and this is what the verse is saying here: “You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates.” “In all your gates” refers to the body, to all its limbs. In particular, it refers to the gates we are discussing now—sight, hearing, smell, taste, and speech—which are the main gates. And in the same way, throughout the body, “in all your gates,” there must be judges and officers. That is, one must appoint judges. A person must always consult the Shulchan Aruch, study Torah, and know what the Torah says and how to conduct himself. A person must guard his gates: what he may look at and what he may not look at, what he may hear and what he may not hear, what he should say and what he should not say, what he should eat and what he should not eat. And likewise with the sense of smell—to guard these properly, and to be mindful of the atmosphere he is in, as is known. All these are a person’s gates. About this, the Torah says there must be judges. What is the role of judges? The role of judges is—

14:27 to know the law, what the halachah is. To know what should be done, what is permitted and what is forbidden. And beyond that, we are told that this is not enough: there must also be officers. In the plain sense, the officers’ job is to put the law into actual practice. There is the learning—he studies and knows—but afterward he has to bring it into action. For that, officers are needed, just as they were in the physical workings of the Sanhedrin. The officers’ job was to see that the law was carried out, to implement it in practice. And the same applies within each person: what he learns, he must then immediately put into actual practice and guard himself, maintaining what Chassidus calls guarding the senses. He must guard his sight, his hearing, his sense of smell, and his speech, so that everything is guarded properly. But as the maamarim on this verse explain, there is a deeper meaning to the “officers” in “judges and officers.” An officer is not only someone who puts the law into practice. He is needed when a person, although he studies and knows—and knows very well—still finds it hard to act on that knowledge. He knows [unclear], and the study of Torah [unclear]. Yet it is difficult for him to do it in practice. All kinds of difficulties arise, all kinds of distractions, all kinds of influence from the yetzer hara, and the situation remains: he knows what he should do, and—

16:01 he knows that Torah study [unclear], yet his material nature gets the better of him, and he cannot put what he knows into practice. For that, one needs officers, in the sense of “A person should always rouse his good inclination against his evil inclination.” [unclear] That is the officer’s role. [unclear] specifically with a stick against the yetzer hara, because when the yetzer hara is strong, you cannot reason with it or offer it explanations—it does not accept them. [unclear] That is the only approach that can work, and all the explanations are of no use. [unclear] There is darkness, concealment, and obscurity in the soul, and the material force of the yetzer hara is very strong. So even when you know what the truth is, and you know Hashem’s greatness, and you know all the explanations and all the laws of the Torah—how things should be—you still cannot overcome it and serve Hashem with your senses, with your sight, hearing, speech, and so on. For this, the approach is: “A person should always rouse his good inclination against his evil inclination.” That is the idea of the stick. What is the stick? The Rebbe writes about this in Tanya, chapter 29: the approach is to “thunder at it with a voice of tumult and anger in his mind.” And the Rebbe says unequivocally in chapter 29 of Tanya: [unclear] to break the coarseness of the material nature, [unclear] so that the soul can shine. The coarseness of the material nature must be broken. [unclear]

17:51 The Gemara says, “A person should always rouse his good inclination against his evil inclination.” And the Alter Rebbe says that this is advice for freeing oneself from the yetzer hara in the animal soul: the idea of “rousing” it. “He should thunder at it with a voice of tumult and anger in his mind.” The Alter Rebbe does not say that one should go out and shout in the streets. It must be “he should thunder at it with a voice of tumult and anger in his mind”—in his mind. But it does not merely say “rouse”; it says “thunder at it.” And what does one say? One says, “Wicked, evil, loathsome, abominable, and disgraceful”—all the names our Sages truly called it. What does “truly” mean? It really is wicked, and it really is evil, and all the other descriptions are true as well. These are not just words, metaphors, or examples that are not meant literally. It truly is wicked, truly evil, truly loathsome, abominable, and disgraceful. Every detail. If you look closely at Tanya, you see that it speaks about all the levels. The Alter Rebbe lists all these names. They relate to all the levels of the soul: the intellect, the middos, thought, speech, and action. This continues through “How long will you conceal the light of the blessed Ein Sof from me?” And when we cry out to ourselves, “How long will you conceal it?”—how long will you conceal the light of the blessed Ein Sof, how long will you conceal the truth? [unclear]. And when we say to ourselves, “How long will you conceal the light of the blessed Ein Sof from me?” that is “A person should rouse his good inclination against his evil inclination.” And as the Rebbe says in the sicha, this must be [unclear]. Now is the time for “today, to do them,” because there is still—

19:50 In another moment, we could already reach “years of which you will say, ‘I have no desire in them,’” when Moshiach comes. And the Rebbe always said that the words about “days in which I have no desire” apply in our times. These are the ways to distance ourselves from the Geulah; we must distance ourselves from “days in which I have no desire.” We must distance ourselves. Moshiach has not yet come. And we are living at a time when we are already approaching “days of which you will say, ‘I have no desire in them’”—the Geulah of Moshiach, a Geulah [unclear]. Because this is the time of the marketplace, the time of [unclear], of “today, to do them”—to serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu and do the work. We must make use of every minute. And if that “agitate” causes a person to be stirred to teshuvah and to appoint “judges and officers at all your gates”—so that the five senses and the faculties of the soul, and, more generally, the seven gates, matters of sight and hearing and the like, the eyes and ears, the nose and mouth, and also thought—so that his faculties and gates are refined and are as they should be, as Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants them to be. That is the work of “You shall appoint judges and officers at all your gates.” As the Rebbe once said at a farbrengen, we always read Parshas Shoftim during the month of Elul. And Elul is a time for teshuvah and correction, a time when a Jew must throw himself into Torah and avodah, finish the year as it should be, prepare for the new year, and all these things. So this is a fitting time to take in—

21:20 this point in serving Hashem: “You shall appoint judges and officers at all your gates.” These matters are explained in the light of Chassidus, and that is how the work should be done—yes, that is how a person should work on refining the senses, on setting limits for thought, speech, sight, and hearing. The Rebbe spoke about this once in the later years, in 5751. It was the last farbrengen for the time being, if I remember correctly, on Shabbos Parshas Shoftim 5751. The Rebbe spoke then about the verse and pointed out something interesting: this verse also appears in the haftorah of Shabbos Chazon, in the first chapter of Yeshayahu. There is a similar verse there, but with different words: “I will restore your judges as at first, and your counselors as in the beginning.” This verse also entered the wording of the Shemoneh Esrei prayer in a similar form: “Restore our judges as at first, and our counselors as in the beginning.” It speaks of two things, and there is a difference between them. In other words, the verse would seem to say that we ask Hakadosh Boruch Hu to bring the Geulah, so that the institution of judges and officers—which today we do not observe fully because of [unclear] the Sanhedrin—will return: “I will restore your judges as at first, and your counselors as in the beginning.” But we notice an interesting detail: the verse—

22:56 changes the wording, and so does the text of the prayer. The Torah says “judges and officers.” But when the prophet says “your judges and your counselors”—what happened here? What accounts for the change? The Rebbe spoke about this at length, with a wonderful explanation connected to the whole matter of the revelation of Chassidus by the holy Baal Shem Tov in these times, at the end of the exile, when Moshiach is already about to come. At first glance, the difference between an officer and a counselor is as great as could be. An officer acts by force and severity. As mentioned earlier, he comes with a stick and strikes. A counselor is just the opposite. A counselor is someone whose entire role is to give advice. He does not lash out, strike, bite, or stab. On the contrary: he comes to people, sits with them, and advises them. He helps them understand that it is for their own good, that it is right, good, and pleasant, so that they themselves will want it. That is the counselor’s role. And, broadly speaking, that is what judges and counselors are about. The judge rules: this is how it must be. It is more a matter of stating things as they are. The counselor comes and says it while giving a reason; he gives it meaning. It is not just a matter of “This is how it is; this is what you must do.” No, on the contrary, he presents it—

24:38 pleasantly, with an explanation, and helps the person understand that this ruling, this matter, is actually for his benefit; that it is something easy and worthwhile, and that he is permitted to do it. That is what a counselor does. And this is the exact opposite of the judge’s aim: the judge’s role is to impose, while here the aim is specifically to create a sense of pleasantness. And this, we are told, is connected to that same point. How can that be? The Rebbe once spoke about how we can plainly see the difference between the teachings of mussar and the teachings of Chassidus. As is known, until the Baal Shem Tov, the main approach to serving Hashem was one of rulings, firmness, and severity. And the main work was [unclear]. The Baal Shem Tov came and revealed the idea of serving out of love, of serving with joy. In general, we can plainly see that the teachings of mussar speak of [unclear] how to break the body so that it will not, G-d forbid, become self-important. It is an approach of strictness and decree: this is how it must be and no other way, and [unclear], an approach of severity. Sometimes, unfortunately, there were even... By contrast, the approach of Chassidus emphasizes the greatness of the soul and the greatness of Torah and mitzvos. It reveals the pleasure in doing a mitzvah, the pleasure in serving—

26:04 Hashem and studying Torah. This brings a person pleasure, warmth, and joy in his service of Hashem. So that is the idea of judges and counselors, officers and counselors. The Rebbe explained that it is connected to the time in which we find ourselves. During the exile, when darkness prevailed—darkness and night—a stick was needed to drive away the darkness, to break the hold of this world. And afterward [unclear] even [unclear], so this was the way to break the kelipah, to break the [unclear], in order to reveal the good within a person. And the holy Ohr HaChaim says in one of the parshiyos, “And who can contain Hashem’s burning?”—that we must burn away our own evil, “who can contain it,” the hidden evil within a person, the yetzer hara, which is called “evil” among its five names, as the Gemara says in tractate Sukkah. And regarding this, we say that now, as Moshiach comes, since in the days of Moshiach “I will remove the spirit of impurity from the earth,” there will no longer be evil in the world. There will be no work for officers to do by force, and no need for officers. But what will there be? Counselors. For the purpose of Torah and mitzvos is not to break the world. No, on the contrary: it is for the world to become a vessel for Torah and mitzvos, for the world to respond to Torah and mitzvos—

27:30 and accept them as its own. That is what a counselor is about. The judge comes and states the law as it is. But for it to be accepted, for a person as he is to become a vessel for it and willingly accept G-dliness, for it to become one with his own reality—that is the idea of “your counselors.” And so we say that before the coming of Moshiach, when the holy Baal Shem Tov came and began preparing the world for “your wellsprings shall spread outward,” for “the Master will come”—the coming of King Moshiach—to prepare the world for the revelation of Moshiach, he also revealed the idea of “your counselors.” He revealed that serving Hashem is not done through severity or striking, but specifically through love and drawing people close, so that the service takes the form of “your counselors.” One must contemplate and understand the pleasure in serving Hashem. And one could say that in these generations, and especially in our generation, there is a particular emphasis on education. This is something new, it is [unclear], and it has emerged especially in our times: educating specifically with love and by drawing people close, and trying to do it in the manner of “your counselors.” Of course, there must also be things that have to be carried out; there must be seriousness, firmness, and substance, so that people do not take advantage. Nevertheless, because we stand just before the coming of Moshiach, and the world is already a vessel, it must—

29:10 be not only through “your judges” but also through “your counselors,” so that the Geulah can come—through contemplating, understanding, and feeling the pleasure in serving Hashem. This is the true service that can bring the true and complete Geulah through Moshiach Tzidkeinu. The Rebbe emphasizes that we must make use of the time we are in now, the great days of the month of Elul. This is the time to prepare for Rosh Hashanah: the month of taking stock, the month of mercy, the month of Selichos. We must correct everything that needs correction, in the spirit of “You shall appoint judges and officers at all your gates.” And the way is to appoint specifically judges and counselors, through studying Chassidus and following its ways, serving Hashem with love, joy, and gladness of heart. And may we merit to be inscribed and sealed for a good and sweet year, with goodness that is visible and revealed, and for the true and complete Geulah through Moshiach Tzidkeinu.